The Development of Visuo-spatial Memory: How to Remember Location

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Abstract
Recent studies on developmental differences in spatial memory have reported equivocal results. Some found an age-dependent improvement of memory performance whereas others did not. The two studies reported here investigate age differences in memory for visual-spatial information. A picture reconstruction task with simultaneous presentation of scene-like visual-spatial arrangements was used. Subjects had to recognise objects and to reconstruct the initial spatial arrangement. The first study with 5to 10year-olds produced the typical age-dependent improvement in recognising visual material as well as in remembering the locations of specific objects. No effect for age was obtained in memory for the critical loci themselves. The second study with 4to 6-year-olds revealed similar results. Error analyses indicated that in younger children the association between object identity and object location is weaker than in older children. The results are considered as evidence for the assumption that spatial information is not necessarily represented as a feature of an item. Alternative types of representations of spatial information in the picture reconstruction task are discussed.