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The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
Published on: February 19, 2018
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Remembering spatial words: Sensorimotor simulation affects verbal recognition memory
Alper Kumcu1, Robin L Thompson2
1Department of Translation and Interpreting, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|October 27, 2021
Summary
Spatial associations influence verbal memory by guiding attention and interfering with perception. This study supports sensorimotor simulation and perceptual competition in memory retrieval.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Linguistics
Background:
- Words with spatial meanings are perceptually simulated, guiding attention.
- Simulated representations can interfere with visual perception at associated locations.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate spatial associations' effect on short-term verbal recognition memory.
- Disambiguate between modal and amodal accounts of spatial interference.
- Examine how spatial information impacts memory retrieval accuracy and speed.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments encoding words in congruent and incongruent locations.
- Experiment 1: Auditory probe with visual cue at retrieval (original or diagonal location).
- Experiment 2: No retrieval cue, neutral encoding condition.
Main Results:
- Spatial associations affected memory performance even when irrelevant.
- Accuracy improved with congruent location cues if words were encoded non-canonically.
- Highly imageable words showed slower retrieval with congruent cues.
- Participants better remembered spatially congruent words without retrieval cues.
Conclusions:
- Results support sensorimotor simulation in verbal memory.
- Evidence provided for a perceptual competition account of spatial interference effects.
