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Updated: Feb 5, 2026
05:15
The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
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Working memory for self-initiated and provided spatial configurations
Hagit Magen1, Tatiana Aloi Emmanouil2
11 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|September 19, 2018
Summary
People actively choose information to remember, a process called self-initiated working memory (WM). This study shows self-initiated WM enhances memory accuracy beyond just structuring information.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Working memory (WM) typically involves memorizing provided information.
- Self-initiated WM, where individuals choose what to remember, is common but understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the largely unexplored domain of self-initiated working memory (WM).
- To investigate how individuals construct and memorize self-initiated spatial sequences.
- To determine if self-initiation benefits memory beyond sequence structure.
Main Methods:
- A modified spatial span task was used, allowing participants to construct their own spatial sequences.
- Three experiments were conducted to analyze sequence construction and memory accuracy.
- Participants also constructed sequences for a hypothetical competitor.
Main Results:
- Participants naturally structured self-initiated sequences by minimizing distances and path crossings.
- Memory accuracy improved with self-initiated spatial sequences, even when matched for structure.
- When constructing sequences for a competitor, participants created more complex sequences.
Conclusions:
- Self-initiated WM benefits from metacognitive knowledge of optimal memory representation structure.
- Self-initiation enhances memory performance independently of structural improvements.
- Individuals strategically control sequence parameters in self-initiated WM.
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