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Topographical disorientation in aging. Familiarity with the environment does matter
Antonella Lopez1, Alessandro O Caffò1, Andrea Bosco2
1Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Studies of Bari, Via Crisanzio 42, 70122, Bari, Italy.
Summary
Aging impairs navigation due to difficulties with object-centered (allocentric) spatial representation. Familiarity with spatial memory can protect against topographical disorientation (TD), but new learning may overestimate its severity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Gerontology
Background:
- Topographical disorientation (TD) is navigational impairment linked to aging or brain damage.
- Aging-related navigational decline is primarily associated with allocentric (object-centered) rather than egocentric (self-centered) spatial representation deficits.
- Familiarity and remoteness of spatial memory traces may offer protection against TD in older adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the factors contributing to topographical disorientation (TD) in aging.
- To differentiate between spatial memory decline and difficulties with recent information encoding in TD assessment.
- To recommend supplementary ecological spatial tasks for a more accurate evaluation of TD in aging.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of navigational performance differences between allocentric and egocentric spatial representations in aging.
- Evaluation of the impact of spatial memory familiarity/remoteness on TD.
- Proposed use of ecological spatial tasks, including blind map landmark positioning (allocentric) and hometown route navigation (egocentric).
Main Results:
- Deficits in allocentric spatial representation are more critical to age-related navigational impairment than egocentric deficits.
- Using newly learned information in TD assessments may inflate severity by confounding disorientation with anterograde agnosia.
- Familiar spatial memory may act as a protective factor against TD in aging.
Conclusions:
- Accurate assessment of TD in aging requires disentangling familiar/remote spatial memory from recent encoding.
- Ecological spatial tasks focusing on landmark positioning and route navigation are recommended for supplementary TD evaluation.
- Understanding the role of allocentric vs. egocentric processing and memory familiarity is key to addressing age-related navigational challenges.
Keywords:
AgingAllocentric representationsEgocentric representationsFamiliar environmentsTopographical disorientationMore Related Videos
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