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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 21, 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

Language and memory for object location.

Harmen B Gudde¹, Kenny R Coventry¹, Paul E Engelhardt¹

¹University of East Anglia, UK.

|May 15, 2016

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Language significantly impacts object location memory. The Expectation Model explains how language cues and actual locations combine, influencing memory recall and predictive coding.

Keywords:

Memory Object location Peripersonal/extrapersonal space Possessives Spatial demonstratives

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Last Updated: Mar 21, 2026

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

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Published on: February 19, 2018

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A Within-Subject Experimental Design using an Object Location Task in Rats

A Within-Subject Experimental Design using an Object Location Task in Rats

Published on: May 6, 2021

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Psycholinguistics
Memory Studies

Background:

Language influences cognitive processes, including spatial memory.
Previous research explored language's role in memory, but specific mechanisms remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how demonstratives (this, that) and possessives (my, your) affect object location memory.
To test the Expectation Model against the congruence account.
To explore attention allocation as a mediating mechanism.

Main Methods:

Three experiments involving participants reading instructions with demonstratives/possessives.
Object placement followed by recall of object locations after removal.
Testing predictions from the Expectation Model and congruence account.
Investigating attention allocation in Experiment 3.

Main Results:

Language demonstrably influences object location memory.
Data patterns consistently support the Expectation Model.
Evidence suggests language cues and actual locations are concatenated, leading to memory outcomes.

Conclusions:

The Expectation Model provides a robust framework for understanding language's effect on spatial memory.
Predictive coding mechanisms likely underlie the observed memory effects.
Language plays a crucial role in shaping how we encode and retrieve spatial information.