Evidence for age-related decline in spatial memory in a novel allocentric memory task

ABSTRACT

Several studies report spatial memory decline in old age. However, few studies have examined whether old adults are specifically impaired in allocentric memory tasks (testing for object-to-object spatial location memory). Thus, the present study examined the effects of age on allocentric spatial memory using a novel landmark memory task. Young (18–25 years old) and old (65 years and older) participants watched 10 short videos that displayed 180-degree viewpoints of distinct real-world locations with landmark cues. After watching each video, participants saw a snapshot from the video and were asked whether a landmark cue previously viewed in the video was to the left or right of the snapshot view. Young adults outperformed old adults on the task. This age-related decline in spatial performance was similar for men and women. These findings support that spatial ability in an allocentric task is sensitive to age-related cognitive decline in men and women.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive aging
• spatial memory
• landmark memory
• allocentric memory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this work was provided by Purchase College, State University of New York.