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Updated: May 26, 2026

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
Visuospatial processing in memory for word location in writing
Nathalie Le Bigot1, Jean-Michel Passerault, Thierry Olive
1Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany. lebigot@ifado.de
Abstract:
Two experiments examined how visuospatial processing engaged during text composition intervenes in memory for word location. Experiment 1 showed that in contrast to participants who performed a spatial task concurrently with composing a text, participants who performed a concurrent visual task recalled fewer word locations after the composition. Consequently, it is hypothesized that writers process the written text in order to visually represent its physical layout, and that this representation is then used when locating words. Experiment 2 tested this hypothesis by comparing a standard composition condition (with the written trace) with a condition in which the written trace was suppressed during composition, and with a condition without written trace and with added visual noise. Memory for word location only decreased with visual noise, indicating that construction of the visual representation of the text does not rely on the written trace but involves visual working memory.
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