Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Recognition memory for sentences from spatial descriptions: A test of the episodic construction trace hypothesis

  • Published:
Memory & Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Many researchers believe that when people read spatial descriptions, they construct mental models of the configurations described. Payne (1993) proposed that reading a spatial description produces a memory of the operations used to construct a mental model, anepisodic construction trace. The episodic construction trace hypothesis predicts that memory for a spatial description will be influenced by the degree of overlap between the construction processes required by the original description and the construction processes prompted by an item in a recognition test. The two experiments reported here show that readers of spatial descriptions are more likely to accept sentences in a recognition test that are consistent with the operations used to construct a mental model than to accept sentences that are inconsistent. Consistency with the episodic construction trace leads to both correct recognition of verbatim sentences from the original description and false recognition of sentences that were not present in the original descriptions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baguley, T. S., & Payne, S. J. (1998, August).Given-new versus newgiven? An analysis of reading times for spatial descriptions. Paper presented at Mind III: Spatial Cognition, Dublin, Ireland.

  • Baguley, T. S., & Payne, S. J. (in press). Long-term memory for spatial and temporal mental models includes construction processes and model structure.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

  • Bower, G. H., &Morrow, D. G. (1990). Mental models in narrative comprehension.Science,247, 44–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bransford, J. D., Barclay, J. R., &Franks, J. J. (1972). Sentence memory: A constructive versus interpretive approach.Cognitive Psychology,3, 193–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, R. M. J., &Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1989). Spatial reasoning.Journal of Memory & Language,28, 564–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, H. H. (1969). Linguistic processes in deductive reasoning.Psychological Review,76, 387–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, H. H. (1973). Space, time, semantics and the child. In T. E. Moore (Ed.),Cognitive development and the acquisition of language (pp. 27–63). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coventry, K. R., & Prat-Sala, M. (1998, August).The interplay between geometry and function in the comprehension of spatial prepositions. Paper presented at Mind III: Spatial Cognition, Dublin, Ireland.

  • Crowder, R. G. (1993). Systems and principles in memory theory: Another critique of pure memory. In A. Collins, M. A. Conway, S. E. Gathercole, & P. E. Morris (Eds.),Theories of memory (pp. 139–161). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewhurst, S. A., &Conway, M. A. (1994). Pictures, images, and recollective experience.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,20, 1088–1098.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dodson, C. S., &Johnson, M. K. (1996). Some problems with the process-dissociation approach to memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,125, 181–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, W. (1996). The role of decision processes in remembering and knowing.Memory & Cognition,24, 523–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrlich, K., &Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1982). Spatial descriptions and referential continuity.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behaviour,21, 296–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, C. R. (1994). Levels of representation in memory for discourse. In M. A. Gernsbacher (Ed.),Handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 589–607). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, C. R., &Chrysler, S. T. (1990). Surface forms, textbases and situation models: Recognition memory for three types of textual information.Discourse Processes,13, 175–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner, J. M., &Java, R. I. (1991). Forgetting in recognition memory with and without recollective experience.Memory & Cognition,19, 617–623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardiner, J. M., &Java, R. I. (1993). Recognising and remembering. In A. Collins, M. A. Conway, S. E. Gathercole, & P. E. Morris (Eds.),Theories of memory (pp. 163–188). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garnham, A. (1981). Mental models as representations of text.Memory & Cognition,9, 560–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garnham, A. (1987).Mental models as representations of discourse and text. Chichester, U.K.: Ellis Horwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gernsbacher, M. A. (1990).Language comprehension as structure building. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, I. M. L. (1957). The solving of three term series problems.British Journal of Psychology,48, 286–296.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacoby, L. L. (1991). A process dissociation framework: Separating automatic from intentional uses of memory.Journal of Memory & Language,30, 513–541.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacoby, L. L., Toth, J. P., &Yonelinas, A. P. (1993). Separating conscious and unconscious influences of memory: Measuring recollection.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,122, 139–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Java, R. I. (1994). States of awareness following word stem completion.European Journal of Cognitive Psychology,6, 77–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. K., &Raye, C. L. (1981). Reality monitoring.Psychological Review,88, 67–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983).Mental models: Towards a cognitive science of language, inference and consciousness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson-Laird, P. N., &Byrne, R. M. J. (1991).Deduction. Hove, U.K.: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson-Laird, P. N., Byrne, R. M. J., &Schaeken, W. (1992). Propositional reasoning by model.Psychological Review,99, 418–439.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kintsch, W., Welsch, D., Schmalhofer, F., &Zimny, S. (1990). Sentence memory: A theoretical analysis.Journal of Memory & Language,29, 133–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolers, P. A. (1973). Remembering operations.Memory & Cognition,1, 347–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kučera, H., &Francis, W. N. (1967).Computational analysis of present-day American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Langston, W., Kramer, D. C., &Glenberg, A. M. (1998). The representation of space in mental models derived from text.Memory & Cognition,26, 247–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levelt, W. J. M. (1984). Some perceptual limitations on talking about space. In A. J. van Doorn, W. A. de Grind, & J. J. Koenderink (Eds.),Limits in perception (pp. 323–358). Utrecht: VNU Science Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mani, K., &Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1982). The mental representation of spatial descriptions.Memory & Cognition,10, 181–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, C. D., Bransford, J. D., &Franks, J. J. (1977). Levels of processing versus transfer appropriate processing.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behaviour,16, 519–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, S. J. (1993). Memory for mental models of spatial descriptions: An episodic-construction-trace account.Memory & Cognition,21, 591–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinlan, P. T. (1992).The Oxford psycholinguistic database. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radvansky, G. A., Spieler, D. H., &Zacks, R. T. (1993). Mental model organization.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,19, 95–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radvansky, G. A., &Zacks, R. T. (1991). Mental models and the fan effect.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,17, 940–953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Radvansky, G. A., &Zacks, R. T. (1997). The retrieval of situationspecific information. In M. A. Conway (Ed.),Cognitive models of memory (pp. 173–213). Hove, U.K.: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roediger, H. L., III (1990). Implicit memory: Retention without remembering.American Psychologist,45, 1043–1056.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, H. A., &Tversky, B. (1992). Spatial mental models derived from survey and route descriptions.Journal of Memory & Language,31, 261–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness.Canadian Journal of Psychology,26, 385–398.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tversky, B. (1991). Spatial mental models. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 27, pp. 109–145). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dijk, T. A., &Kintsch, W. (1983).Strategies of discourse comprehension. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whittlesea, B. W. A., &Dorken, M. D. (1993). Incidentally, things in general are particularly determined: An episodic-processing account of implicit learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,122, 227–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, S. G., Rinck, M., McNamara, T. P., Bower, G. H., &Morrow, D. G. (1993). Mental models and narrative comprehension: Some qualifications.Journal of Memory & Language,32, 141–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, R. L., &Whittlesea, B. W. A. (1998). Implicit learning of complex structures: Active adaptation and selective processing in acquisition and application.Memory & Cognition,26, 402–420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zwaan, R. A., &Radvansky, G. A. (1998). Situation models in language comprehension and memory.Psychological Bulletin,123, 162–185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zwaan, R. A., &van Oostendorp, H. (1993). Do readers construct spatial representations in naturalistic story comprehension?Discourse Processes,16, 125–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales

    Stephen J. Payne

  2. Department of Human Sciences, Loughborough University, LE11 3TU, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England

    Thom Baguley

Authors
  1. Thom Baguley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Stephen J. Payne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thom Baguley.

Additional information

This research was supported by the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council (Project Grant R000235641).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baguley, T., Payne, S.J. Recognition memory for sentences from spatial descriptions: A test of the episodic construction trace hypothesis. Mem Cogn 27, 962–973 (1999). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201227

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201227

Keywords

Search

Navigation