Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults.

Gianluca Amico,Sabine Schaefer

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.688174

Abstract

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

Highlights

The human brain can store almost unlimited amounts of information in its episodic memory
The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment
Paired t-tests with the Bonferroni-corrected level of significance to p = 0.008 indicated that memory performance was best when participants were standing during encoding and recall, followed by performance in the standing-walking condition (M = 11.66, second] Mean (SD) = 4.08), both of which were significantly better than the walking-walking condition (M = 8.22, SD = 3.33) and the walking-standing condition (M = 8.16, SD = 3.14)

Summary

Introduction

The human brain can store almost unlimited amounts of information in its episodic memory. Many of these memories contain information about the environment and the position of one’s own body (e.g., when trying to remember where you bought a shirt, information about the store and how you went there are reactivated). Perceiving and encoding multimodal information leads to stronger memories compared to information that was encoded by only one modality (Jahn and Engelkamp, 2003; Feyereisen, 2009). This phenomenon has been shown in the context of the intersensory-redundancy hypothesis (Bahrick and Lickliter, 2014). This hypothesis states that if the same information is perceived by more than one modality (e.g., seeing a speaker’s mouth while hearing the sound of his/her voice), amodal information like speech rhythm can be perceived more and is more likely to be encoded (intersensory facilitation). Bahrick and Lickliter (2014) emphasize the role that intersensory redundancy plays in the development of selective attention in infancy and early childhood

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