VISUO-SPATIAL WORKING MEMORY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Essays in Cognitive Psychology UK Editors: Alan Baddeley, University of Bristol, UK Vicki Bruce, University of Stirling, UK North American Editor: Henry L. Roediger, III, Washington University in St. Louis, USA Essays in Cognitive Psychology is designed to meet the need for rapid publication of brief volumes in cognitive psychology. Primary topics will include perception, move- ment and action, attention, memory, mental representation, language, and problem solving. Furthermore, the series seeks to define cognitive psychology in its broadest sense, encompassing all topics either informed by, or informing, the study of mental processes. As such, it covers a wide range of subjects including computational approaches to cognition, cognitive neuroscience, social cognition, and cognitive development, as well as areas more traditionally defined as cognitive psychology. Each volume in the series will make a conceptual contribution to the topic by reviewing and synthesizing the existing research literature, by advancing theory in the area, or by some combination of these missions. The principal aim is that authors will provide an overview of their own highly successful research program in an area. It is also expected that volumes will, to some extent, include an assessment of current know- ledge and identification of possible future trends in research. Each book will be a self- contained unit supplying the advanced reader with a well-structured review of the work described and evaluated. Also available in this series: Mental Models and the Interpretation of Hypothesis-testing Behaviour Anaphora Fenna Poletiek Alan Garnham Superior Memory Memory for Actions John Wilding & Elizabeth Valentine Johannes Engelkamp Anxiety and Cognition Superportraits Michael W. Eysenck Gillian Rhodes Rationality and Reasoning Flashbulb Memories Jonathan St. B.T. Evans & David E. Over Martin Conway Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Connectionist Modelling in Cognitive Robert Logie Neuropsychology Implicit and Explicit Learning in Human David C. Plaut & Tim Shallice Performance Diane Berry & Zoltann Dienes Working Memory and Language Processing Sue Gathercole & Alan Baddeley Communicating Quantities Linda Moxey & Tony Sanford Affect, Cognition and Change The Cognitive Neuropsychology of John Teasdale & Philip Banyard Schizophrenia Anxiety: The Cognitive Perspective Christopher Frith Michael W. Eysenck Working Memory and Severe Learning Difficulties Reading and the Mental Lexicon Charles Hulme & Susie Mackenzie Marcus Taft Deduction Bias in Human Reasoning Phil Johnson-Laird Jonathan St. B.T. Evans Visuo-Spatial Working Memory and Individual Differences Cesare Cornoldi Professor of Psychology, University of Padua, Italy Tomaso Vecchi Professor of Psychology, University of Pavia, Italy First published 2003 by Psychology Press 27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2FA Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Psychology Press 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. Psychology Press is a member of the Taylor & Francis Group Copyright © 2003 Psychology Press Cover design by Bob Rowinski at Code 5 Design All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cornoldi, Cesare. Visuo-spatial working memory and individual differences / Cesare Cornoldi & Tomaso Vecchi. p. cm. – (Essays in cognitive psychology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–84169–216–6 (alk. paper) 1. Short-term memory. 2. Space perception. 3. Visual perception. 4. Individual differences. I. Vecchi, Tomaso, 1966– II. Title. III. Series. BF378.S54 C67 2003 153.1′32 – dc21 2002012455 ISBN 0-203-64158-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-69787-1 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 1-84169-216-6 (Print Edition) Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 Spatial cognition 2 Visual mental imagery 4 Working memory 6 Spatial processes, visual mental imagery, and working memory 7 1. The study of individual differences in visuo-spatial abilities 9 The study of individual differences 9 The specificity of visuo-spatial ability 11 The specificity of visuo-spatial components of working memory 12 Inter-individual (and intra-individual) variability and intellectual functioning 13 Classification of visuo-spatial abilities 15 Examination of individual differences in VSWM 15 Differences in visual mental imagery and VSWM differences 26 Units of analysis in the study of individual differences 29 Concluding remarks 30 2. Models and components of visuo-spatial representation and working memory 33 The imagery perspective 33 Visual pathways and mental imagery 37 vi CONTENTS Visual, spatial, and motor processes 38 Working memory 39 Visuo-spatial working memory 44 Continuity models of working memory 49 Concluding remarks 52 3. Gender differences in visuo-spatial abilities 55 Males perform better than females in visuo-spatial tasks: A classical view57 Meta-analyses concerning gender differences 58 Gender differences in passive and active VSWM 60 Males perform better than females in visuo-spatial tasks: Structural or strategic factors? 63 Concluding remarks 66 4. Individual differences in children’s visuo-spatial working memory 69 The development of VSWM 69 Differentiation within VSWM 73 Deficits and expertise in VSWM 75 Children with low visuo-spatial intelligence and high verbal intelligence 76 The selective VSWM Matrix task and role of inhibition, interference, and control 79 Children with nonverbal learning disability 80 Concluding remarks 81 5. Visuo-spatial working memory in ageing 83 Modification of VSWM in ageing 84 Investigation of active VSWM abilities in the elderly: The Jigsaw Puzzle test 86 Ageing effects and the architecture of visuo-spatial memory models 89 Process-dependent effects in old age 91 Concluding remarks 93 6. Imagery, blindness, and visuo-spatial working memory 95 Imagery processing in blind people 95 Imagery and memory effects in blind people 97 Visuo-spatial working memory limitations in congenital blindness 99 Active and passive visuo-spatial processes in blind people 101 Blindness and the use of the third dimension 103 Concluding remarks 106 7. Visuo-spatial abilities in genetic syndromes 109 Down’s syndrome 109 Williams syndrome 113 Fragile-X syndrome 115 Turner syndrome 116 Concluding remarks 118 CONTENTS vii 8. A continuity approach to visuo-spatial working memory 119 Continuities of mind 119 A continuity model of working memory 120 Global and local cognitive resources in the continuous WM system and sources of individual differences 124 Vertical continuum: Processing-dependent features 126 Horizontal continuum: Modality-dependent features 131 Dissociating functions, integrating models 134 References 137 Author index 159 Subject index 166 Preface The concept of working memory has acquired a crucial role within cognitive psychology. Its importance resides in the fact that the human mind cannot operate without the support of a temporary memory system, holding and processing information to carry out cognitive tasks. Successes and failures in many activities could then be due to, respectively, an efficient or weak func- tioning of working memory. In this volume we have examined the speci fic characteristics of the visuo-spatial component of working memory, assumed to be critical in a variety of human activities like perception, action, imagery, or orientation. Our effort was directed towards two main goals. The first goal was to explore the organization and features of visuo-spatial working mem- ory within the more general framework of the working memory system. The second goal was to examine the implications of visuo-spatial working mem- ory limitations in the study of specific populations who, for different reasons, are differentially affected by them. These two goals are strictly interconnected, justifying our approach to the study of working memory from an individual differences perspective. To this aim, we then integrated empirical data, mostly deriving from our own studies, in order to provide an updated overview of this field of research. 9 Acknowledgements We are indebted to many friends and colleagues who helped and reinforced us in many ways during the period on which the research reported in this book is spanned. In particular, Rossana De Beni, Luisa Girelli, Paola Palladino, and Francesca Pazzaglia generously gave scientific advice and personal support. Many students offered gentle and hard questions and we are much indebted to them for their collaboration as well as for improving our ideas. A special “thank you” to Nicola Mammarella who provided thoughtful and constant help. Diego Varotto, Francesco Nigito, and Maria Luisa Tritto offered tech- nical and human support: The figures and tables are due to them. Caroline Clark transformed our manuscript into a more clearly written book. Over the last 10 years, we have worked in several departments and universities—Padova, Milano, Brunel, Aberdeen, Roma, Pavia—and we always found a friendly and stimulating atmosphere. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who participated in our experiments: