Adults' spatial scaling from memory: Comparing the visual and haptic domain

Abstract

The current study compared adults' spatial scaling from memory in the visual and haptic domain. Adults (N = 32, ages 19-27 years) were presented with a spatial-scaling task in a visual condition as well as a haptic condition (in which participants were blindfolded throughout the experimental session). In both conditions, they were presented with an embossed graphic including a target (i.e., a map). Then, they were asked to encode this map and to place a disc at the same spot on an empty referent space from memory. Maps had three different sizes whereas the referent space had a constant size, resulting in three different scaling factors (1:1, 1:2, 1:4). Participants' response times and absolute errors were measured. Order of perceptual condition was counterbalanced across participants. Analyses indicated that response times and absolute errors increased linearly with higher scaling factors in the visual as well as the haptic perceptual condition. In analogy to mental imagery research, these results suggest the usage of mental transformation strategies for spatial scaling.

Keywords: Haptic cognition; Spatial cognition; Spatial scaling; Visual cognition.