Spatial navigation in young versus older adults

Abstract

Older age is associated with changes in the brain, including the medial temporal lobe, which may result in mild spatial navigation deficits, especially in allocentric navigation. The aim of the study was to characterize the profile of real-space allocentric (world-centered, hippocampus-dependent) and egocentric (body-centered, parietal lobe dependent) navigation and learning in young vs. older adults, and to assess a possible influence of gender. We recruited healthy participants without cognitive deficits on standard neuropsychological testing, white matter lesions or pronounced hippocampal atrophy: 24 young participants (18–26 years old) and 44 older participants stratified as participants 60–70 years old (n = 24) and participants 71–84 years old (n = 20). All underwent spatial navigation testing in the real-space human analog of the Morris Water Maze, which has the advantage of assessing separately allocentric and egocentric navigation and learning. Of the eight consecutive trials, trials 2–8 were used to reduce bias by a rebound effect (more dramatic changes in performance between trials 1 and 2 relative to subsequent trials). The participants who were 71–84 years old (p < 0.001), but not those 60–70 years old, showed deficits in allocentric navigation compared to the young participants. There were no differences in egocentric navigation. All three groups showed spatial learning effect (p’ s ≤ 0.01). There were no gender differences in spatial navigation and learning. Linear regression limited to older participants showed linear (β = 0.30, p = 0.045) and quadratic (β = 0.30, p = 0.046) effect of age on allocentric navigation. There was no effect of age on egocentric navigation. These results demonstrate that navigation deficits in older age may be limited to allocentric navigation, whereas egocentric navigation and learning may remain preserved. This specific pattern of spatial navigation impairment may help differentiate normal aging from prodromal Alzheimer’s disease.

White matter injury and microglia/macrophage polarization are strongly linked with age-related long-term deficits in neurological function after stroke

“…Memory function was already impaired in aged sham animals compared to young controls. These baseline spatial memory deficits are consistent with previous reports in aging rodents (Bach et al, 1999) and elderly humans (Gazova et al, 2013). Spatial learning abilities in aged sham mice were decreased but not statistically significant as compared to young shams.…”

The effect of TOMM40 on spatial navigation in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

“…The allocentric strategy involves finding the position of a hidden goal using a configuration of landmarks as opposed to own position (egocentric navigation). Allocentric navigation reflects the ability to form, use, and retain a mental representation of the environment, and is one of the first functions impaired in normal aging (Gazova et al, 2013;Rodgers et al, 2012), aMCI (Laczó et al, 2009(Laczó et al, , 2010, and AD (Hort et al, 2007;Weniger et al, 2011).…”

Evidence for age‐related deficits in object‐location binding during place recognition

“…A total of 116 participants gave their written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association, 2013) to take part to the study: 40 people aged 20-29 (18 males; M age = 23.35, SD = 2.41), 44 people aged 60-69 (21 males; M age = 64.55, SD = 3.50), and 32 people aged 70-79 (19 males; M age = 72.69, SD = 2.48). We have chosen these specific age groups (see Baltes, 1998) based on earlier studies demonstrating an agerelated decline in spatial learning from 60 years of age onward, which accelerates beyond the age of 70 (e.g., Barrash, 1994;Gazova et al, 2013).…”