The spatial nature of ordinal information
in verbal working memory
Sophie Antoine
Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences ULB Neuroscience Institute
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Promoteur : Prof. Dr. Wim Gevers
Thèse présentée en vue de l’obtention du titre de Docteur en Sciences Psychologiques
2016
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 13
Introduction
Introduction 15
Verbal working memory: from components to processes 16
Serial order in verbal working memory 21
The mental whiteboard hypothesis 26
Number-space associations 32
Outline of the dissertation 38
References 41
CHAPTER 2 51
Order information in verbal working
memory shifts the subjective midpoint in both the line bisection and the landmark tasks.
Abstract 53
Introduction 54
Method 60
Participants 60
Apparatus, stimuli and procedure 60
Line bisection task 62
Landmark task 63
Results 64
Line bisection task 64
Landmark task 68
General discussion 71
Acknowledgements 77
CHAPTER 3 87 Hemispatial neglect and serial order in
verbal working memory.
Abstract 89
Introduction 90
Methods 95
Participants 95
Materials and data analyses 97
Results 101
Discussion 105
Acknowledgements 109
References 110
CHAPTER 4 117
Distinct contribution of the intraparietal sulcus to attention during space and order processing revealed by TMS
Abstract 119
Introduction 120
Methods 127
Participants 127
Stimulus presentation 127
TMS protocol and procedure 131
Data analyses 134
Results 136
Span tasks 136
Spatial bisection task 136
Ordinal bisection task 140
Discussion 142
CHAPTER 5 153 General discussion
Summary of experimental studies 155
Support for the mental whiteboard hypothesis 160 Pure working memory account and dual processes account of
number-space associations 163
About the left-right orientation 170
Spatial position marking and primacy gradient 173 About the spatial nature of position markers 180
Conclusions 183
