Visual-Spatial Memory – Dr Martin Fracker

Previous research had shown that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have more difficulty than others in remembering the order in which verbal information appeared such as, for example, the order in which one may pass through various cities on a road trip from Austin to Seattle. Bowler and colleagues wanted to see if this deficit in verbal serial recall would extend to non-verbal visual-spatial information, in this case the sequence of seven points which appeared on a map (a 3 x 4 grid) one point at a time. Participants had to recall the correct locations on the map in the exact order in which each point appeared.

These researchers found that, compared to neurotypical individuals, individuals with ASD had more difficulty remembering the order in which visual-spatial information appeared. Interestingly, their results also suggested that autistic individuals may use verbal strategies to remember non-verbal information.

When people are in engaged highly dynamic environments where lots of things are happening all at once, they may not be able to pay adequate attention to everything simultaneously. We would expect them to allocate their attention to those things they judge to be most important. This insight suggests that limited attentional capacity should limit people’s situation awareness.

In this experiment, I placed participants in a simulated combat environment and tried to manipulate their attentional priorities. In order to assess the impact of these manipulations on situation awareness, I employed a memory probe procedure in which we would occasionally interrupt the simulation and query the participants on details of the tactical situation.

Tag: Visual-Spatial Memory

Do Autistic Individuals Have More Difficulty Remembering the Order of Non-Verbal Information?

Limited Attention Capacity Limits Situation Awareness