Keeping track of where we are: Spatial working memory in navigation |
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| Authors: | Kara J Blacker Steven M Weisberg Nora S Newcombe Susan M Courtney |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Psychological &2. Brain Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA;3. Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA;4. Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA;5. Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA;6. F. M. Kirby Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA |
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| Abstract: | Spatial working memory (WM) seems to include two types of spatial information: locations and relations. However, this distinction has been based on small-scale tasks. Here, we used a virtual navigation paradigm to examine whether WM for locations and relations applies to the large-scale spatial world. We found that navigators who successfully learned two routes and also integrated them were superior at maintaining multiple locations and multiple relations in WM. However, over the entire spectrum of navigators, WM for spatial relations, but not locations, was specifically predictive of route integration performance. These results lend further support to the distinction between these two forms of spatial WM and point to their critical role in individual differences in navigation proficiency. |
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| Keywords: | Working memory navigation spatial relations virtual environment |
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