Active Navigation in Virtual Environments Benefits Spatial Memory in Older Adults

Brain Sciences
Melissa E MeadeMyra A Fernandes

Abstract

We investigated age differences in memory for spatial routes that were either actively or passively encoded. A series of virtual environments were created and presented to 20 younger (Mean age = 19.71) and 20 older (Mean age = 74.55) adults, through a cardboard viewer. During encoding, participants explored routes presented within city, park, and mall virtual environments, and were later asked to re-trace their travelled routes. Critically, participants encoded half the virtual environments by passively viewing a guided tour along a pre-selected route, and half through active exploration with volitional control of their movements by using a button press on the viewer. During retrieval, participants were placed in the same starting location and asked to retrace the previously traveled route. We calculated the percentage overlap in the paths travelled at encoding and retrieval, as an indicator of spatial memory accuracy, and examined various measures indexing individual differences in their cognitive approach and visuo-spatial processing abilities. Results showed that active navigation, compared to passive viewing during encoding, resulted in a higher accuracy in spatial memory, with the magnitude of this memory enhancement being...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 10, 2019·Journal of Clinical Medicine·Cosimo TuenaPascale Piolino
Sep 25, 2019·Journal of Clinical Medicine·Jessica Isbely MontanaGiuseppe Riva
Oct 9, 2019·Memory·Laura TascónJosé Manuel Cimadevilla
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Jul 3, 2020·Frontiers in Psychology·Xiaohe QiuDuming Wang
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Apr 11, 2021·Reviews in the Neurosciences·Conor ThornberrySean Commins
Jul 24, 2021·Memory·S Adam Smith, Neil W Mulligan

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