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Where did I park? A naturalistic study of spatial memory
Author(s) -
Lutz John,
Means Larry W.,
Long Thomas E.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.2350080503
Subject(s) - psychology , cognition , naturalistic observation , demography , developmental psychology , audiology , social psychology , medicine , psychiatry , sociology
A naturalistic study of spatial memory having temporary utility was conducted using 32 faculty and staff of a university, who park in non‐reserved parking spaces, as subjects. The subjects, who were unaware of the study until interviewed, were asked to indicate on a map the exact location where they had parked their car on that day and on each of the three preceding days. Whereas retention accuracy decreased significantly across days, the recency effect was weak and overall retention proved to be very accurate. Of the subjects who varied their parking location, 88 per cent were able to indicate within three spaces where they parked on the day of the interview, and 58 per cent on the most remote day. Younger females made significantly larger retention errors across the four days than older females and younger and older males. Subjects' overall retention accuracy correlated with their overall confidence in their recollections (γ = .72). Daily ratings of ‘how busy on the job’, reported times left campus each day, parking location variability, particular parking lot used, and number of parking spaces in the distinct locations used were not significantly correlated with retention errors. In follow‐up interviews, subjects reported preferring a behavioural, ‘park in a favourite spot’ strategy, with several types of imagery‐based cognitive strategies being cited less frequently, and verbal encoding being the least often cited strategy.