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Multiple systems of spatial memory and action

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Abstract

Recent findings from spatial cognition and cognitive neuroscience suggest that different types of mental representations could mediate the off-line retrieval of spatial relations from memory and the on-line guidance of motor actions in space. As a result, a number of models proposing multiple systems of spatial memory have been recently formulated. In the present article we review these models and we evaluate their postulates based on available experimental evidence. Furthermore, we discuss how a multiple-system model can apply to situations in which people reason about their immediate surroundings or non-immediate environments by incorporating a model of sensorimotor facilitation/interference. This model draws heavily on previous accounts of sensorimotor interference and takes into account findings from the stimulus–response compatibility literature.

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Notes

  1. We thank David Waller for bringing this to our attention.

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Acknowledgments

We thank David Waller, Jack Loomis, Athanassios Raftopoulos, Marc Grosjean, and one anonymous reviewer for providing valuable comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this manuscript. We also thank Roberta Klatzky for many useful discussions on this and related topics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Marios N. Avraamides

  2. Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Ave South, Nashville, TN, 37203, USA

    Jonathan W. Kelly

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  1. Marios N. Avraamides
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Correspondence to Marios N. Avraamides.

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Avraamides, M.N., Kelly, J.W. Multiple systems of spatial memory and action. Cogn Process 9, 93–106 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-007-0188-5

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