Salience and Asymmetric Judgments of Physical Distance

Magdalena Formanowicz , Jerzy Karyłowski

Abstract

Previous research has shown that distance estimates made from memory are often asymmetric. Specifically, when A is a prominent location (a landmark) and B is not, people tend to recall a longer distance from A to B than from B to A. Results of two experiments showed that asymmetric judgments of distance are not restricted to judgments made from memory but occur also for judgments made on-line when all relevant visual cues are still present. Furthermore, results indicated that situationally determined salience is sufficient to produce asymmetric judgments and that chronic distinctiveness (such as in the case of architectural landmarks) is not necessary.