Novelty has been shown to increase memory performance in animals as novel stimuli are more easily learned. It was further shown that unrelated novelty can enhance memory for other stimuli that co...Show moreNovelty has been shown to increase memory performance in animals as novel stimuli are more easily learned. It was further shown that unrelated novelty can enhance memory for other stimuli that co-occur or follow its experience, which has been replicated in humans. Animal research has suggested hippocampal theta to play a role in this phenomenon and human studies suggested theta to play a similar role in memory but no link between the novelty phenomenon and theta has been established in human research. In this study, we investigated the memory enhancing effect of novel environment exploration on 39 dutch-speaking university students with a repeated measures design experiment in which participants explore virtual three dimensional environments that are either previously familiarised or novel and take word memory tests at immediate and delayed time points. We utilised scalp electrodes to take EEG readings during the tasks and analyse frontal theta activity during word encoding to explore its potential role as a mechanism through which novelty may affect memory performance. We found that novelty had no main effect on word memory recall or recognition. However, the order of conditions significantly interacted with the effects of novelty. Novelty may have an effect only when it was experienced before familiarity, implying that novelty acts differently according to the order of tasks. We also found that novelty effects may change over time in word recognition. We could not conclusively identify frontal theta as playing a role in verbal memory encoding and novelty. We highlight the importance of order of condition in this experimental paradigm and suggest time as a factor to be further explored and that novelty effects may be in consolidation or maintenance of memory rather than encoding, which future studies should attempt to differentiate by applying novelty at different stages of memory tasks. Theta remains an unexplored avenue in novelty and memory research, with further studies needed to identify specific regional theta oscillations associated with particular cognitive functions. We discuss the practical applicability of research in this area and conclude that novelty and theta may have applications in learning interventions but require a more precise understanding for practical viability.Show less
This thesis looks at the narratives surrounding Dutch and British expeditions of exploration in New Guinea to study the roles of nationalist and internationalist sentiment within the narratives of...Show moreThis thesis looks at the narratives surrounding Dutch and British expeditions of exploration in New Guinea to study the roles of nationalist and internationalist sentiment within the narratives of these expeditions.Show less
