The Difference in Cognitive Processing Between Route and Survey Descriptions Used by Visuo-Spatial Working Memory

Abstract

This study was carried out using a correlational method to determine whether visual (visual cache) and spatial (inner scribe) components in visuo-spatial working memory constrain the construction of spatial representations through spatial description. In the experiment, participants listened to a description explaining the layout of the city from either a ground-level viewpoint walking through the city (route descriptions) or a bird’s eye-view looking down on the interrelationships of the landmarks within it (survey descriptions). They were asked to imagine the described scenes and to memorize directions and landmarks for later recall. Visual and spatial span tests were executed to evaluate visual and spatial capacities of participants, respectively. The results indicate that spatial span correlates mainly with the recall score of route descriptions and that visual span is related mainly to survey descriptions. Moreover, the findings also suggest that components that are not mainly used are also related to the composition process of spatial representations; however, the effect becomes positive or negative depending on the imposed memory load.