S1 (FriAM 1-65) - The Psychonomic Society

Thursday Evening Posters 1090–1095
Bowling Green State University—Just and Carpenter (1985) proposed
that people with low spatial ability (lows) perform spatial tasks (e.g.,
mental rotation, cube comparison) less accurately than do highs because
of individual differences in working memory. Miyake et al.
(2001) found that different spatial ability measures tap into maintenance
and executive components of working memory differentially.
We developed an interactive version of Just and Carpenter’s task
where the participant decides whether two cubes with letters on their
surfaces are the same. The interactive component allowed participants
to rotate the cube rather than imagining it rotating. With the reduced
demands on working memory that the interactive task affords, we expected
lows to perform as well as highs on the task. Differences in accuracy
were eliminated, but the two groups demonstrated differences
in their understanding of rotational transformations, the amount of
time spent planning, and whether they matched the letters on all the
visible faces before responding.
(1090)
Hemovelocity and Performance Demonstrate That Complexity
Limits Visual Short-Term Memory. NATASHA A. BARRETT,
Georgia State University, MICHAEL J. BERAN, Language Research
Center, & DAVID A. WASHBURN, Georgia State University (sponsored
by David A. Washburn)—Two theoretical models have been
proposed to explain the capacity limit of visual short-term memory.
The fixed slot model states that visual capacity is limited by the number
of objects in a display. The flexible slot model states that visual
capacity is limited by the complexity of the objects in the display. Previous
researchers have focused on the spatial component of visual capacity
instead of object memory. We instead examined object memory
in a change detection task using random polygons that varied on
the complexity of the image and the number of objects presented. In
conjunction with recognition memory performance, we incorporated
brain activity as revealed by hemovelocity. Hemovelocity was measured
by transcranial Doppler sonography. Performance and brain activity
varied as a function of object complexity. Capacity fell far below
the level proposed by the fixed slot model. The results therefore favor
the flexible slot model.
(1091)
The Intricacies of Encoding and Rehearsal in Spatial Memory.
KATHERINE GUÉRARD & SÉBASTIEN TREMBLAY, University
of Laval, & JEAN SAINT-AUBIN, University of Moncton—In spatial
serial recall, performance increases as the distance between the consecutive
stimuli locations decreases. This effect, known as the path
length effect (Parmentier, Elford, & Maybery, 2005), was investigated
in order to examine the mechanisms implicated in memory for spatial
information. The participants had to recall the order in which spatial
locations were presented. In half of the to-be-remembered sequences,
the distance between consecutive dots was short, and in the other half,
the distance was long. Moreover, participants had to perform visual
suppression, an interfering task in which they had to incessantly move
their eyes from one location to another during the delay (Experiment
1) or during item presentation (Experiment 2). Combined with
the analysis of eye movements, the use of visual suppression suggested
that the path length effect takes place at encoding, since the effect
was reduced when the interfering task was carried out during item
presentation, but not during the delay.
(1092)
Veridical Memory in Category-Based Spatial Distortions: A Retrieval
Model. CRISTINA SAMPAIO, Western Washington University,
& RANXIAO FRANCES WANG, University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign—Studies showed that systematic categorical distortions
occur in spatial memory recall. The present experiment investigated
whether people have access to the veridical memory for a target’s location.
Each trial contained two separate tasks. The first task involved
a standard location reproduction procedure after a brief view of a target
within a blank circle. The second task involved a forced-choice
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recognition procedure after a re-presentation of the same target within
the circle. In this task, the foil item for each participant was the participant’s
own recalled location of the target recorded in the first task
of the trial. The results for the reproduction task replicated the category
bias effect. However, participants selected the original location
of the target in approximately 77% of the trials in the recognition task.
These findings indicate that people retain a veridical memory of the
original location and are able to select that location after a delay.
(1093)
Working Memory in Developing and Applying Spatial Mental
Models. TAD T. BRUNYE, Tufts University & U.S. Army Research,
Development, and Engineering Command, & HOLLY A. TAYLOR,
Tufts University—A series of four experiments examined working
memory involvement during the construction and application of spatial
mental models. Experiment 1 used a dual-task paradigm to examine
visuospatial, articulatory, and central executive involvement
during survey and route description learning. Converging evidence
from inference and declarative memory tasks suggests articulatory involvement
in text processing, and visuospatial and central executive
involvement in spatial mental model development, particularly during
route description learning. Experiment 2 applied the dual-task paradigm
during the application of spatial mental models. An articulatory
dual-task slowed the successful recognition of verbatim information,
whereas visuospatial and central executive dual-tasks slowed inference
verification; accuracy was not affected. Taken together, results
suggest that spatial mental models develop and are successfully applied
through interactions between multiple working memory systems.
Furthermore, this involvement varies as a function of description
perspective.
(1094)
Response Mode Differences in Perspective Taking: Differences in
Interference or Differences in Strategy? JONATHAN W. KELLY &
TIMOTHY P. MCNAMARA, Vanderbilt University—Two experiments
explored the effects of response mode on imagined perspective taking.
Participants learned object locations and then, while blindfolded,
pointed to and verbally described object locations from perspectives
aligned or misaligned with their current facing direction. On the basis
of May’s (2004) sensorimotor interference theory, pointing responses,
but not verbal responses, were expected to be hindered by a reference
frame conflict for misaligned perspectives. Contrary to this hypothesis,
a performance advantage for aligned as opposed to misaligned
perspectives was found for both response types. To investigate the
possibility that previously reported response type effects were due to
differences in strategy and not differences in interference, participants
were instructed to use a third-person strategy. This alternative strategy
resulted in similar performance from aligned and misaligned perspectives
for verbal labeling, but not for pointing. We propose that
previous findings attributed to differences in sensorimotor interference
could be due to differences in strategy.
• MUSIC COGNITION •
(1095)
Mechanisms of Melody Recognition. JOSH MCDERMOTT & AN-
DREW J. OXENHAM, University of Minnesota—The pattern of upward
and downward changes in pitch, known as the melodic contour,
is thought to be a primary means by which humans recognize
melodies. To probe the nature of the contour representation, we asked
subjects to judge whether the contours of two successive melodies
were the same or different. The first melody was always defined by
variation in pitch, while the second varied along one of several different
dimensions. We found that subjects could perform at high levels
when the second stimulus varied in brightness, intensity, or pitch,
but not when it varied in other attributes. However, subjects could only
perform the task when brightness or intensity changes were mapped
to pitch changes of the same sign—that is, when intensity/brightness