Influence of working memory and spatial anxiety on floor slant perception

Abstract

An individual’s spatial abilities may be related to how successful they will be in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, and have practical significance for everyday experiences in the world (Wai et al., 2009). Within the literature, there is a wide range of individual differences that exist, particularly for navigation (Newcombe et al., 2022). Spatial anxiety, a type of anxiety that involves fear or worry regarding aspects of spatial processing, may be one explanation for individual differences; those with high spatial anxiety have greater apprehension towards spatial tasks and tend to perform worse on them (Alvarez-Vargas et al., 2021; Arrighi & Hausmann, 2022; Lyons et al., 2018). Working memory (WM) presents another individual difference which may explain some variation in spatial ability, as high-WM individuals tend to perform better on spatial tasks (Hoogmoed et al., 2022; Palmiero et al., 2016). Ramirez et al. (2012) found an interaction between spatial anxiety and WM on mental rotation in children, but these findings have not been extended to other spatial abilities, such as spatial reorientation. The present study examined if WM and spatial anxiety predicted performance when reorienting using terrain slope, a task in which large individual differences have been reported. Spatial anxiety and working memory were associated with the ability to identify the uphill direction of a slanted floor (Perceptual task). Contrary to my hypothesis, no correlations were found between spatial anxiety and working memory and the ability to remember a target object using the slant of the floor (Memory task), and no sex differences were found. These results confirm the role that spatial anxiety and WM may play for spatial thinking and success in STEM disciplines.