Age-related impairment of navigation and strategy in virtual star maze

Jia-Xin Zhang,Hai-Yan Hou,Liang Wang,Chun-Lin Yue,Hui-Jie Li,Lin Wang

doi:10.1186/s12877-021-02034-y

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough it is well known that aging impairs navigation performance, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Egocentric strategy requires navigators to remember a series of body-turns without relying on the relationship between environmental cues. Previous study suggested that the egocentric strategy, compared with non-egocentric strategy, was relatively unimpaired during aging. In this study, we aimed to examine strategy use during virtual navigation task and the underlying cognitive supporting mechanisms in older adults.MethodsThirty young adults and thirty-one older adults were recruited from the local community. This study adapted star maze paradigm using non-immersive virtual environment. Participants moved freely in a star maze with adequate landmarks, and were requested to find a fixed destination. After 9 learning trials, participants were probed in the same virtual star maze but with no salient landmarks. Participants were classified as egocentric or non-egocentric strategy group according to their response in the probe trial.ResultsThe results revealed that older adults adopting egocentric strategy completed the navigation task as accurate as young adults, whereas older adults using non-egocentric strategy completed the navigation task with more detours and lower accuracy. The relatively well-maintained egocentric strategy in older adults was related to better visuo-spatial ability.ConclusionsVisuo-spatial ability might play an important role in navigation accuracy and navigation strategy of older adults. This study demonstrated the potential value of the virtual star maze in evaluating navigation strategy and visuo-spatial ability in older adults.

Highlights

It is well known that aging impairs navigation performance, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown
The current study found a selective deficit of older adults in spatial navigation speed, which was consistent with previous studies [3, 14, 37]
Previous studies found that older adults had slower reaction times, while their error rates were comparable to young adults in spatial representation task [53] and virtual navigation task [54]

Summary

Introduction

It is well known that aging impairs navigation performance, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Navigation means finding and maintaining a route in a familiar or unfamiliar environment [1] It is one of the fundamental cognitive functions that decline the most with increasing age [2]. Egocentric strategy is based on a series of association of stimulus and responses (idiothetic information such as body turns and vestibular sense) and allows individuals to navigate in a fixed route [7, 8]. This strategy enables individuals to navigate from

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