R. Schumannhengsteler et al., EFFECTS OF PRESENTATION MODE ON VISUOSPAT IAL MEMORY PERFORMANCE IN CHILDREN AND ADULTS, Zeitschrift fur experimentelle Psychologie, 42(4), 1995, pp. 594-616
We report two studies investigating the effects of several experimenta
l manipulations on visuo-spatial memory performance in children and ad
ults. In particular, we were interested in memory for the location of
objects. A picture reconstruction task was used where picture-like arr
angements of four to six items were briefly presented and then reconst
ructed. In the first experiment with 5- and 8-year-olds and adults, th
e degree of visual differentiation of the items as well as presentatio
n mode (simultaneous versus serial) were varied. Contrary to our hypot
hesis, there was a negative effect of simultaneous presentation in chi
ldren, but only if the degree of visual differentation was low. There
was no such effect in adults. In a second experiment with 6- and 8-yea
r-olds and adults, we again varied presentation mode, but excluded the
scene-like character of the arrangements. All the age groups were sli
ghtly better with serial presentation. However, reducing the available
schematic knowledge led to a severe performance decrease. The results
are related to the current discussion about a further fractionation o
f the VSSP and to different assumptions about internal representations
of location information.