Development of spatial memory consolidation: A comparison between children and adults

Successful navigation to spatial locations relies on lasting memories from previous experiences. Spatial navigation undergoes profound maturational changes during childhood. It is unclear how well children can consolidate navigation-based spatial memories and if age-related variations in navigation during training predict spatial memory. The present study examined the immediate and long-delay (after a 2-week period) consolidation of navigation-based spatial memories in 6- to 8-year-old children (n = 33, 18 female/15 male, M_age = 7.61, SD_age = 0.71), 9- to 11-year-old children (n = 32, 13 female/19 male, M_age = 9.90, SD_age = 0.59), and 20- to 30-year-old adults (n = 31, 15 female/16 male, M_age = 23.71, SD_age = 2.87). Our results showed that, with age, participants navigated more efficiently during training and formed better immediate spatial memories. Long-delay spatial memory retention after 2 weeks was comparable between children and adults, indicating robust consolidation even in children. Interestingly, while children successfully distinguished between perceptually detailed landmarks after 2 weeks, their abstract knowledge of spatial boundaries and cognitive map of landmark relations was poor. Developmental trajectories were similar for egocentric and allocentric spatial memory. Age-related variations in initial navigation were predictive of spatial memory, that is, children with a more mature initial navigation were more likely to find and remember spatial locations immediately and after a 2-week delay. Taken together, our results show an overall robust spatial memory consolidation in mid and late childhood that can be predicted by initial navigation behavior, coupled with nuanced age differences in the recall of spatial boundaries and cognitive maps. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).