ABSTRACT

When sequences of digits are visually presented within a numerical keypad on a screen, memory span increases, this effect was named visuospatial bootstrapping. The aim of the first experiment was to know if this effect could emerge without presenting a keypad on the screen. For this purpose, a three-phase experiment was designed. During phase 1, the immediate serial recall of two groups of participants was compared (pre-training): the first group saw sequences of one-digit numbers displayed on a screen within a keypad (the keypad group) whereas the second group heard the (same) sequences (the auditive group). During phase 2, all participants underwent a training session to help them visualise in their mind a keypad. Finally, in the third phase, participants were tested again with an immediate serial recall task (post-training). Results showed that both groups had comparable performance in post-training indicating that the visuospatial bootstrapping could be obtained without displaying a numerical keypad. The second experiment also involved a keypad group and an auditive group and was designed to investigate their spatial representation. Results showed that both groups spatialised the digits following the keypad spatial configuration: digits 1-4-7 were associated to left, 2-5-8 to middle and 3-6-9 to right.

摘要

当数字序列在屏幕上的数字键盘中以视觉方式呈现时，内存跨度会增加，这种效果被称为视觉空间引导。第一个实验的目的是了解这种效果是否可以在屏幕上不显示键盘的情况下出现。为此，设计了一个三相实验。在第一阶段，比较了两组参与者的即时连续回忆（预训练）：第一组看到键盘内屏幕上显示的一位数字序列（键盘组），而第二组听到（相同）序列（听觉组）。在第 2 阶段，所有参与者都接受了培训课程，以帮助他们在脑海中想象一个键盘。最后，在第三阶段，参与者再次接受了立即连续回忆任务（训练后）的测试。结果表明，两组在训练后的表现相当，表明可以在不显示数字键盘的情况下获得视觉空间引导。第二个实验还涉及一个键盘组和一个听觉组，旨在研究它们的空间表示。结果表明，两组都按照键盘空间配置对数字进行空间化：数字 1-4-7 与左侧相关，2-5-8 与中间相关，3-6-9 与右侧相关。