Does the association of space-sequence require an explicit reference point at the time of learning of the sequence?

Abstract

previous study has indicated that we capture a representation of sequence order along mental timeline, which flows from left to right. In this study, we examined whether the association between the left-right space and the sequence order is due to the encoding strategy at a learning phase. To achieve that purpose, we told the existence of the order comparison task and the reference point used in the task after participants finished the learning phase in this experiment. The result showed the association of space-sequence same as the previous study. It suggests that the association occurs at the time of order comparison rather than at the time of learning.