Spatial perspective-taking ability in young and elderly adults

Three experiments investigated spatial perspective-taking ability in young and elderly women. The three experiments differed with regard to the method by which subjects were initially familiarized with the experimental stimuli. Subjects were required to make decisions about the correctness of each of several types of slides presented to them. The amount of time required by subjects to make their responses was also obtained. The results show a smaller age difference in accuracy of performance when individual components of the stimulus array were examined in isolation (Experiment 2) than when the array was actually previewed from the perspective-taking positions (Experiment 1). Furthermore, a combination of the two methods of familiarization (Experiment 3) did not reduce the age difference in accuracy of performance beyond that obtained by the examination of individual components alone. Age differences in reaction time for correct responses, however, steadily decreased between Experiments 1, 2, and 3. These results raise the possibility that cognitive systems associated with storing and retrieving spatial information may decline more rapidly across the adult life span than cognitive systems involved in the construction of unviewed spatial information.