Age and sex differences in the mental realignment of maps

Community-residing young and elderly persons were given six maps with routes indicated by lines connecting dots. The dots were arranged in a 3 x 3 matrix that corresponded to the placement of discs affixed to the testing room floor. Route lengths increased by one segment with each subsequent map. In one condition participants were instructed not to turn the map while walking the indicated route and thus the orientation of the map to the room varied as the person followed the path. In a second condition participants turned the map while following the route, keeping it aligned with the room. Elderly persons made fewer correct choices and took more time to make direction decisions than younger people as did females compared to males. When the map could not be turned, decision times were related to the amount of misalignment between the map and the room. Elderly persons, especially females were influenced more by map misalignment than were young people. The results indicate that mental realignment is an important aspect of route following and may explain some of the difficulty older people have with such tasks.