title: Body-specific representations of spatial location.
abstract: The body specificity hypothesis (Casasanto, 2009) posits that the way in which people interact with the world affects their mental representation of information. For instance, right- versus left-handedness affects the mental representation of affective valence, with right-handers categorically associating good with rightward areas and bad with leftward areas, and left-handers doing the opposite. In two experiments we test whether this hypothesis can: extend to spatial memory, be measured in a continuous manner, be predicted by extent of handedness, and how the application of such a heuristic might vary as a function of informational specificity. Experiment 1 demonstrates systematic and continuous spatial location memory biases as a function of associated affective information; right-handed individuals misremembered positively- and negatively-valenced locations as further right and left, respectively, relative to their original locations. Left-handed individuals did the opposite, and in general those with stronger right- or left-handedness showed greater spatial memory biases. Experiment 2 tested whether participants would show similar effects when studying a map with high visual specificity (i.e., zoomed in); they did not. Overall we support the hypothesis that handedness affects the coding of affective information, and better specify the scope and nature of body-specific effects on spatial memory.
authors.affiliation: US Army NSRDEC, Cognitive Science, Natick, MA, United States. tbrunye@alumni.tufts.edu
authors.forename: Tad T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Brunyé
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gardony
authors.forename: Caroline R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Mahoney
authors.forename: Holly A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Taylor
mesh_terms: D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008377:Maps as Topic; D008606:Mental Processes; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult