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Memory for positional movements as a component of the visuospatial working memory

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Abstract

Though the Corsi block-tapping task (CBT) is widely used for assessing visuospatial memory, information about what exactly it measures is still debated. We investigated such issue by observing how motor, visual, and spatial secondary tasks affect the performance on three versions of the CBT. Results showed a double dissociation pattern, wherein two motor secondary tasks had larger effects when the CBT was administered by the examiner tapping on the blocks. A spatial secondary task had larger effects when the CBT was administered by automatically illuminating the blocks. Finally, a visual secondary task had larger effects on a two-dimensional, computerized version of the CBT. These findings suggest that memory for movements plays a relevant role in the CBT, and are especially relevant due to their implications for assessment of brain-damaged patients, besides providing further evidence of a fractionation of visuospatial memory into multiple subcomponents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Via dei Marsi no.78, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Stefano Sdoia, Francesco Di Nocera & Fabio Ferlazzo

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  1. Stefano Sdoia
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  2. Francesco Di Nocera
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  3. Fabio Ferlazzo
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Correspondence to Stefano Sdoia.

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All procedures performed in the present study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Handling editor: Riccardo Brunetti (European University of Rome); Reviewers: Franco Delogu (Lawrence Technological University); Claudia Del Gatto (European University of Rome).

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Sdoia, S., Di Nocera, F. & Ferlazzo, F. Memory for positional movements as a component of the visuospatial working memory. Cogn Process 20, 363–369 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-019-00917-y

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