scholarly journals Older Adults Show Reduced Spatial Precision but Preserved Strategy-Use During Spatial Navigation Involving Body-Based Cues

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. McAvan ◽  
Yu Karen Du ◽  
Alexis Oyao ◽  
Stephanie Doner ◽  
Matthew D. Grilli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Spatial Memories ◽  
Target Locations ◽  
Virtual Morris Water Maze

Older adults typically perform worse on spatial navigation tasks, although whether this is due to degradation of memory or an impairment in using specific strategies has yet to be determined. An issue with some past studies is that older adults are tested on desktop-based virtual reality: a technology many report lacking familiarity with. Even when controlling for familiarity, these paradigms reduce the information-rich, three-dimensional experience of navigating to a simple two-dimensional task that utilizes a mouse and keyboard (or joystick) as means for ambulation. Here, we utilize a wireless head-mounted display and free ambulation to create a fully immersive virtual Morris water maze in which we compare the navigation of older and younger adults. Older and younger adults learned the locations of hidden targets from same and different start points. Across different conditions tested, older adults remembered target locations less precisely compared to younger adults. Importantly, however, they performed comparably from the same viewpoint as a switched viewpoint, suggesting that they could generalize their memory for the location of a hidden target given a new point of view. When we implicitly moved one of the distal cues to determine whether older adults used an allocentric (multiple landmarks) or beaconing (single landmark) strategy to remember the hidden target, both older and younger adults showed comparable degrees of reliance on allocentric and beacon cues. These findings support the hypothesis that while older adults have less precise spatial memories, they maintain the ability to utilize various strategies when navigating.

scholarly journals Human Hippocampal and Parahippocampal Theta during Goal-Directed Spatial Navigation Predicts Performance on a Virtual Morris Water Maze

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (23) ◽  
pp. 5983-5990 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. Cornwell ◽  
L. L. Johnson ◽  
T. Holroyd ◽  
F. W. Carver ◽  
C. Grillon
Keyword(s):  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Virtual Morris Water Maze

Human spatial navigation deficits after traumatic brain injury shown in the arena maze, a virtual Morris water maze

Brain Injury ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Skelton ◽  
Shelley P. Ross ◽  
Ludek Nerad ◽  
Sharon A. Livingstone
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Morris Water Maze ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Virtual Morris Water Maze

scholarly journals Sensorimotor-Cognitive Couplings in the Context of Assistive Spatial Navigation for Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schellenbach ◽  
Martin Lövdén ◽  
Julius Verrel ◽  
Antonio Krüger ◽  
Ulman Lindenberger
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Cognitive Demand ◽  
Spatial Processing ◽  
Assistive Device ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age

With advancing adult age, sensorimotor functioning, spatial processing, and the motivation to explore new environments decline, leading to impaired spatial navigation skills. Using a controlled virtual-world laboratory equipped with a treadmill interface, we examined how assistive navigation technologies differing in cognitive demand affect walking regularity and navigation performance in younger and older adults. Relative to an assistive device with low cognitive demands, older, but not younger adults’ navigation performance decreased with a cognitively more demanding device. Furthermore, older adults showed higher gait irregularity than younger adults, especially with the cognitively demanding device. We conclude that assistive navigation devices show promise in supporting older adults’ pedestrian mobility if aging-induced increments in cognitive demands of spatial navigation and postural control are considered.

scholarly journals An Immersive Virtual Reality Platform for Assessing Spatial Navigation Memory in Predementia Screening: Feasibility and Usability Study

10.2196/13887 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. e13887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiran Ijaz ◽  
Naseem Ahmadpour ◽  
Sharon L Naismith ◽  
Rafael A Calvo
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Administrative Costs ◽  
Memory Assessment ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Usability Requirements ◽  
Screening Platform

Background Traditional methods for assessing memory are expensive and have high administrative costs. Memory assessment is important for establishing cognitive impairment in cases such as detecting dementia in older adults. Virtual reality (VR) technology can assist in establishing better quality outcome in such crucial screening by supporting the well-being of individuals and offering them an engaging, cognitively challenging task that is not stressful. However, unmet user needs can compromise the validity of the outcome. Therefore, screening technology for older adults must address their specific design and usability requirements. Objective This study aimed to design and evaluate the feasibility of an immersive VR platform to assess spatial navigation memory in older adults and establish its compatibility by comparing the outcome to a standard screening platform on a personal computer (PC). Methods VR-CogAssess is a platform integrating an Oculus Rift head-mounted display and immersive photorealistic imagery. In a pilot study with healthy older adults (N=42; mean age 73.22 years, SD 9.26), a landmark recall test was conducted, and assessment on the VR-CogAssess was compared against a standard PC (SPC) setup. Results Results showed that participants in VR were significantly more engaged (P=.003), achieved higher landmark recall scores (P=.004), made less navigational mistakes (P=.04), and reported a higher level of presence (P=.002) than those in SPC setup. In addition, participants in VR indicated no significantly higher stress than SPC setup (P=.87). Conclusions The study findings suggest immersive VR is feasible and compatible with SPC counterpart for spatial navigation memory assessment. The study provides a set of design guidelines for creating similar platforms in the future.

scholarly journals An Immersive Virtual Reality Platform for Assessing Spatial Navigation Memory in Predementia Screening: Feasibility and Usability Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiran Ijaz ◽  
Naseem Ahmadpour ◽  
Sharon L Naismith ◽  
Rafael A Calvo
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Administrative Costs ◽  
Memory Assessment ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Usability Requirements ◽  
Screening Platform

BACKGROUND Traditional methods for assessing memory are expensive and have high administrative costs. Memory assessment is important for establishing cognitive impairment in cases such as detecting dementia in older adults. Virtual reality (VR) technology can assist in establishing better quality outcome in such crucial screening by supporting the well-being of individuals and offering them an engaging, cognitively challenging task that is not stressful. However, unmet user needs can compromise the validity of the outcome. Therefore, screening technology for older adults must address their specific design and usability requirements. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to design and evaluate the feasibility of an immersive VR platform to assess spatial navigation memory in older adults and establish its compatibility by comparing the outcome to a standard screening platform on a personal computer (PC). METHODS VR-CogAssess is a platform integrating an Oculus Rift head-mounted display and immersive photorealistic imagery. In a pilot study with healthy older adults (N=42; mean age 73.22 years, SD 9.26), a landmark recall test was conducted, and assessment on the VR-CogAssess was compared against a standard PC (SPC) setup. RESULTS Results showed that participants in VR were significantly more engaged (P=.003), achieved higher landmark recall scores (P=.004), made less navigational mistakes (P=.04), and reported a higher level of presence (P=.002) than those in SPC setup. In addition, participants in VR indicated no significantly higher stress than SPC setup (P=.87). CONCLUSIONS The study findings suggest immersive VR is feasible and compatible with SPC counterpart for spatial navigation memory assessment. The study provides a set of design guidelines for creating similar platforms in the future.

Cognitive Load Affects Speech Motor Performance Differently in Older and Younger Adults

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1258-1277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan K. MacPherson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Motor Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Incongruent Condition ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Movement Duration ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Speech Motor

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive load imposed by a speech production task on the speech motor performance of healthy older and younger adults. Response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory were the primary cognitive processes of interest.MethodTwelve healthy older and 12 healthy younger adults produced multiple repetitions of 4 sentences containing an embedded Stroop task in 2 cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent. The incongruent condition, which required participants to suppress orthographic information to say the font colors in which color words were written, represented an increase in cognitive load relative to the congruent condition in which word text and font color matched. Kinematic measures of articulatory coordination variability and movement duration as well as a behavioral measure of sentence production accuracy were compared between groups and conditions and across 3 sentence segments (pre-, during-, and post-Stroop).ResultsIncreased cognitive load in the incongruent condition was associated with increased articulatory coordination variability and movement duration, compared to the congruent Stroop condition, for both age groups. Overall, the effect of increased cognitive load was greater for older adults than younger adults and was greatest in the portion of the sentence in which cognitive load was manipulated (during-Stroop), followed by the pre-Stroop segment. Sentence production accuracy was reduced for older adults in the incongruent condition.ConclusionsIncreased cognitive load involving response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory processes within a speech production task disrupted both the stability and timing with which speech was produced by both age groups. Older adults' speech motor performance may have been more affected due to age-related changes in cognitive and motoric functions that result in altered motor cognition.

Regulation of Experienced and Anticipated Regret for Daily Decisions in Younger and Older Adults in a Swedish One-Week Diary Study

GeroPsych ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 233-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pär Bjälkebring ◽  
Daniel Västfjäll ◽  
Boo Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
Anticipated Regret ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Decision Regret ◽  
Diary Method ◽  
Regulation Strategies

Regret and regret regulation were studied using a weeklong web-based diary method. 108 participants aged 19 to 89 years reported regret for a decision made and a decision to be made. They also reported the extent to which they used strategies to prevent or regulate decision regret. Older adults reported both less experienced and anticipated regret compared to younger adults. The lower level of experienced regret in older adults was mediated by reappraisal of the decision. The lower level of anticipated regret was mediated by delaying the decision, and expecting regret in older adults. It is suggested that the lower level of regret observed in older adults is partly explained by regret prevention and regulation strategies.

Video Games and Emotion Regulation

GeroPsych ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn L. Ossenfort ◽  
Derek M. Isaacowitz
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Interactive Media ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Media Preferences

Abstract. Research on age differences in media usage has shown that older adults are more likely than younger adults to select positive emotional content. Research on emotional aging has examined whether older adults also seek out positivity in the everyday situations they choose, resulting so far in mixed results. We investigated the emotional choices of different age groups using video games as a more interactive type of affect-laden stimuli. Participants made multiple selections from a group of positive and negative games. Results showed that older adults selected the more positive games, but also reported feeling worse after playing them. Results supplement the literature on positivity in situation selection as well as on older adults’ interactive media preferences.

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