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Comparing Judgments of Relative Direction and Object-Based Judgments as Measures of Human Spatial Memory: Evaluation
Herbert A Colle1, Zack Carpenter2, Tressa Molinar1
1Department of Psychology, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|April 3, 2026
Summary
Judgments of relative direction (JRDs) and object-based judgments (OBJs) tap into the same spatial memory representations. However, OBJs offer more specific insights into spatial memory than JRDs.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Human Memory
Background:
- Directional pointing tasks, such as judgments of relative direction (JRDs), are crucial for understanding spatial memory.
- Overreliance on single tasks may limit understanding of spatial information processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare judgments of relative direction (JRDs) with object-based judgments (OBJs) to explore spatial memory nuances.
- To determine if JRDs and OBJs assess the same underlying memory representations.
Main Methods:
- A parameter-free measurement model was employed to analyze data from JRDs and OBJs.
- Two experiments involving 96 participants were conducted to compare the two judgment tasks.
Main Results:
- Both JRDs and OBJs were found to access identical spatial memory representations.
- A model demonstrated that JRD angular error can be estimated from OBJ responses.
Conclusions:
- JRDs and OBJs reflect the same fundamental memory representations for spatial information.
- OBJs provide more specific spatial memory data by isolating a single error source, unlike JRDs which combine two.
