Anticipation of novel environments enhances memory for incidental information

Novelty is known to be a potent learning signal and has intrinsic motivational value, but little is known whether anticipation of novelty can enhance memory for incidental information that is encountered during the anticipation period. It is also unclear how anticipation of novelty relates to other intrinsic motivational states such as curiosity. Here, we used a newly developed VR paradigm in which participants actively navigated towards novel or previously familiarised rooms, and incidentally encountered objects on their way to the rooms. Across immediate and delayed surprise memory tests, participants showed superior recollection for incidental objects encountered while anticipating novel rooms as compared to familiar rooms, indicating a beneficial effect of novelty anticipation on memory for incidental information. Moreover, participants who reported higher curiosity for novel rooms exhibited more memory enhancement for incidental objects, suggesting that curiosity might be one important factor contributing to novelty-related memory enhancements.