How do you get there from here? Mental representations of route descriptions

✍ Scribed by Laura F. Schneider; Holly A. Taylor

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 271 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0888-4080
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0720(199910)13:5<415::aid-acp602>3.0.co;2-n

✦ Synopsis

In two experiments, participants received a spatial description relating a route through an environment. Descriptions diered in terms of the spatial perspective presented, either route or survey, and the degree to which spatial information was determined, either indeterminate, determinate, or overdeterminate. In Experiment 1, participants read the description and in Experiment 2 they listened to the description and took notes for later use. Results indicated that perspective and determinacy in¯uenced memory and the contents of participants' notes. More speci®cally, perspective in¯uenced the integration of information. The eect of determinacy depended on degree. Indeterminacy in¯uenced use of a mental representation, in particular during way®nding. Overdeterminacy stressed working memory, thereby in¯uencing many aspects of performance. In summary, perspective and determinacy, which commonly vary in spatial descriptions, in¯uence the ability to eciently use descriptions. Copyright