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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 18, 2026

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Word order variation in spatial descriptions with adverbs.

Robin Hörnig¹, Thomas Weskott, Reinhold Kliegl

¹University of Potsdam, Allgemeine Psychologie I, P.O. Box 60 15 53, D-14415 Potsdam, Germany. rhoernig@uni-potsdam.de

Memory & Cognition

|November 30, 2006

Summary

Spatial reasoning comprehension is easiest when the given entity precedes the new entity. The partially ordered set (Poset) relations account provides a stronger explanation for this phenomenon than the given-new account.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Linguistics
Spatial Cognition

Background:

Previous research indicates that the comprehensibility of spatial reasoning premises depends on word order and entity status (given vs. new).
Noncanonical word order, specifically placing the prepositional object in preverbal position, facilitates comprehension when it denotes the given entity.

Purpose of the Study:

To test two competing accounts for contextual licensing of noncanonical word order in spatial reasoning: the given-new account and the partially ordered set relations (Poset) account.
To determine which account better explains the observed facilitation in comprehension.

Main Methods:

Participants completed a three-term spatial reasoning task involving German premise pairs.
Comprehension times were measured for second premises presented in four different word orders.
The word orders manipulated the position of given and new entities and the grammatical role of the prepositional object.

Main Results:

Comprehension times supported both the given-new and Poset accounts of contextual licensing.
The Poset account demonstrated a stronger effect, indicating that noncanonical word order is licensed when a new entity is introduced in relation to a given entity.
Specifically, Poset licensing was stronger than given-new licensing.

Conclusions:

The findings suggest that the cognitive mechanisms underlying spatial reasoning comprehension are sensitive to relational structures between entities.
The partially ordered set relations (Poset) model offers a more robust explanation for why noncanonical word orders facilitate comprehension in these tasks.
Future research should further explore the role of relational information in language comprehension.