The consequences of virtual embodiment for the mental representation of proximity

Abstract

There is evidence that knowledge about space will reflect the details of how that space is experienced and how people interact with it. In two experiments we demonstrate that memory for items is spatially structured after their locations were learnt in a desktop virtual environment (DVE). The structure was measured using interitem priming of recognition. By comparison in Experiment 2, after the same layout had been learnt using a map display, there was no evidence of spatial structuring in memory. It is concluded that the limited view of space afforded by navigation through an environment, as contrasted with the overview afforded by a map, explains the observed differences in the spatial structuring of interitem associations. Navigation through an environment leads to spatial structuring in memory whereas using a map does not.

Keywords:

• Spatial representation
• Proximity
• Virtual environments
• Recognition priming

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Kay Harris and Sally Bearpark for their help in collecting data and to an anonymous reviewer of a related article for suggesting the post hoc analysis conducted on the data from Experiment 2. The work reported in this article was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK.

Notes

¹ It appears from the baseline data, graphed in Figure 6, that at our chosen SOA of 100 ms the cognitive and motor actions associated with a repeated response (e.g., a “yes” following a “yes”) take longer than those associated with a change in response (e.g., a “yes” following a “no”).