Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Grasping relational concepts is facilitated by comparing their representations. Previously, Matlen et al (2014; underreview) found that for simple visual figures, the comparison process was optimized when the visuals were placed in directspatial alignment, such that the main axes of the visuals run perpendicular to their placement (e.g., horizontal figures placedvertically), relative to impeded spatial alignment, when the axes run parallel to their placement. In the present work,we tested this spatial alignment effect using complex naturalistic stimuli, consisting of skeletal structures. Participantsidentified anomalous bones by comparing a correct skeleton with a skeleton that had an incorrect bone. Participants weremore accurate when skeletal structures were placed in direct (M=.90) relative to impeded (M=.84) alignment (p¡.01).Given the relevance of these findings to education, we are formally coding visuals in middle-school science textbooksbased on their spatial alignment and will present these results at the conference.