Translating words into actions in working memory: The role of spatial-motoric coding

Li, Guangzheng; Allen, Richard J.; Hitch, Graham J.; Baddeley, Alan · 2022 · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

DOI: 10.1177/17470218221079848

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Summary

This paper investigates how working memory translates verbal instructions into physical actions, specifically examining the role of spatial-motoric coding in this process. The research addresses a well-established phenomenon where individuals demonstrate superior recall for instructions when they physically enact them compared to when they recall them verbally. While previous studies suggested this "enactment advantage" stems from motor representations generated during encoding, the specific characteristics of the motor system responsible for this benefit remained unclear. The authors aimed to determine whether this advantage relies on a distinct motoric component of working memory and to characterize its properties by manipulating the complexity and familiarity of concurrent motor tasks. The study comprised five experiments using a dual-task methodology. Participants listened to sequences of four action-object pairings (e.g., "flip the cross") and were subsequently required to recall them either verbally or through physical enactment. During the encoding phase, participants performed concurrent repetitive movements to disrupt potential motoric processing. Experiment 1 compared fine motor movements (drawing a "W" with a finger) against gross motor movements (drawing a "W" with an arm) to replicate and extend prior findings regarding movement scale. Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated the complexity of these movements by having participants trace simple versus complex Chinese characters using their finger or arm, respectively. Experiments 4 and 5 examined the effect of movement familiarity, contrasting familiar movements with unfamiliar ones. The dependent variable was the proportion of action-object pairs recalled in the correct serial position. The results consistently demonstrated a significant advantage for enacted recall over verbal recall across all conditions. Concurrent motor tasks generally impaired memory performance, but the degree of disruption varied based on the nature of the movement. In Experiment 1, both fine and gross movements reduced performance, but gross movements specifically reduced the enacted recall advantage more than fine movements, though the effect was not as absolute as in prior literature. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that increasing the complexity of concurrent movements (simple vs. complex characters) further impaired performance, with complex movements causing greater disruption. Crucially, the enacted recall advantage was reduced by concurrent action, and this reduction was influenced by both the complexity and familiarity of the movement. The data indicated that the motor system involved in holding action plans has limited capacity and is sensitive to the demands of concurrent motor activity. The authors conclude that working memory includes a separable motoric component, likely functioning as an output buffer store with limited capacity for holding motoric plans for anticipated actions. The findings suggest that this system is not solely defined by the scale of movement (fine vs. gross) but is also sensitive to the complexity and familiarity of the motor actions. This supports the view that the enactment advantage arises from the generation of motor representations during encoding, which are maintained in this specialized motor store. The study refines the understanding of working memory architecture by highlighting the specific constraints of the motoric subsystem involved in translating verbal instructions into action.

Key finding

Concurrent motor movements reduce the enacted recall advantage in working memory, with the extent of disruption determined by the complexity and familiarity of the concurrent actions.

Methodology

lab_experiment

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• working memory