Influences on the first-perspective alignment effect from text route descriptions.

Four experiments investigated the more efficient recall of routes learned from text descriptions when the imagined orientation at test was in alignment with the first experienced perspective. Experiments 1 and 2 replicated the effect, but found little evidence for the influence of an external frame of reference provided either by describing a salient landmark external to the route, or by employing cardinal directions in the descriptions. In Experiment 3, the first-perspective alignment (FPA) effect was relatively unaffected by elaboration of spatial information or more experience of reading the text. Experiment 4 found attenuation of the FPA effect when participants made active spatial judgements from imagined key locations while learning. The results are discussed in relation to theories of spatial reference frames and the influence of location salience.