Environmental overlap and individual encoding strategy modulate memory interference in spatial navigation.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Spatial Cognition

Background:

• Prior knowledge significantly impacts new learning, often leading to interference in episodic memory.
• The interplay between interference and facilitation in temporally-extended learning and individual differences remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the balance of interference and facilitation in spatial episodic learning.
• To examine how overlapping learned routes affect new spatial learning and memory.
• To explore individual differences in spatial ability and learning strategies on memory interference.

Main Methods:

• A two-day spatial navigation experiment with 120 participants.
• Participants navigated previously learned virtual routes while learning new ones.
• New routes were designed with varying degrees of overlap with previously learned routes.

Main Results:

• Navigation in overlapping new mazes was significantly impaired compared to non-overlapping mazes, indicating proactive interference.
• Memory facilitation was observed for new routes in familiar environments without direct overlap.
• Cognitive map accuracy, high spatial ability, and place-based learning preference correlated with increased proactive interference.

Conclusions:

• Memory interference and facilitation can coexist during learning based on prior knowledge.
• Proactive interference is modulated by the degree of overlap with existing knowledge structures.
• Individual differences in spatial cognition and learning strategies influence the extent of proactive interference.