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Context Effects in Memory for Routes

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Spatial Cognition III (Spatial Cognition 2002)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 2685))

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Abstract

When people experience a new environment they first develop landmark knowledge and second route knowledge. Route knowledge is thought to be different from survey knowledge which may develop with additional experience. The present paper describes three experiments in which participants learned a route through (1) a real maze, (2) a virtual maze, or (3) our university library. Participants were tested for their spatial knowledge using a cued recall procedure. Testing was done either in context, i.e. along the route, or out of context, i.e. in a separate, neutral room.

Results showed a clear context effect. In addition, the context effect generalized along the route in the real environments. However, no generalization was observed in the virtual version. Application of multinomial models revealed that the structure of the knowledge acquired was more complex than assumed by popular models of route knowledge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Trier, 54286, Trier, Germany

    Karl F. Wender, Daniel Haun & Björn Rasch

  2. University of Heidelberg, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    Matthias Blümke

Authors
  1. Karl F. Wender
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  2. Daniel Haun
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  3. Björn Rasch
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  4. Matthias Blümke
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FB 3 - Mathematik und Informatik, Universität Bremen, Bibliothekstr. 1, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Christian Freksa

  2. Fakultät für Informatik, Technishe Universität München, Boltzmannstr. 3, 85748, Garching bei München, Germany

    Wilfried Brauer

  3. Fachbereich Informatik, Universität Hamburg, Vogt-Kölln-Str. 30, 22527, Hamburg, Germany

    Christopher Habel

  4. FB 1 - Psychologie, Universität Trier, 54286, Trier, Germany

    Karl F. Wender

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wender, K.F., Haun, D., Rasch, B., Blümke, M. (2003). Context Effects in Memory for Routes. In: Freksa, C., Brauer, W., Habel, C., Wender, K.F. (eds) Spatial Cognition III. Spatial Cognition 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2685. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45004-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45004-1_13

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-40430-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45004-7

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