The present study examined the relationship between arousal, enjoyment, and cognitive performance after musical tapping tasks. Participants performed a series of tapping tasks, followed by a few...Show moreThe present study examined the relationship between arousal, enjoyment, and cognitive performance after musical tapping tasks. Participants performed a series of tapping tasks, followed by a few questions about their arousal, enjoyment, and recall of background objects. We assessed the arousal level of each participant before and after the musical task to investigate music-induced arousal. The participants' memory of background items, as well as their enjoyment of the musical activity, were assessed. While arousal and enjoyment levels fluctuate during the musical activities, the arousal change had no significant effect on enjoyment levels. Levels of enjoyment had no significant effect on memory recall. These findings show evidence that refutes the idea that arousal and enjoyment have distinct effects on recall. Instead, the present findings support previous research that enjoyment of the musical experience and musical arousal interplay a critical role in the relationship between music induced arousal and memory.Show less
Fatigue and memory are modulated by the neurotransmitter dopamine. This study aimed to explore the modulating effects of dopamine on mental fatigue and how this relationship affects memory...Show moreFatigue and memory are modulated by the neurotransmitter dopamine. This study aimed to explore the modulating effects of dopamine on mental fatigue and how this relationship affects memory performance. We hypothesised that the administration of tyrosine would lead to lower reported mental fatigue levels relative to placebo. Additionally, we hypothesised that participants who reported lower levels of mental fatigue would obtain higher memory scores in comparison to those who reported high levels of mental fatigue. 30 participants were tested on a word recall and word recognition task. Mental fatigue levels were measured using the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI). Our results showed no significant effect of treatment on mental fatigue. However, we found that mental fatigue did impair recognition performance in both immediate and delayed conditions, though inconsistently across sessions. The effect of time on memory was found; performance in both recognition and recall tasks deteriorated after 24 hours, regardless of treatment or mental fatigue. We discuss several study limitations, including a small, gender-imbalanced sample size, subjective mental fatigue reports and our tyrosine administration approach. We encourage further research on the topic as it is highly relevant for clinical populations who experience persistent fatigue symptoms, as well as healthy populations who regularly engage in cognitively demanding tasks.Show less
Introduction: Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that severely affects patients’ lives. How patients cope with the stress of receiving this diagnosis is influenced by...Show moreIntroduction: Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that severely affects patients’ lives. How patients cope with the stress of receiving this diagnosis is influenced by information-seeking coping style, which can be classified on two dimensions: monitoring (seeking information) and blunting (avoiding information). Patients’ level of monitoring and blunting may affect their perception of amount of information. Clinicians may not tailor the amount of information to the individual needs of patients, negatively impacting their recall. This study hypothesized that the amount of provided information by clinicians is equal for patients who score high on monitoring and patients who score high on blunting. Additionally, this study hypothesized that patients with high monitoring scores would report receiving too little information, and that patients with high blunting scores would report receiving too much information. Method: This study employed a prospective observational longitudinal design as part of the DiaMove Project. The sample consisted of newly diagnosed PD patients who completed questionnaires assessing their demographic characteristics, coping styles and perceived amount of information. Diagnostic consultations were video-recorded and subsequently observationally quantitatively coded for duration of information provision per topic. Statistical analyses included equivalence testing, independent t-tests and logistic regression. Results: This study found that the amount of information provided by clinicians is not equivalent for patients (N = 28) with high scores on the monitoring scale and those with high scores on the blunting scale (CI = [-0.26 – 0.37]; CI = [-0.20 – 0.43]). In addition, two independent t-tests were conducted, which showed no significant difference in the amount of information provided for high scores on the different coping styles (p = .288; p = .552). Furthermore, the likelihood of wanting to receive more or less information cannot be predicted by respectively high scores on the monitoring and blunting coping style (p > .05). Discussion: Patients’ level of monitoring or blunting was not a significant predictor for the amount of information provided and did not predict patients’ reported amount of information provided by clinicians. These findings may be influenced by limitations of self-reported questionnaires, such as the length and the small sample size of the study.Show less
Animal studies have shown that the exploration of novel environments has a positive effect on memory. As shown in virtual reality studies, this positive effect of novelty on memory also seems to...Show moreAnimal studies have shown that the exploration of novel environments has a positive effect on memory. As shown in virtual reality studies, this positive effect of novelty on memory also seems to hold for humans. However, one study failed to find such a positive effect. It is possible that this is due to individual differences in the novelty seeking personality trait. Therefore, in this master thesis the effect of novelty on recall and recognition memory is identified and the role of novelty seeking in these relationships is addressed. Since novelty processing is associated with dopaminergic neuromodulation in the hippocampus and novelty seeking is related to dopamine sensitivity, it was hypothesized that novelty affects hippocampus-dependent memory (recall) and that this effect is moderated by novelty seeking. No effect was expected on hippocampus-independent memory (recognition memory). Participants in the study were familiarized with a virtual environment and later explored the same (familiar) environment again or a novel one. After this exposure, the participants performed a word-learning task, a visuomotor adaptation task and a landmark test. They also filled out questionnaires regarding their mood and the novelty seeking personality trait. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested that novelty exposure has no effect on memory performance. No moderating effect of novelty seeking was found. Bayesian statistics support this null finding. Future studies need to investigate the influence of individual differences further with a wider range of novelty seekers and the inclusion of the variables age and depth of processing.Show less
The present study examined the relationship between arousal, enjoyment, and cognitive performance after musical tapping tasks. Participants performed a series of tapping tasks, followed by a few...Show moreThe present study examined the relationship between arousal, enjoyment, and cognitive performance after musical tapping tasks. Participants performed a series of tapping tasks, followed by a few questions about their arousal, enjoyment, and recall of background objects. We assessed the arousal level of each participant before and after the musical task to investigate music-induced arousal. The participants' memory of background items, as well as their enjoyment of the musical activity, were assessed. While arousal and enjoyment levels fluctuate during the musical activities, the arousal change had no significant effect on enjoyment levels. Levels of enjoyment had no significant effect on memory recall. These findings show evidence that refutes the idea that arousal and enjoyment have distinct effects on recall. Instead, the present findings support previous research that enjoyment of the musical experience and musical arousal interplay a critical role in the relationship between music-induced arousal and memory.Show less
Animal studies have shown that the exploration of novel environments has a positive effect on memory. As shown in virtual reality studies, this positive effect of novelty on memory also seems to...Show moreAnimal studies have shown that the exploration of novel environments has a positive effect on memory. As shown in virtual reality studies, this positive effect of novelty on memory also seems to hold for humans. However, one study failed to find such a positive effect. It is possible that this is due to individual differences in the novelty seeking personality trait. Therefore, in this master thesis the effect of novelty on recall and recognition memory is identified and the role of novelty seeking in these relationships is addressed. Since novelty processing is associated with dopaminergic neuromodulation in the hippocampus and novelty seeking is related to dopamine sensitivity, it was hypothesized that novelty affects hippocampus-dependent memory (recall) and that this effect is moderated by novelty seeking. No effect was expected on hippocampus-independent memory (recognition memory). Participants in the study were familiarized with a virtual environment and later explored the same (familiar) environment again or a novel one. After this exposure, the participants performed a word-learning task, a visuomotor adaptation task and a landmark test. They also filled out questionnaires regarding their mood and the novelty seeking personality trait. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested that novelty exposure has no effect on memory performance. No moderating effect of novelty seeking was found. Bayesian statistics support this null finding. Future studies need to investigate the influence of individual differences further with a wider range of novelty seekers and the inclusion of the variables age and depth of processing.Show less
