Scene recognition following locomotion around a scene

Effects of locomotion on scene-recognition reaction time (RT) and accuracy were studied. In experiment 1, observers memorized an 11-object scene and made scene-recognition judgments on subsequently presented scenes from the encoded view or different views (ie scenes were rotated or observers moved around the scene, both from 40 degrees to 360 degrees). In experiment 2, observers viewed different 5-object scenes on each trial and made scene-recognition judgments from the encoded view or after moving around the scene, from 36 degrees to 180 degrees. Across experiments, scene-recognition RT increased (in experiment 2 accuracy decreased) with angular distance between encoded and judged views, regardless of how the viewpoint changes occurred. The findings raise questions about conditions in which locomotion produces spatially updated representations of scenes.