Differential roles for visuospatial and verbal working memory in situationmodel construction

Two experiments investigated the processing of the spatial and causal dimen sions of situation models. In Experiment 1, participants read texts varying in spatial and causal demands while responding to on-line spatial and caus al probes. Experiment 2 used the same design, but used texts that more tigh tly integrated spatial and causal information. In both experiments, spatial ly oriented dependent measures were generally influenced by spatial, but no t causal, demands, whereas causally oriented measures were influenced by ca usal, but not spatial, demands. In addition, spatially oriented dependent m easures were generally correlated with a measure of spatial working memory capacity, whereas causally oriented measures were correlated with a measure of verbal working memory capacity. These results indicate that spatial and causal dimensions of situation models are maintained and elaborated indepe ndently in different working memory subsystems.