How Are the Locations of Objects in the Environment Represented in Memory?

This chapter summarizes a new theory of spatial memory. According to the theory, when people learn the locations of objects in a new environment, they interpret the spatial structure of that environment in terms of a spatial reference system. Our current conjecture is that a reference system intrinsic to the collection of objects is used. Intrinsic axes or directions are selected using egocentric (e.g., viewing perspective) and environmental (e.g., walls of the surrounding room) cues. The dominant cue is egocentric experience. The reference system selected at the first view is typically not updated with additional views or observer movement. However, if the first view is misaligned but a subsequent view is aligned with natural and salient axes in the environment, a new reference system is selected and the layout is reinterpreted in terms of this new reference system. The chapter also reviews evidence on the orientation dependence of spatial memories and recent results indicating that two representations may be formed when people learn a new environment; one preserves inter-object spatial relations and the other comprises visual memories of experienced views.

[1]  Ranxiao Frances Wang,et al.  Perceiving Real-World Viewpoint Changes , 1998 .

[2]  Timothy P McNamara,et al.  Spatial memory and perspective taking , 2004, Memory & cognition.

[3]  Irwin N. Jankovic,et al.  Principles of spatial problem solving. , 1982 .

[4]  S. Levinson,et al.  LANGUAGE AND SPACE , 1996 .

[5]  L. Hedges,et al.  Categories and particulars: prototype effects in estimating spatial location. , 1991, Psychological review.

[6]  Elizabeth S. Spelke,et al.  A geometric process for spatial reorientation in young children , 1994, Nature.

[7]  G W Evans,et al.  Cognitive mapping: knowledge of real-world distance and location information. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[8]  I. Rock.  The orientation of forms on the retina and in the environment. , 1956, The American journal of psychology.

[9]  Clark C. Presson,et al.  Orientation specificity in spatial memory: what makes a path different from a map of the path? , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[10]  Steffen Werner,et al.  Environmental reference systems for large-scale spaces , 1999, Spatial Cogn. Comput..

[11]  T. Poggio,et al.  The importance of symmetry and virtual views in three-dimensional object recognition , 1994, Current Biology.

[12]  J. Huttenlocher,et al.  Toddlers' use of metric information and landmarks to reorient. , 2001, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[13]  H. Bülthoff,et al.  View dependence in scene recognition after active learning , 1999, Memory & cognition.

[14]  Irvin Rock,et al.  Orientation and form , 1974 .

[15]  Daniel R. Montello,et al.  Spatial Orientation and the Angularity of Urban Routes , 1991 .

[16]  Ranxiao Frances Wang,et al.  Representing a stable environment by egocentric updating and invariant representations , 1999, Spatial Cogn. Comput..

[17]  Clark C. Presson,et al.  Orientation Specificity in Representations of Place , 1997 .

[18]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects , 1971, Science.

[19]  R A Andersen,et al.  Multimodal integration for the representation of space in the posterior parietal cortex. , 1997, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[20]  M. F. Schober.  Spatial perspective-taking in conversation , 1993, Cognition.

[21]  Martin J. Farrell,et al.  Mental Rotation and the Automatic Updating of Body-Centered Spatial Relationships , 1998 .

[22]  C C Presson,et al.  Updating after Rotational and Translational Body Movements: Coordinate Structure of Perspective Space , 1994, Perception.

[23]  P. Jolicoeur,et al.  The spatial frame of reference in object naming and discrimination of left-right reflections , 1990, Memory & cognition.

[24]  J. Rieser,et al.  Sensitivity to Perspective Structure While Walking without Vision , 1986, Perception.

[25]  T. McNamara,et al.  Visual Memories from Nonvisual Experiences , 2001, Psychological science.

[26]  M. Goodale,et al.  The visual brain in action , 1995 .

[27]  S. Levinson.  Frames of reference and Molyneux's question: Cross-linguistic evidence , 1996 .

[28]  T. McNamara,et al.  Egocentric and geocentric frames of reference in memory of large-scale space , 2003, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[29]  M. Lansdale.  Modeling memory for absolute location. , 1998, Psychological review.

[30]  Sholl Mj.  Cognitive maps as orienting schemata. , 1987 .

[31]  B. Tversky,et al.  Searching imagined environments. , 1990 .

[32]  T. McNamara,et al.  Viewpoint Dependence in Scene Recognition , 1997 .

[33]  K. Jeffery,et al.  The Hippocampal and Parietal Foundations of Spatial Cognition , 1999 .

[34]  Anthony E. Richardson,et al.  Spatial knowledge acquisition from maps and from navigation in real and virtual environments , 1999, Memory & cognition.

[35]  T. McNamara,et al.  Intrinsic frames of reference in spatial memory. , 2002, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[36]  Stephen E. Palmer,et al.  Reference frames in the perception of shape and orientation , 1989 .

[37]  Clark C. Presson,et al.  Building spatial representations through primary and secondary learning. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[38]  Timothy P. McNamara,et al.  Systems of Spatial Reference in Human Memory , 2001, Cognitive Psychology.

[39]  M. Sholl.  Cognitive maps as orienting schemata. , 1987, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[40]  R. D. Easton,et al.  Object-array structure, frames of reference, and retrieval of spatial knowledge. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[41]  A. Friedman,et al.  The importance of being upright: Use of environmental and viewer-centered reference frames in shape discriminations of novel three-dimensional objects , 1996, Memory & cognition.

[42]  T. McNamara,et al.  Multiple views of spatial memory , 1997 .

[43]  W. Mou.  Spatial memory and spatial updating in an augmented reality , 2004 .

[44]  B. Tversky.  Distortions in memory for maps , 1981, Cognitive Psychology.

[45]  B. Tversky,et al.  Mental representations of perspective and spatial relations from diagrams and models. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[46]  T. McNamara,et al.  Mental representations of large and small spatial layouts are orientation dependent. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[47]  J. Rieser.  Access to knowledge of spatial structure at novel points of observation. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.