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Curiosity Gap

When presented with obviously-incomplete information, people have a tendency to try and fill in the blanks.

Featured in 14 UX Bites

Similar psychology:

Likely impacts:

Complexity & Understanding

Last updated: 03/11/2026

How to utilise this in your designs

Before someone starts the next lesson, you could tease it with an open-ended question or statement, so the curiosity gap pulls them in to find the answer.

Course path page. Each lesson pop-up pairs its title and "Start lesson" button with a one-line teaser, "What does the world look like to a scientist?"; after completion, the next lesson, "Science Rules", shows its own teaser.

Example from

Brilliant

To encourage someone to finish a puzzle, try teasing that one of their friends couldn't complete it, which opens a curiosity gap about whether they can.

Chess puzzle screen. Under "Solve the puzzle", a character teases "One of your friends didn't solve this one…guess who?", using social competition to motivate solving it, while a timer runs.

Example from

Duolingo

When content is muted, one option is to make the unmute button's background bounce with the audio levels, so people are curious enough to switch it on.

Music discovery feed. A muted speaker button under "Tap to preview" has a fill that animates up and down, drawing attention to tapping it to hear an audio preview of the track.

Example from

Soundcloud

Consider hiding a short daily fact behind a tap-to-reveal card, so curiosity gets people to tap, and they learn something about the topic along the way.

Health app feed. A "Did you know?" card says "Your daily fact is ready for you!". Tapping its arrow reveals the fact in place, "You can usually continue HRT for life", without leaving the "Learn" tab.

Example from

Balance Health

When someone redeems a streak reward, it may help to hide what they've won behind a scratch card, so they're curious to reveal it rather than simply being told.

Streak reward screen. A scratch card prompts "Scratch to discover your streak reward"; rubbing back and forth over the gift-covered panel gradually erases the cover to reveal a hidden illustrated reward underneath.

Example from

Focus Tree

Possible impacts

Ending each step with an open question or a tease could increase how many people start the next one, as they want to close the curiosity gap.

As seen in:

Brilliant Creating curiosity

Duolingo Duolingo's curiosity gap

Making it obvious that something is partly hidden, e.g., a blurred preview or a hint of what's playing, may draw more attention, as people want to fill in the blanks.

As seen in:

Brilliant Creating curiosity

Soundcloud Bouncing audio levels

Because curiosity peaks when the answer feels close, a curiosity gap might motivate people to put in more effort, e.g., finishing a puzzle or lesson.

As seen in:

Brilliant Creating curiosity

Duolingo Duolingo's curiosity gap

Framing a topic as a question or a hidden fact to reveal could help users take in new information, as they're actively curious about the answer.

As seen in:

Balance Health Daily facts

Written by Peter Ramsey

Consultant to 100+ companies

Published: 10/09/2023

How to utilise this in your designs

Before someone starts the next lesson, you could tease it with an open-ended question or statement, so the curiosity gap pulls them in to find the answer.

Example from

Brilliant

To encourage someone to finish a puzzle, try teasing that one of their friends couldn't complete it, which opens a curiosity gap about whether they can.

Example from

Duolingo

When content is muted, one option is to make the unmute button's background bounce with the audio levels, so people are curious enough to switch it on.

Example from

Soundcloud

Consider hiding a short daily fact behind a tap-to-reveal card, so curiosity gets people to tap, and they learn something about the topic along the way.

Example from

Balance Health

When someone redeems a streak reward, it may help to hide what they've won behind a scratch card, so they're curious to reveal it rather than simply being told.

Example from

Focus Tree

Possible impacts

Ending each step with an open question or a tease could increase how many people start the next one, as they want to close the curiosity gap.

As seen in:

Brilliant Creating curiosity

Duolingo Duolingo's curiosity gap

Making it obvious that something is partly hidden, e.g., a blurred preview or a hint of what's playing, may draw more attention, as people want to fill in the blanks.

As seen in:

Brilliant Creating curiosity

Soundcloud Bouncing audio levels

Because curiosity peaks when the answer feels close, a curiosity gap might motivate people to put in more effort, e.g., finishing a puzzle or lesson.

As seen in:

Brilliant Creating curiosity

Duolingo Duolingo's curiosity gap

Framing a topic as a question or a hidden fact to reveal could help users take in new information, as they're actively curious about the answer.

As seen in:

Balance Health Daily facts