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Optimized experimental designs to best detect spatial positional association of response codes in working memory

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Abstract

The SPoARC (Spatial Positional Association of Response Codes) effect refers to spatialization of information in working memory. Among the potential factors that could influence how order is mapped onto a mental space during the recognition process, we selected the following two factors: i) the type of stimuli, in particular their verbal vs. visual aspects and ii) the number of probes. In this study, 137 participants memorized sequences of either words or pictures and subsequently performed a recognition test for which they responded using lateralized keys. For half of the participants, only one probe was presented after each sequence, whereas the other half was administered several probes. A significantly greater number of participants presented a SPoARC using a single probe. We discuss that spatialization is best detected when the sequence is scanned only once. Results also showed no difference between the two types of stimuli (i.e., verbal vs. visual). This finding raises the question of the respective roles of verbalization and visualization in the SPoARC.

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Notes

  1. Among these additional studies, we selected six studies subsequent to the literature review conducted by Guida and Campitelli (2019), but also two other studies published before the synthesis of Guida & Campitelli that we still considered relevant. Conversely, within the list of Guida & Campitelli, studies conducted by Rinaldi, Brugger, Bockisch, Bertolini, and Girelli (2015), Martarelli, Mast, and Hartmann (2017) and Antoine, Ranzini, Gebuis, van Dijck, and Gevers (2017) were excluded from our inventory because they did not measure spatialization using response times. The study carried out by Boiteau & Almor (2017, Experiment number two) was also discarded because of a protocol essentially focusing on the spatialization of syntax (the so-called syntax-space effect). This study was replaced by a study conducted by Boiteau (2015, Experiment number four) which had a more standard design and which allowed us to consider the effect of a new type of stimulus in our analysis. Finally, the study conducted by Wang, Liu, Shi, and Kang (2018) does not appear in our selection, as no regression coefficient was explicitly provided by the authors. Among the 21 studies listed in Table 1, study 1.c was discarded because the authors did not use a standard SPoARC paradigm to detect spatialization. Experiment 4.3, 4.4 and 5.1 were also discarded because they involved a SNARC effect (see Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993). In Boiteau (2015), we only selected Experiment number four because all other experiments involved the Syntax-Space effect. Study 9.1 was also discarded because spatialization was measured through whole-hand and precision grip instead of a standard key-pressing procedure commonly used to detect the SPoARC. Study 13.5 was excluded due to its use of articulatory suppression and tapping. Study 16.2 and 16.3 were excluded due to a vertical response mapping. Finally, 19.2 and 19.3 were not included due to their non central spatial coordinates.

  2. Some studies on the SPoARC effect allocated time to verify that the order of the different items was correctly memorized by participants, for example by asking participants to identify the memorized sequence among several ones at the end of each trial (for instance, the distractive sequences contained the same items organized in a different order; see Van Dijck and Fias, 2011 or Ginsburg et al., 2014).

  3. One participant was excluded from the analyses due to poor understanding of the instructions.

  4. Out of the 12 participants who were not native French speakers, four of them were native Arabic speaker, three native Spanish speaker, one native English speaker, one native Bulgarian speaker, one native Portuguese speaker, one native Albanian speaker and one native Tagalog speaker.

  5. https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/vector-illustration-juicy-raspberry-isolated-white_1215960.htm#page=1&query=raspberry&position=0&from_view=searchhttps://for raspberry, https://icones8.fr/icons/set/kiwi for kiwi, https://www.vecteezy.com/vector-art/3486476-doodle-freehand-sketch-drawing-of-blueberry-fruit for blueberry and https://fr.freepik.com/vectors-libre/fond-grenade-dessine-main_3885171.htm#page=1&query=grenade&position=20&from_view=search

  6. This effect was also significant when considering only the first probe presented after the to-be-recalled sequence in the multi-probe condition. This restricted analysis still showed slower reaction times in the mono-probe condition than in the multi-probe condition for the first probe (t(2801) = − 9.22, p < .001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BCL, CNRS, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

    Morgane Ftaïta, Maëliss Vivion, Emilie Banks, Michaël Fartoukh & Fabien Mathy

  2. LP3C, Université Rennes, Rennes, France

    Alessandro Guida

  3. LAMHESS, Université Côte d’Azur, Nice, France

    Stephen Ramanoël

  4. Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, 17 rue Moreau, F-75012, Paris, France

    Stephen Ramanoël

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  1. Morgane Ftaïta
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The experiments were not preregistered. The data for the experiment and the R scripts are available at https://osf.io/fam6q/.

Author Note

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-17-CE28-0013-01) awarded to Fabien Mathy and a grant (Boost’Europe-21004278-00001052) from Region Bretagne awarded to Alessandro Guida. The first co-authors Morgane Ftaïta and Maëliss Vivion (by alphabetical order) contributed equally to this work. Conceptualization, all authors; Methodology, Morgane Ftaïta, Alessandro Guida, Fabien Mathy, Maëliss Vivion; Formal Analysis, Morgane Ftaïta, Alessandro Guida, Fabien Mathy, Maëliss Vivion; Writing, all authors.

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Ftaïta, M., Vivion, M., Banks, E. et al. Optimized experimental designs to best detect spatial positional association of response codes in working memory. Atten Percept Psychophys 85, 1661–1680 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-023-02666-9

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