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
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
Due to its nature and the impact of its consequences, cybercrime is in need of innovative methods of criminal investigation. Apart from interrogations and computer focused investigations,...Show moreDue to its nature and the impact of its consequences, cybercrime is in need of innovative methods of criminal investigation. Apart from interrogations and computer focused investigations, cybercrime, due to its recent growing occurrence, still lacks effective methods to detect those who are behind it. The goal of the present research is to validate a new method: Implicit Memory Method for Criminal Investigation (IMMCI), a psychological test that is designed to elicit true recognition memory from illegally visited internet sites. Our study was set up to answer the following question: to what extent is IMMCI a reliable method for measuring true recognition memory of internet sites that a person is unwilling to reveal? To answer this question we simulated visitors and not-visitors of digital displays: i.e. participants were divided into two conditions, called perpetrators and innocents. The experiment consisted of three sessions. The first two were exposure sessions (pictures of digital displays were presented) while the third one was the test session (recognition memory test and source memory test for the pictures presented at t1 and t2). IMMCI in the lab, showed that people are relatively good at true recognition memory of the displays, but poor at telling the temporal source. Overall participants were good at remembering whether they saw an item (recognition memory) but not so good at remembering when they saw it (source memory). In practice, this combined effect might be used in a memory method that reveals implicit knowledge of items seen in the illegal cyber space.Show less
