Assessing spatial frameworks with object and direction probes

Abstract

An experiment tested the generality of the spatial framework analysis (Bryant, Tversky, & Franklin, in press; Franklin & Tversky, 1990) to a task involving accessing directions of objects from object-name probes. Subjects read narrative descriptions of a person surrounded by objects to the front, back, and sides, and beyond the head, and beyond the feet. They were then probed with object names for direction terms or vice versa. Response times conformed to predictions of the spatial framework in both cases, indicating that the spatial framework pattern does not depend on the use of direction terms in testing. © 1992, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.