Memory for temporal and spatial information : hemispheric asymmetries and automaticity
Date
1986
Authors
Leason, Mary Anne
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Abstract
It has been observed that information about the temporal order of events and the spatial location of stimuli is remembered easily, "automatically", even under incidental conditions. Other lines of research have shown that the two hemispheres of the brain are differentially involved in processing temporal and spatial material, the left hemisphere being more involved with temporal, and the right with spatial, information processing. The present study was an attempt to determine, firstly, whether similar hemispheric differences exist for memory of temporal and spatial attributes of stimuli; secondly, how such differences might relate to the well-known verbal/nonverbal ยท hemispheric asymmetries; and thirdly, whether memory for the temporal and spatial attributes of stimuli is indeed "automatic" and therefore distinguishable from recognition memory for the stimuli themselves. In two controlled-visual-field experiments, line drawings of co mm on objects (Experiment I) and words and photos of faces (Experiment II) were tachistoscopically presented. Subjects made forced-choice recognition judgements of the stimuli themselves, and of their temporal order and spatial locations. No side differences in accuracy of memory for temporal or spatial material were uncovered in either experiment. Further, t h~ r e were no verbal/non verbal differences in Experiment II. These results ma y have been due to the complexity of the task, which would have required widespread brain activation. Some support for the concept of automatic memory processing was found. The data suggest that little additional cognitive capacity, beyond that required for recognizing the items themselves, was needed to remember their temporal and spatial attributes.