Strategies for geographic memory: Oh, what a state we're in!

Abstract

This study used protocol analysis to find differences in strategy use and reasoning among five groups of subjects who were given a blank map of the United States and asked to locate states. The subjects were both children (in 5th and 11th grades) and adults (3 levels of education). For all subjects, boundaries influenced the recall, with land-water boundaries most salient and states located along a national boundary more memorable than states bounded only by other states. Three phases of geographic information use were found. In Phase 1, subjects rapidly accessed directly stored and generally correct information. In Phase 2, subjects reasoned about state names and locations using three categories of information: visual-perceptual, experiential, or content-based. In Phase 3, subjects used processes of elimination to finish the task.