Human short-term spatial memory: precision predicts capacity

Cognitive Psychology
Pamela Banta LavenexPierre Lavenex

Abstract

Here, we aimed to determine the capacity of human short-term memory for allocentric spatial information in a real-world setting. Young adults were tested on their ability to learn, on a trial-unique basis, and remember over a 1-min interval the location(s) of 1, 3, 5, or 7 illuminating pads, among 23 pads distributed in a 4m×4m arena surrounded by curtains on three sides. Participants had to walk to and touch the pads with their foot to illuminate the goal locations. In contrast to the predictions from classical slot models of working memory capacity limited to a fixed number of items, i.e., Miller's magical number 7 or Cowan's magical number 4, we found that the number of visited locations to find the goals was consistently about 1.6 times the number of goals, whereas the number of correct choices before erring and the number of errorless trials varied with memory load even when memory load was below the hypothetical memory capacity. In contrast to resource models of visual working memory, we found no evidence that memory resources were evenly distributed among unlimited numbers of items to be remembered. Instead, we found that memory for even one individual location was imprecise, and that memory performance for one location ...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 12, 2015·Trends in Pharmacological Sciences·Miao-Kun SunDaniel L Alkon
Aug 28, 2016·Acta Psychologica·Ansgar D Endress, Aneela Siddique
Dec 5, 2018·Behavior Research Methods·David Trafimow, Hunter A Myüz
Oct 8, 2020·Psychonomic Bulletin & Review·Holger Schultheis
Jun 5, 2021·Frontiers in Neural Circuits·Jiahe GuoXuejun Yang
Jun 15, 2021·Frontiers in Psychiatry·Pamela Banta Lavenex, Pierre Lavenex
Nov 23, 2021·Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience·Adeline JabèsPierre Lavenex

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