Alignment of spatial perspective

摘要

Spatial perspective refers to the use of reference systems in extendedspatial descriptions. A route and an environment can be described froman 'external' or allocentric view in a survey perspective, or from anembedded, or egocentric view in a route perspective. Previous studieshave shown the influence of several individual, environmental, andlearning factors on perspective choices (Taylor and Tversky 1996;Taylor et al. 1999). Here, we examine whether a speaker's perspectivechoice depends on their interlocutor's previous use of perspective, i.e.,priming across dialogic partners, in a route description task. To whatextent can we find evidence of alignment of spatial perspective?Participants and confederates took turns describing routes on sche-matic maps. The confederate's scripted descriptions involved themanipulation of spatial perspective in an early and a later phase—perspective was either consistent or not (alternating), and confederatesswitched perspective half-way through the experimental session.Analyses run on the ratio of route perspective choices out of all validresponses for each participant revealed alignment of spatial perspec-tive on the early but not on the later phase indicating that speakers areinfluenced by interlocutors' choices, yet in a limited way (initial bias),