The Development of Visuo-spatial Memory: How to Remember Location

Recent studies on developmental differences in spatial memory have reported equivocal results. Some found an age-dependent improvement of memory performance whereas others did not. The two studies reported here investigate age differences in memory for visual-spatial information. A picture reconstruction task with simultaneous presentation of scene-like visual-spatial arrangements was used. Subjects had to recognise objects and to reconstruct the initial spatial arrangement. The first study with 5to 10year-olds produced the typical age-dependent improvement in recognising visual material as well as in remembering the locations of specific objects. No effect for age was obtained in memory f…