How to learn places without spatial concepts: Does the what-and-where reaction time system in children regulate learning during stimulus repetition?

• Children’s shape and place learning was investigated with repeated and novel memory sets.
• Shape and place learning accuracy increased only during repeated identical memory sets.
• Shape RTs were initially fast but slowed down, place RTs were slow and speeded up.
• Repeated viewing of novel memory sets involved spatial binding concepts.
• Repeated viewing of same memory set occurred independently of spatial binding.

We investigated the role of repetition for place learning in children although the acquisition of organizing spatial concepts is often seen as more essential. In a reaction-time accuracy task, 7- and 9-year-old children were presented with a randomized sequence of objects-in-places. In a novelty condition (NC), memory sets in different colors were presented, while in a repetition condition (RC), the identical memory set was tested several times. Shape memory deteriorated more than place memory in the NC, but also stayed superior to place memory when both improved in the RC. False alarms occurred for objects and places in the same way in 7-year-olds in the NC, but were negligible for 9-year-olds. In contrast, false alarms in the RC occurred in both age groups mainly for place memory. The Common Region Test (CRT) predicted reaction times only in the novelty condition, indicating use of spatial concepts. Importantly, reaction times for shapes were faster than for places at the beginning of the experiment but slowed down thereafter, while reaction times for places were slow at the beginning of the experiment but accelerated considerably thereafter. False alarms and regulation of reaction times indicated that repetition facilitated true abstraction of information leading to place learning without spatial concepts.