The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The overall goal of this memory game is to explore the relationship between spatial language, object knowledge, and spatial cognition. The memory game method allows us to test how people describe where objects are in space, under controlled circumstances, how people remember where objects are in space, and also the relationship between spatial language on the one hand, and memory on the other hand. The main advantage of the memory game method is that it allows us to experimentally control variables while also collecting data under ecologically valid circumstances.

In particular, a key feature of the method, when we collect language data, is the participants are unaware that we're interested in the words they use to describe object location. Begin the procedure by escorting the participant into the testing room and seating them as close as comfortable to the short side of the table, without touching it. Inform the participants that they are taking part in an experiment testing spatial memory.

We'll be looking at the influence of language on memory for object location. Instruct the placement of the object on a location as an example trial. And you would read the instruction out loud to me.

Place the black cross on the yellow dot. Okay, then you can place the card back on the table, and I'll place the object as you instructed, so in this example, the black cross on the yellow dot. After the object placement, when both the experimenter and participant are seated, instruct the participant to use body language and verbal language to name the object using only three words.

Then have the experimenter record which demonstrative term the participant uses to refer to the object. Finally, after the participant names the object with three words, remove the object and proceed with the instruction for the next trial. Begin by instructing the participant to read out an instruction card at the start of every trial.

Place the yellow triangle on the red dot. Instructing the placement of an object. During object placement, ensure participants have their eyes closed.

Following object placement, control for memory and coding time, and ensure the participant gets exactly 10 seconds to look at the location of the object. After the 10 seconds of memory encoding, instruct the participant to close their eyes. Then, turn the location stick upside down, So that the participant cannot see the locations during the memory recall.

Ensure that both the experimenter and participant are at their respective places during the recall. Next, place the indication stick at a distance from the actual location, so that participants must instruct the movement of the indication stick to reach the actual location. Next, instruct the participant to verbally indicate whether the indication stick needs to be further or closer to match the recalled location of the object.

Finally, when the participant is satisfied with the location of the indication stick, instruct them to say stop"Use the measuring tape to note the recalled location. Demonstrative use and memory for object location are influenced by the same parameters. Specific conditions induce the use of that over this in the language version of the paradigm.

The affects that distance has on demonstrative use shows that the further away the object is placed, the higher the proportion of that production. Similarly, the farther away the object is placed from the participant, the larger the error in memory. There is a similar effect of ownership on memory for object location, such that objects not owned by the participant are misremembered to be farther away, compared to objects owned by the participant.

However, there is no interaction of ownership and distance. The memory game's a very flexible procedure. It could be used to address a wide range of research questions.

For example, currently we're using the procedure to test a wide range of languages, to look across linguistic differences and how people talk about space. And we're also using the method with children and with older adults and with other populations, such as atypical developing populations. The most important virtue of the memory game procedure, I think, is that it allows us to collect language data without participants being aware that we're interested in the words they use to describe where objects are located.