Comparable performance on a spatial memory task in data collected in the lab and online.

Abstract

Online data collection offers a wide range of benefits including access to larger and more 17 diverse populations, together with a reduction in the experiment cycle. Here we compare 18 performance in a spatial memory task, in which participants had to estimate object locations 19 following viewpoint shifts, using data from a controlled lab-based setting and from an unsupervised 20 online sample. We found that the data collected in a conventional laboratory setting and those 21 collected online produced very similar results, although the online data was more variable with 22 standard errors being about 10% larger than those of the data collected in the lab. Overall, our 23 findings suggest that spatial memory studies using static images can be successfully carried out 24 online with unsupervised samples. However, given the higher variability of the online data, it is 25 recommended that the online sample size is increased to achieve similar standard errors to those 26 obtained in the lab. For the current study and data processing procedures, this would require an 27 online sample 25% larger than the lab sample.