Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories

Abstract Updating navigational memories is important for everyday tasks. It was recently found that older adults are impaired in updating spatial representations in small, bi-dimensional layouts. Because performance in small-scale areas cannot predict navigational behavior, we investigated how aging...

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Autores principales:	Maayan Merhav, Thomas Wolbers
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2019
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/bbb66699a1f34e3bafc6a32dc2f5bba1
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:bbb66699a1f34e3bafc6a32dc2f5bba1
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:bbb66699a1f34e3bafc6a32dc2f5bba12021-12-02T15:08:32ZAging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories10.1038/s41598-019-47971-22045-2322https://doaj.org/article/bbb66699a1f34e3bafc6a32dc2f5bba12019-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-47971-2https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Updating navigational memories is important for everyday tasks. It was recently found that older adults are impaired in updating spatial representations in small, bi-dimensional layouts. Because performance in small-scale areas cannot predict navigational behavior, we investigated how aging affects the updating of navigational memories encoded in large, 3-dimensional environments. Moreover, since locations can be encoded relative to the observer (egocentric encoding) or relative to landmarks (allocentric encoding), we tested whether the presumed age-related spatial updating deficit depends on the available spatial cues. By combining whole-body motion tracking with immersive virtual reality, we could dissociate egocentric and allocentric spatial cues and assess navigational memory under ecologically valid conditions (i.e., providing body-based and visual cues). In the task, objects were relocated overnight, and young and older participants had to navigate to the updated locations of the objects. In addition to replicating age-related deficits in allocentric memory, we found age-related impairments in updating navigational memories following egocentric encoding. Finally, older participants depicted stronger representations of the previous navigational context that were correlated with their spatial updating deficits. Given that these effects may stem from inefficient suppression of former navigational memories, our findings propose a mechanism that helps explain the navigational decline in aging.Maayan MerhavThomas WolbersNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Maayan Merhav Thomas Wolbers Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories
description	Abstract Updating navigational memories is important for everyday tasks. It was recently found that older adults are impaired in updating spatial representations in small, bi-dimensional layouts. Because performance in small-scale areas cannot predict navigational behavior, we investigated how aging affects the updating of navigational memories encoded in large, 3-dimensional environments. Moreover, since locations can be encoded relative to the observer (egocentric encoding) or relative to landmarks (allocentric encoding), we tested whether the presumed age-related spatial updating deficit depends on the available spatial cues. By combining whole-body motion tracking with immersive virtual reality, we could dissociate egocentric and allocentric spatial cues and assess navigational memory under ecologically valid conditions (i.e., providing body-based and visual cues). In the task, objects were relocated overnight, and young and older participants had to navigate to the updated locations of the objects. In addition to replicating age-related deficits in allocentric memory, we found age-related impairments in updating navigational memories following egocentric encoding. Finally, older participants depicted stronger representations of the previous navigational context that were correlated with their spatial updating deficits. Given that these effects may stem from inefficient suppression of former navigational memories, our findings propose a mechanism that helps explain the navigational decline in aging.
format	article
author	Maayan Merhav Thomas Wolbers
author_facet	Maayan Merhav Thomas Wolbers
author_sort	Maayan Merhav
title	Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories
title_short	Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories
title_full	Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories
title_fullStr	Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories
title_full_unstemmed	Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories
title_sort	aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/bbb66699a1f34e3bafc6a32dc2f5bba1
work_keys_str_mv	AT maayanmerhav agingandspatialcuesinfluencetheupdatingofnavigationalmemories AT thomaswolbers agingandspatialcuesinfluencetheupdatingofnavigationalmemories
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Aging and spatial cues influence the updating of navigational memories

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