Abstract
The present study examined the question of whether pointing enhances the serial recall of visuospatial positions. Thirty-six participants were presented with 40 target arrays varying in length from five to eight items, with each position appearing sequentially in red for 1 s. The task was to reproduce the order of presentation of the positions on a blank matrix. Results showed that, for five-, six-, and seven-item arrays, order memory was significantly better in the passive view than in the pointing condition, and the serial position curves displayed both recency and priority effects. Interestingly, the advantage of the passive-view condition was more pronounced in the early than in the late positions. For eight-item arrays, no significant differences were found between the passive view and the pointing conditions. Overall, the present data provide no evidence in support of the view that pointing facilitates the recall of serial positions.
References
Andrade J, Kemps E, Werniers Y, May J, Szmalec A (2002) Insensitivity of visual short-term memory to irrelevant visual information. Q J Exp Psychol 55:753–774
Chum M, Bekkering H, Dodd MD, Pratt J (2007) Motor and visual codes interact to facilitate visuospatial memory performance. Psychon Bull Rev 14:1189–1193
Dodd MD, Shumborski S (2009) Examining the influence of action on spatial working memory: the importance of selection. Q J Exp Psychol 62:1236–1247
Lecerf T, de Ribaupierre A (2005) Recognition in a visuospatial task: the effect of presentation. Eur J Cogn Psychol 17:47–75
Logie RH (1995) Visuo-spatial working memory. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd, Hove
Phillips WA, Christie DF (1977) Components of visual memory. Q J Exp Psychol 29:117–133
Ridgeway D (2006) Strategic grouping in the spatial span memory task. Memory 14:990–1000
Rossi-Arnaud C, Pieroni L, Baddeley AD (2006) Symmetry and binding in visuo-spatial working memory. Neuroscience 139:393–400
Rossi-Arnaud C, Spataro P, Longobardi E (2012) Effects of pointing on the recall of simultaneous and sequential visuospatial arrays: a role for retrieval strategies? Psychol Res 76:699–712
Rossi-Arnaud C, Spataro P, Marques VS, Longobardi E (2015) Pointing towards visuospatial patterns in short-term memory: differential effects on familiarity- and recollection-based judgments. Can J Exp Psychol 69:80–88
Smyth MM, Scholey KA (1994) Characteristics of spatial memory span: is there an analogy to the word length effect, based on movement time? Q J Exp Psychol 47:91–117
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spataro, P., Marques, V.R.S., Longobardi, E. et al. Does pointing facilitate the recall of serial positions in visuospatial working memory?. Cogn Process 16 (Suppl 1), 377–381 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-015-0681-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-015-0681-1