Spatial Memory for Objects and Words

Four experiments examine whether spatial location information is more likely to be encoded with the memory representation of objects than of words. Sixteen objects or the one-word verbal labels for each were studied on a matrix display, followed by a recall test and then a relocation test. In each experiment, an independent variable known to affect item recall was introduced to test whether spatial location memory would concomitantly vary for both objects and words. In Experiment 1, recall of both objects and words increased with age of the subjects. However, relocation accuracy increased for objects but not for words. In Experiment 2, visual imagery instructions generally improved memory for words without affecting relocation accuracy. In Experiments 3 and 4, prolonging the test delay diminished recall for objects and words. However, relocation accuracy decreased only for the objects. In each experiment, item memory was affected independently of location memory for words but not for objects. The results suggest that different processes are involved in encoding item and location information for words but not for objects.