Abstract
Viewers tend to report memory for areas of a scene that were actually outside the perimeter of the perceived view (boundary extension). We examined whether the extrapolated information can facilitate processing of spatial relations. Participants viewed a prime followed by a target photograph. They judged which of two locations in this target picture was closer to the camera. In Experiment 1, the prime used was either the full target picture, a partial prime (showing a part of the target picture, not including the locations to be judged), a full control image (same size as target picture), or a partial control (same size as partial prime). Both the full target prime and the partial prime facilitated the processing of spatial relations, compared the controls. These primes were equally effective, indicating that extrapolated layout was as useful as perceived layout in facilitating spatial processing. Experiment 2 examined whether priming is sensitive to changes in the depth of the perceived view. The prime used was either the target picture, a 10% more close-up view (objects closer to camera), a 10% more wide angle view (objects farther from camera), or a control image. Relative to the control, all views showed equal facilitation, indicating that within this range, the depth of the view did not affect priming. Implications with regard to the representation of spatial layout are discussed.