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A substantial amount of research has demonstrated the importance of reference frames in organizing memory of object locations in both small and large environments. However, to date, little research has examined how the object locations represented in one reference frame are specified relative to object locations represented in another. In a series of 4 experiments, we demonstrate that multiple microreference frames can be established in memory for sets of objects that are spatially and semantically distinct, and that the spatial relations between these microreference frames are specified in memory by means of a more global, macroreference frame. Additionally, these experiments demonstrate that an established macroreference frame can influence which of several microreference frames will be coded in memory, but that a previously established microreference frame had no appreciable influence on the subsequent formation of a macroreference frame. These results are interpreted as indicating that the same cognitive mechanisms underlie interobject coding across multiple environmental scales. The implications for reference frame theories and theories positing hierarchical memory organization are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of a spatial cue on representational momentum were examined. If a cue was present during or after target motion and indicated the location at which the target would vanish or had vanished, forward displacement of that target decreased. The decrease in forward displacement was larger when cues were present after target motion than when cues were present during target motion. If a cue was present during target motion, high-relevant cues (that indicated the final location of the target) led to larger decreases in forward displacement than did low-relevant cues (that indicated only the horizontal coordinate of the final location of the target). If a cue was present after target motion, there was a trend for low-relevant cues to lead to larger decreases in forward displacement than did high-relevant cues. Possible explanations involving displacement of the cue or landmark attraction are considered. Implications for the relationship of attention and representational momentum, and for whether representational momentum reflects an automatic process, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]