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Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults

We investigated age differences in memory for spatial routes that were either actively or passively encoded. A series of virtual environments were created and presented to 20 younger (Mean age = 19.71) and 20 older (Mean age = 74.55) adults, through a cardboard viewer. During encoding, participants...

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Autores principales: Meade, Melissa E., Meade, John G., Sauzeon, Hélène, Fernandes, Myra A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6468686/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30813536
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9030047
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author Meade, Melissa E.
Meade, John G.
Sauzeon, Hélène
Fernandes, Myra A.
author_facet Meade, Melissa E.
Meade, John G.
Sauzeon, Hélène
Fernandes, Myra A.
author_sort Meade, Melissa E.
collection PubMed
description We investigated age differences in memory for spatial routes that were either actively or passively encoded. A series of virtual environments were created and presented to 20 younger (Mean age = 19.71) and 20 older (Mean age = 74.55) adults, through a cardboard viewer. During encoding, participants explored routes presented within city, park, and mall virtual environments, and were later asked to re-trace their travelled routes. Critically, participants encoded half the virtual environments by passively viewing a guided tour along a pre-selected route, and half through active exploration with volitional control of their movements by using a button press on the viewer. During retrieval, participants were placed in the same starting location and asked to retrace the previously traveled route. We calculated the percentage overlap in the paths travelled at encoding and retrieval, as an indicator of spatial memory accuracy, and examined various measures indexing individual differences in their cognitive approach and visuo-spatial processing abilities. Results showed that active navigation, compared to passive viewing during encoding, resulted in a higher accuracy in spatial memory, with the magnitude of this memory enhancement being significantly larger in older than in younger adults. Regression analyses showed that age and score on the Hooper Visual Organizational test predicted spatial memory accuracy, following the passive and active encoding of routes. The model predicting accuracy following active encoding additionally included the distance of stops from an intersection as a significant predictor, illuminating a cognitive approach that specifically contributes to memory benefits in following active navigation. Results suggest that age-related deficits in spatial memory can be reduced by active encoding.
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spelling pubmed-64686862019-04-23 Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults Meade, Melissa E. Meade, John G. Sauzeon, Hélène Fernandes, Myra A. Brain Sci Article We investigated age differences in memory for spatial routes that were either actively or passively encoded. A series of virtual environments were created and presented to 20 younger (Mean age = 19.71) and 20 older (Mean age = 74.55) adults, through a cardboard viewer. During encoding, participants explored routes presented within city, park, and mall virtual environments, and were later asked to re-trace their travelled routes. Critically, participants encoded half the virtual environments by passively viewing a guided tour along a pre-selected route, and half through active exploration with volitional control of their movements by using a button press on the viewer. During retrieval, participants were placed in the same starting location and asked to retrace the previously traveled route. We calculated the percentage overlap in the paths travelled at encoding and retrieval, as an indicator of spatial memory accuracy, and examined various measures indexing individual differences in their cognitive approach and visuo-spatial processing abilities. Results showed that active navigation, compared to passive viewing during encoding, resulted in a higher accuracy in spatial memory, with the magnitude of this memory enhancement being significantly larger in older than in younger adults. Regression analyses showed that age and score on the Hooper Visual Organizational test predicted spatial memory accuracy, following the passive and active encoding of routes. The model predicting accuracy following active encoding additionally included the distance of stops from an intersection as a significant predictor, illuminating a cognitive approach that specifically contributes to memory benefits in following active navigation. Results suggest that age-related deficits in spatial memory can be reduced by active encoding. MDPI 2019-02-26 /pmc/articles/PMC6468686/ /pubmed/30813536 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9030047 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Meade, Melissa E.
Meade, John G.
Sauzeon, Hélène
Fernandes, Myra A.
Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults
title Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults
title_full Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults
title_fullStr Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults
title_full_unstemmed Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults
title_short Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults
title_sort active navigation in virtual environments benefits spatial memory in older adults
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6468686/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30813536
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9030047
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