title: Retention of memory for large-scale spaces.
abstract: This study empirically examined the retention of large-scale spatial memory, taking different types of spatial knowledge and levels of sense of direction into consideration. A total of 38 participants learned a route from a video and conducted spatial tasks immediately after learning the route and after 2 weeks or 3 months had passed. Results showed that spatial memory decayed over time, at a faster rate for the first 2-week period than for the subsequent period of up to 3 months, although it was not completely forgotten even after 3 months. The rate of forgetting differed depending on the type of knowledge, with landmark and route knowledge deteriorating at a much faster rate than survey knowledge. Sense of direction affected both the acquisition and the retention of survey knowledge. Survey knowledge by people with a good sense of direction was more accurate and decayed much less than that by people with a poor sense of direction.
authors: a Center for Spatial Information Science , University of Tokyo , Japan.
authors: Toru
authors: T
authors: Ishikawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008377:Maps as Topic; D057567:Memory, Long-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011897:Random Allocation; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D013997:Time Factors; D014741:Video Recording; D055815:Young Adult