Effects of spatial configurations on the resolution of spatial representations in working memory

Recent research has suggested that people represent spatial information configurally, and preservation of configural cues at retrieval helps memory for spatial locations (Jiang, Olson, & Chun, 2000; Simons, 1996). The aim of the present study is to specifically investigate the effects of configural cues on the resolution of spatial representations of objects. In an open-ended task, participants first studied a set of colored objects (Experiment 1 & 2A: 3 and 5 locations; Experiment 2B: 3 and 7 locations). Then in the test display, they were asked to determine the original location of a target object whose color was auditorially cued. The difference between the reported location and the original location was taken as a measure of spatial resolution. We manipulated available configural cues at retrieval. In all experiments, in one third of the trials non-target objects were presented in their original locations (same configuration condition) and in another third of the trials, objects were presented in random positions (different condition). In Experiment 1, in the remaining trials, the non-target objects were not presented at all (no configuration); in Experiment 2A & 2B, non-target objects swapped their colors (swap condition) resulting in the preservation of the spatial configural structure albeit a change in the test display. In three experiments, we consistently observed that the precision of reports was impaired by the configural disruption at retrieval; the effect of global configural disruption was significantly more than that of any other type ofrelative location change. We argue that participants may be using available cues in conjunction with the represented summary statistics of the original display in the precise computation of an individual location.