We investigated the ability of people to retrieve information about objects as they moved through rooms in a virtual space. People were probed with object names that were either associated with the person (i.e., carried) or dissociated from the person (i.e., just set down). Also, people either did or did not shift spatial regions (i.e., go to a new room). Information about objects was less accessible when the objects were dissociated from the person. Furthermore, information about an object was also less available when there was a spatial shift. However, the spatial shift had a larger effect on memory for the currently associated object. These data are interpreted as being more supportive of a situation model explanation, following on work using narratives and film. Simpler memory-based accounts that do not take into account the context in which a person is embedded cannot adequately account for the results.

When people read narratives, they often need to update their situation models as the described events change. Previous research has shown little to no increases in reading times for spatial shifts but consistent increases for temporal shifts. On this basis, researchers have suggested that spatial updating does not regularly occur, whereas temporal updating does. The current study looked more deeply into this reading time pattern for spatial updating. If the prior interpretation is correct, then the absence of a reading time increase reflects a failure to update the situation model. Two experiments evaluated this claim by assessing whether other indicators of updating, namely memory probes, converge on a similar interpretation as that derived from the reading time data. Our results showed that, in contrast to previous accounts, although there was no change in the pattern of reading times, spatial updating was occurring and was extensive. As a comparison, we also looked at temporal updating. Unlike spatial updating, the temporal shifts had an influence on reading time but did not have as extensive an influence on memory probe performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

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Previous research has suggested that, relative to younger adults, older adults devote a greater proportion of their discourse processing to the situation model level. The current experiment assessed whether this is due, in part, to a preserved ability to focus on functionally appropriate information. The focus here was on spatial relations. Both reading time and recognition data showed superior performance for functional over nonfunctional information, and this functional effect was similar in younger and older adults. This is consistent with the idea that older adults' ability to process information at the situation model level is relatively well preserved.