Environmental overlap and individual encoding strategy modulate memory interference in spatial navigation
Open accessAbstract
There has been great interest in how previously acquired knowledge interacts with newly learned knowledge and how prior knowledge facilitates semantic and "schema" learning. In studies of episodic memory, it is broadly associated with interference. Very few studies have examined the balance between interference and facilitation over the course of temporally-extended events and its individual differences. In the present study, we recruited 120 participants for a two-day spatial navigation experiment, wherein participants on Day 2 navigated virtual routes that were learned from Day 1 while also learning new routes. Critically, half of the new mazes overlapped with the old mazes, while the other half did not, enabling us to examine interference and facilitation in the context of spatial episodic learning. Overall, we found that navigation performance in new mazes that overlapped with previously-learned routes was significantly worse than the new non-overlapping mazes, suggesting proactive interference. Interestingly, we found memory facilitation for new routes in familiar environments in locations where there was no direct overlap with the previously-learned routes. Cognitive map accuracy positively correlated with proactive interference. Moreover, participants with high self-report spatial ability and/or a preference for place-based learning experienced more proactive interference. Taken together, our results show that 1) both memory interference and facilitation can co-occur as a function of prior learning, 2) proactive interference within a route varied as a function of the degree of overlap with old knowledge, and 3) individual differences in spatial ability and strategy can modulate proactive interference.
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In participants navigating novel virtual reality environments, segments that overlapped with familiar environments learned the day before produced proactive interference.
“A more recent study similarly showed proactive interference in participants who were navigating novel virtual reality environments that contained segments that overlapped with familiar environments learned the day before.”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
The interfering effects of the original environment suggest that a cognitive map or gist of the environment had formed.
“The interfering effects of the original environment might suggest that a cognitive map or gist of the environment had formed, as is suggested by additional evidence that proactive interference increases as a function of cognitive mapping and self-reported sense of direction 37 .”
From From cognitive maps to spatial schemas (2023) · cites this paper as [37]
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- Authors
- He, Q., Beveridge, E. H., Starnes, J., Goodroe, S. C., & Brown, T. I.
- Affiliations
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Brown, Thackery I.
- Venue
- Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-02
- Volume
- 207
- Pages
- 104508
- ISSN
- 0010-0277 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7779693
- OpenAlex
- W3095733586
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 0.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging
- National Institutes of Health (1-R21AG063131)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- proactive interference, spatial navigation, cognitive maps, individual differences, spatial ability, place-based education, encoding strategies, virtual maze, route learning
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Individuality, Semantics, Memory, Episodic, Spatial Memory, Spatial Learning, Spatial Navigation
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