| Abstract: | Four experiments involving 125 undergraduates investigated the use of cognitive strategies for encoding spatial location in visual figures. Ss reproduced the position of a dot in a square figure that had distance markers placed along 2 sides. Ss' responses were biased toward imaginary points of intersection formed by the distance markers when Ss responded from memory (Exp 1) or while viewing the figures (Exp 2). Findings demonstrate that empty regions of a figure can serve as subjective landmarks for spatial localization. In Exp 3, dot relocation was similarly distorted toward physical cross marks placed at the intersections of distance markers. The attraction of dots to intersection points depended on the viewer employing a strategy of mentally projecting from distance markers to form imaginary intersections. In Exp 4, attraction toward intersection points was observed only when Ss employed the projection strategy. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
