Interplay of the serial order strategy and the associative cue strategy in human route following

Abstract

ABSTRACT To evaluate the interplay between route following by the serial order and the associative cue strategy, participants who had repeatedly followed a route were asked to recall the serial order of directions, and the direction associated with each cue. For initial and final intersections of the route, most participants responded correctly on both tests. For intermediate intersections, many responded correctly on the associative recall test only. This suggests that many participants used both route following strategies concurrently at some intersections, but only the associative cue strategy at other intersections. This varying interplay of strategies probably reflects primacy and recency effects.