Author(s) Bärbel Garsoffky (Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien) - b.garsoffky@iwm-tuebingen.de Stephan Schwan (IWM) - s.schwan@iwm-tuebingen.de Marc Halfmann (Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien Tübingen) - m.halfmann@iwm-tuebingen.de
Pre-registered on 2022/03/15 03:21 (PT)
1) Have any data been collected for this study already? No, no data have been collected for this study yet.
2) What's the main question being asked or hypothesis being tested in this study? Does the 3-dimensional room, that surrounds information arrangements, influence memory of this information? Which role plays the viewer´s viewpoint when trying to memorize visual information placed on the walls of a room?
In the study participants memorize picture pairs hanging on the walls of a quadratic virtual room. The two paarlings of a pair are either placed on the same wall or on two adjacent walls, i.e., they are separated by a corner. Additionally, between the two paarlings there could be one or three other pictures.
It is hypothesized that pairs are remembered better if only one instead of three other pictures hang between the paarlings (hypothesis 1).
Former experiments with the same experimental material showed a corner separation effect: Pairs are remembered better if paarlings are not separated by a corner but placed on the same wall.
In this experiment it is expected that the corner separation effect only occurs if the central axis of subjects´ viewpoints during the learning phase is oriented towards the middle of the walls, but not if the central axis of their viewpoints is oriented towards the corners (hypothesis 2).
3) Describe the key dependent variable(s) specifying how they will be measured. Participants´ task: We examine the correctness of visual memory with a kind of "memory play cards". In the learning phase participants stay in a virtual room and see 36 pictures (cards) showing different motifs hanging on the walls, a little bit like paintings in a museum. All pictures in one room belong to the same category, e.g. "fruits" or "animals". Every motif occurs twice in the room, e.g. two cards present exactly the same picture of an "orange" as motif. These are the two paarlings of a pair. In the test phase the participants stay in the same virtual room as in the learning phase, but now all cards are turned and only their black back is visible. Then in each trial one card is turned so the motif can be seen and another card (still only black back visible) is marked by a square. Then the participants have to press one of two buttons to decide if the marked card (if it would be turned around) would show the same motif as the card with the visible motif or not, i.e. if the two cards are a pair or not.
Measuring memory in the test phase: For analysis of memory, nonparametric sensitivity A´ and nonparametric response bias B´´ will be calculated according to signal detection theory (Macmillan & Creelman, 2005; Stanislaw & Todorov, 1999). Participants with an overall Sensitivity A´ < .5 are excluded, because values < .5 point to sampling errors or response confusion (Stanislaw & Todorov, 1999).
4) How many and which conditions will participants be assigned to? A within Design is realized with the following variables: (1) variable "viewpoint" (in the learning phase the participants´ central axis of viewing is oriented towards the corners vs. towards the middle of the walls); (2) variable "distance" (between the two cards of one trial are 1 vs. 3 other cards); (3) variable "wall" (the two cards of one trial are distributed across two adjacent walls vs. are on the same wall).
5) Specify exactly which analyses you will conduct to examine the main question/hypothesis. Nonparametric sensitivity and response bias of memory will be measured (according to Signal Detection Theory, Macmillan & Creelman, 2005; Stanislaw & Todorov, 1999) and a three-factorial repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) for each of the two depended measures will be conducted with the variables "viewpoint" (corners vs. walls), "wall" (across vs. within one wall) and "distance" (one vs. three cards between).
Hypotheses are related to sensitivity. The response bias is examined for explorative reasons. It is expected that participants answer more liberal if the two cards are presented on the same wall instead being distributed on two adjacent walls, and if there are only one instead of three cards between them (main effects on response bias).
6) Describe exactly how outliers will be defined and handled, and your precise rule(s) for excluding observations. We will exclude data of a participant if he or she leaves the experimental procedure before it ends, does not work thoroughly (e.g. hiting always the same button), has an overall sensitivity A´< .5 (Stanislaw & Todorov, 1999), reloads the virtual realities during the experimental session, or if uses a tablet or handy for participation.
7) How many observations will be collected or what will determine sample size? No need to justify decision, but be precise about exactly how the number will be determined. Two former studies revealed a significant effect of "wall" with partial Eta Squares = 0,235 and 0,3. Based on these values, a G-Power analysis with partial Eta Square = 0,25 suggests a sample size of n = 42. Because we will make an online study (Prolific) and this heightens the possibility that we have to exclude participants, we will sample data of 45 participants.
8) Anything else you would like to pre-register? (e.g., secondary analyses, variables collected for exploratory purposes, unusual analyses planned?) This is an online study using Prolific.
