As it turns out, there are some biological reasons behind people's desire to "store" trivia in their brain and the rush of excitement they feel when they get the chance to use it. According to psychologist John Kounios Ph.D., it's a lot like playing roulette, too.
"You get a rush or a neuroreward signal or a dopamine burst from winning," the professor of psychology and director of the doctoral program in applied cognitive and brain sciences at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, told Healthline. "I think whenever you're challenged with a trivia question and you happen to know it, you get a rush. It's sort of like gambling."
He said the benefits can also be similar to those of playing video games. However, unlike gambling and video games, trivia is generally not a potentially dangerous habit, Kounios said.
"I don't think there are any pitfalls. Like anything else that's fun, it takes up time."
Moreover, retaining information about things we're interested in can be like an exercise for the frontal cortex as the brain ages.
"That's the first thing to go with injury or with age if we don't use it," Deborah Stokes, Ph.D., L.P.C., B.C.N., a psychologist in Virginia who focuses on neurotherapy, said.
So there you have it, folks. Browsing trivia isn't a waste of time. It's a mental workout!
