Spatial updating of environments described in texts.

Publisher: Elsevier Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 0241111 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Print ISSN: 0010-0285 (Print) Linking ISSN: 00100285 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Cogn Psychol Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2000- > : Amsterdam : Elsevier
Original Publication: San Diego, CA : Academic Press.

Imagination* ; Orientation* ; Pattern Recognition, Visual* ; Problem Solving* ; Reading* ; Space Perception*; Adolescent ; Adult ; Color Perception ; Concept Formation ; Female ; Humans ; Kinesthesis ; Male ; Psychomotor Performance ; Reaction Time ; Social Environment

People update egocentric spatial relations in an effortless and on-line manner when they move in the environment, but not when they only imagine themselves moving. In contrast to previous studies, the present experiments examined egocentric updating with spatial scenes that were encoded linguistically instead of perceived directly. Experiment 1 demonstrated that, regardless of the mode of rotation (physical or imagined), egocentric updating takes place in a deliberate and backward fashion when the locations of objects are anchored in a mental framework. Experiment 2 involved only imagined rotations and showed that results remained unchanged when spatial labels were removed from the scene descriptions. Experiment 3 provided evidence that physical rotations--but not imagined rotations--lead to on-line updating of egocentric relations, provided that the objects of the scene are represented in a sensorimotor framework. The present results suggest that physical movements and sensorimotor encoding are both prerequisites of effortless egocentric updating.

Date Created: 20031204 Date Completed: 20040223 Latest Revision: 20191108

20221213

10.1016/s0010-0285(03)00098-7

14642290