Abstract
There are various examples of rightward biases in mental representation (e.g., Pollatsek et al., 1981; Halpern & Kelly, 1993). We examined whether any such bias occurs in memory for constructions of spatial layout (boundary extension; BE). Stimuli were photographs of scenes with a salient object near the right view-boundary and one near the left view-boundary. Eye movements were recorded (EyeLink II) and stimuli were presented in normal and mirror-reversed orientations. In Experiment 1, trials included a 500 ms picture (observers maintained fixation), followed by a 2500 ms mask. The picture reappeared with view-boundaries repositioned and observers adjusted them to reconstruct the original view. BE occurred on both sides, but the error was 5% greater on the right [t(23) = 3.9, p leftward bias [t(22) = 3.6, p t(23) = 2.4, p [[lt]].05]. These results demonstrate a leftward bias of attention that improves memory for detail on the left side of a briefly presented scene, while at the same time providing less constraint on boundary extension for the right side of space.
This research was supported by NIMH Grant MH54688.