Abstract: By using an on-line window display technique, the present study investigated the different character of updating spatial information without clue in different research techniques. The results of 3 Experiments showed that on-line updating spatial information of situation models could be found in some conditions. Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 demonstrated that under the conditions of presenting the reading materials by key-press, the setting information participants read before could be updated on line, especially for explicit spatial information, such as “square”. In Experiment 3, the results of a recognition task showed that the implicit spatial information (such as “sculpture”) also could be updated on line without clue. Furthermore, the level of updating was changed along with probe-word location in text.

Key words: situation models, updating without clue, spatial information