ArticleFrontiers in aging neuroscience2021
Older Adults Show Reduced Spatial Precision but Preserved Strategy-Use During Spatial Navigation Involving Body-Based Cues.
Article in Frontiers in aging neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental Representations of Impossible Non-Euclidean Environments.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Distinct aging-related profiles of allocentric knowledge recall following navigation in an immersive, naturalistic, city-like environment.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Continuous updating via self-motion compensates for weak allocentric spatial memory in aging.Psychology and aging · 2025Article
- Glycated hemoglobin levels and geriatric depression impact cognitive status in an Indian urban elderly community.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2025Article
- Age differences in spatial navigation stem from a preference for familiar routes rather than impaired landmark-dependent strategies.Psychology and aging · 2025Article
- Age-related changes in decision making with different wayfinding strategies.Psychological research · 2025Article
- Article
- Review
- A cognitive-motor framework for spatial navigation in aging and early-stage Alzheimer's disease.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2025Review
- Age- and sex-related differences in landmark recall following a virtual spatial navigation task.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Age differences in spatial memory are mitigated during naturalistic navigation.Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition · 2024Article
- Spatial Orientation Assessment in the Elderly: A Comprehensive Review of Current Tests.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Effects of older age on visual and self-motion sensory cue integration in navigation.Experimental brain research · 2024Article
- Spatial navigation and memory: A review of the similarities and differences relevant to brain models and age.Neuron · 2023Review
- Clockwise rotation of perspective view improves spatial recognition of complex environments in aging.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Largely intact memory for spatial locations during navigation in an individual with dense amnesia.Neuropsychologia · 2022Article
- Future trends in brain aging research: Visuo-cognitive functions at stake during mobility and spatial navigation.Aging brain · 2022Review
- Reversal of spatial memory impairment by phosphodiesterase 3 inhibitor cilostazol is associated with reduced neuroinflammation and increased cerebral glucose uptake in aged male mice.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Tau Pathology Profile Across a Parietal-Hippocampal Brain Network Is Associated With Spatial Reorientation Learning and Memory Performance in the 3xTg-AD Mouse.Frontiers in aging · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Older adults typically perform worse on spatial navigation tasks, although whether this is due to degradation of memory or an impairment in using specific strategies has yet to be determined. An issue with some past studies is that older adults are tested on desktop-based virtual reality: a technology many report lacking familiarity with. Even when controlling for familiarity, these paradigms reduce the information-rich, three-dimensional experience of navigating to a simple two-dimensional task that utilizes a mouse and keyboard (or joystick) as means for ambulation. Here, we utilize a wireless head-mounted display and free ambulation to create a fully immersive virtual Morris water maze in which we compare the navigation of older and younger adults. Older and younger adults learned the locations of hidden targets from same and different start points. Across different conditions tested, older adults remembered target locations less precisely compared to younger adults. Importantly, however, they performed comparably from the same viewpoint as a switched viewpoint, suggesting that they could generalize their memory for the location of a hidden target given a new point of view. When we implicitly moved one of the distal cues to determine whether older adults used an allocentric (multiple landmarks) or beaconing (single landmark) strategy to remember the hidden target, both older and younger adults showed comparable degrees of reliance on allocentric and beacon cues. These findings support the hypothesis that while older adults have less precise spatial memories, they maintain the ability to utilize various strategies when navigating.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.