Information-Gap theory of curiosity (Loewenstein)

Curiosity ∝ the gap between what one knows and what one wants to know

Curiosity is a response to a perceived deprivation — a specific gap in one's own knowledge, felt once attention is drawn to it. Loewenstein's key nuances: curiosity is strongest at intermediate gaps (you must already know enough to feel the missing piece — zero prior knowledge produces no gap), and it intensifies as the gap narrows toward resolution (the last piece pulls hardest).

Gap form = you have to make them feel the hole. The hook doesn't create want from nothing; it makes an existing gap salient. "You already know X; here's the piece you're missing" beats a cold fact.

Transfer. This is the mechanism under the open-loop hook and the zeigarnik-effect: name the specific thing the reader doesn't yet know but now realizes they want to. It sets the boundary condition for hooks — too advanced (no shared prior → no gap) or too obvious (no gap) both fail; aim at the intermediate gap the audience already half-feels.

Kin: illustrative-formulas · zeigarnik-effect · two-pleasures-arousal-and-closure (来劲 = the gap opening) · delivery-craft P4 (hook).

Source: George Loewenstein, 'The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation,' Psychological Bulletin 116(1), 1994 — the information-gap theory of curiosity