A Spatial-Context Effect in Recognition Memory

• Published in: Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience Vol. 11; p. 143
• Main Authors: Pacheco, Daniel, Sánchez-Fibla, Marti, Duff, Armin, Verschure, Paul F. M. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 03.08.2017; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: Computer applications; context effects; Experiments; Memory; Neuroscience; recognition memory; spatial behavior; spatial memory and navigation; Studies; Virtual reality; New York; United States > US; Spain; context effects; virtual reality; spatial behavior; spatial memory and navigation; recognition memory
• ISSN: 1662-5153; 1662-5153
• DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00143

We designed a novel experiment to investigate the modulation of human recognition memory by environmental context. Human participants were asked to navigate through a four-arm Virtual Reality (VR) maze in order to find and memorize discrete items presented at specific locations in the environment. They were later on tested on their ability to recognize items as previously presented or new. By manipulating the spatial position of half of the studied items during the testing phase of our experiment, we could assess differences in performance related to the congruency of environmental information at encoding and retrieval. Our results revealed that spatial context had a significant effect on the quality of memory. In particular, we found that recognition performance was significantly better in trials in which contextual information was congruent as opposed to those in which it was different. Our results are in line with previous studies that have reported spatial-context effects in recognition memory, further characterizing their magnitude under ecologically valid experimental conditions.