Serendipity is the unintentional, accidental discovery of something new or surprising that feels positive and meaningful for the individual. Four studies ( N ₁ = 1638; N ₂ = 279; N ₃ = 520; N ₄ = 452) examined such experiences in museums and beyond, contributing to three overarching goals: (a) achieving a better understanding of predictors and consequences of serendipitous experiences; (b) differentiating them from other, related constructs; and (c) capturing them in a methodologically sound way. In Study 1, we examined serendipity and its psychological and structural circumstances with data from visitor surveys of a large German science museum. In Studies 2 and 3, we solidified these insights in an autobiographical recall study and a vignette experiment. Further, we introduced a theory‐grounded serendipity scale. Finally, in Study 4, we included the new scale in evaluation surveys for museum exhibitions. Across studies, experiencing serendipity was largely independent of interindividual differences such as Big Five traits or demographics, but consistently associated with people's motivation and interest in a topic. Suggesting practical relevance, serendipity experiences were linked to interactive media use in the museum and predicted exhibition enjoyment and recommendation intentions. While experiencing serendipity shared some similarity with other constructs such as the feeling of insight and situational interest, it emerged as an empirically distinguishable concept of its own. The serendipity scale overall demonstrated a coherent item structure and good internal consistency. Furthering the scarce research on serendipity, the present investigation offers basic and applied insights into the phenomenon and measurement of serendipity.

Objectives: As crimes unfold, how is situational information channeled into decisions? Methodological tools capable of answering this question can advance criminological theory and research. This preregistered study introduces Focal Visual Attention (FVA) as a decision-making construct for measuring visual information processing during realistic, dynamic crime-related scenarios. Methods: We recruited 262 German-speaking male participants who viewed two 5-minute immersive 360° videos depicting a personal provocation and a witnessed sexual harassment incident in a bar from a point-of-view perspective. Eye-tracking recorded ~ 4.35 million gaze points. Post hoc, mean-shift clustering, an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm, identified regions of interest (ROIs). Fixations within these ROIs served as proxies for FVA. Linear mixed-effects models examined temporal changes in FVA and associations with individual characteristics. Results: Overall, visual attention to conflict-relevant stimuli increased over time, with additional avoidance fixations toward exits. Participants with histories of violence and/or prior police involvement showed distinct attention patterns. FVA also varied with self-reported emotions, cognitive appraisals of risk and benefit, and intentions to respond aggressively. Conclusions: FVA provides a robust, quantifiable measure of moment-to-moment visual attention in crime and analogous decision making. Methodologically, this study demonstrates a scalable framework for analyzing high-density eye-tracking data using immersive 360° video and unsupervised machine learning. Substantively, the findings extend our understanding of crime decision making with potential to inform research in policing, situational crime prevention, and fear-of-crime.

Background: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a frequent and serious complication in elderly surgical patients. Liberalising preoperative fluid fasting has been shown to reduce its incidence. However, evidence on long-term cognitive and functional outcomes following POD or liberal fluid fasting remains limited. Objectives: This study investigates whether POD and different fluid fasting regimens are associated with changes in cognitive performance and activities of daily living twelve months after surgery. Methods: As a follow-up to the prospective ‘LFFgertrud’ trial, 89 geriatric patients were contacted by phone twelve months after elective trauma or orthopaedic surgery (March 2023–February 2024). Participants completed four validated questionnaires assessing cognition and everyday functioning: the Short Blessed Test (SBT), EQ-5D-5L, Barthel index (BI), and the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE). Results: The hypotheses regarding the effects of POD and fluid fasting on cognitive and functional outcomes were not statistically supported. In contrast, neurodegenerative disease was strongly associated with poorer outcomes in three of the four follow-up measures (SBT: β = 1.27, p = 0.01; EQ-5D-5L: β = 1.43, p < 0.001; BI: β = −1.63, p < 0.001), and polymedication also emerged as a relevant predictor. Although not statistically significant, descriptive trends indicated that patients who developed POD showed lower cognitive performance and reduced quality of life at twelve months. Conclusions: POD and fluid fasting duration were not significantly associated with long-term cognitive or functional outcomes one year after hospitalisation. The findings highlight the importance of considering pre-existing neurocognitive disease and polypharmacy when assessing the risk of adverse long-term outcomes in older patients. Due to the multifactorial nature of recovery in this population, further research involving larger sample sizes is required in order to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence long-term outcomes.