The role of egocentric orientation in human spatial memory
The ability to acquire and remember information about spatial relations plays an important role in a number of daily activities. It is important to understand how such information is represented and later accessed in the brain. This study explored the mental representation of spatial information by contrasting the predictions of two very different approaches to spatial memory: (a) the hierarchical approach, suggesting that memory progresses from egocentric representations to a generalized cognitive map; and (b) the egocentric approach, suggesting that memory is a collection of egocentric representations from which we infer more generalized information. In a series of three experiments, memory performance was compared across different types of encoding conditions to determine whether egocentric orientation effects found in previous work extend to a broad range of learning situations. If so, results would support the egocentric approach to spatial memory. Experiment 1 was a direct test of the role of more generalized spatial information by comparing learning from a route-based perspective to learning from a generalized survey perspective. Results indicated that performance was a function of both the egocentric perspective (route versus survey) and a particular egocentric orientation (learned orientation in route learning and north-as-up in survey learning). Experiments 2 and 3 were designed to look more indirectly at the issue by increasing the task demands and comparing visual and non-visual spatial experiences. In Experiment 2, participants learned displays of objects by viewing and verbally describing various orientations. In Experiment 3, participants learned displays by viewing and tactilely reconstructing various orientations. Under all conditions, memory performance was fastest and/or most accurate for particular learned orientations. Together, the results of all three experiments provide support for an egocentric approach to spatial memory. In addition, they have interesting implications for the role of view preference in memory, task specificity, and multiple modalities for spatial learning
Thesis, Dissertation, English, 1999