AbstractThis study examined how different components of working memory are involved in the acquisi-tion of egocentric and allocentric survey knowledge by people with a good and poor sense of direc-tion (SOD). We employed a dual-task method and asked participants to learn routes from videoswith verbal, visual, and spatial interference tasks and without any interference. Results showed thatpeople with a good SOD encoded and integrated knowledge about landmarks and routes into egocen-tric survey knowledge in verbal and spatial working memory, which is then transformed into allocen-tric survey knowledge with the support of all three components, distances being processed in verbaland spatial working memory and directions in visual and spatial working memory. In contrast, peoplewith a poor SOD relied on verbal working memory and lacked spatial processing, thus failing toacquire accurate survey knowledge. Based on the results, a possible model for explaining individualdifferences in spatial knowledge acquisition is proposed.Keywords: Working memory; Spatial knowledge; Cognitive maps; Frames of reference; Sense ofdirection; Dual tasks
['Wen Wen', 'Toru Ishikawa', 'Takao Sato']
Individual differences in the encoding processes of egocentric and allocentric survey knowledge.