External Representation And Visual Spatial Abilities Impact On Spatial Memory

The external representation affects spatial memory. The change detection paradigm was used to investigate the factors affecting spatial memory, such as detail judgment, position judgment and path judgment. A2x2x2x2mixed factorial design was adopted. External representation (pictorial, text) and task complexity (simple, complex) were within-subject variables. Visual spatial ability (high, low) and gender (male, female) of participants were between-subject variables. The dependent variables are scores and time consuming of three spatial memory tasks. There were72postgraduates (34males,38females), from Nanjing Normal University and Hohai University, participated the experiment.Results showed that:(1) External representation and task complexity affected detail judgment significantly.(2) External representation, task complexity, gender affected the score of position judgment significantly. The interaction of external representation and gender affected the time consuming of position judgment significantly. The interaction of external representation and task complexity affected the time consuming of position judgment significantly. The interaction of visual spatial ability and gender of participants affected the time consuming of position judgment significantly.(3) External representation affected the score of path judgment significantly. The interaction of external representation, visual spatial ability and gender of participants affected the score of path judgment significantly. The interaction of external representation, task complexity and gender affected the score of position path significantly. The interaction of task complexity, visual spatial ability and gender of participants affected the score of path judgment significantly.Conclusions:(1) Memory of details would be high as people use the text. Memory of position and path would be high as people use the pictorial.(2) Memory of details would be high as people carry on simple task. Memory of position would be high as people carry on complex task.(3) Visual spatial ability, gender of participants together with the variables above affected spatial memory.