Directional pointing tasks-particularly judgments of relative direction (JRDs)-have advanced research on spatial memory. However, overreliance on a single task like JRDs may miss nuances in how spatial information is processed and represented. Therefore, we compare JRDs with object-based judgments (OBJs). While these measures seem to reflect different cognitive processes, a parameter-free measurement model suggests they assess the same underlying memory representations. This model, grounded in two key assumptions, allows point estimates of JRD angular error to be calculated from specific OBJ responses. Across two experiments (N = 96), we found support for two conclusions: (1) JRDs and OBJs access the same memory representations, and (2) JRDs combine the angular error from two different sources, while OBJs isolate a single source, making OBJs more specific.
Colle et al. (Fri,) studied this question.