Retrieving enduring spatial representations after disorientation

Four experiments tested whether there are enduring spatial representations of objects’ locations in memory. Previous studies have shown that under certain conditions the internal consistency of pointing to objects using memory is disrupted by disorientation. This disorientation effect has been attributed to an absence of or to imprecise enduring spatial representations of objects’ locations. Experiment 1 replicated the standard disorientation effect. Participants learned locations of objects in an irregular layout and then pointed to objects after physically turning to face an object and after disorientation. The expected disorientation was observed. In Experiment 2, after disorientation, participants were asked to imagine they were facing the original learning direction and then physically turned to adopt the test orientation. In Experiment 3, after disorientation, participants turned to adopt the test orientation and then were informed of the original viewing direction by the experimenter. A disorientation effect was not observed in Experiment 2 or 3. In Experiment 4, after disorientation, participants turned to face the test orientation but were not told the original learning orientation. As in Experiment 1, a disorientation effect was observed. These results suggest that there are enduring spatial representations of objects’ locations specified in terms of a spatial reference direction parallel to the learning view, and that the disorientation effect is caused by uncertainty in recovering the spatial reference direction relative to the testing orientation following disorientation.