Aging and spatial navigation

Abstract

Human aging is characterized by cognitive and brain changes and it is now apparent that wayfinding is one domain of cognition that declines with age. This article reviews some of the main findings in this area of research summarizing both age-related changes in spatial cognition and its putative neural basis. Older individuals manifest declines navigational skills compared to younger adults, and they under-recruit some of same neural structures that younger adults use to navigate. This may cause (or may be caused by) age-related changes in spatial strategies. A major theme of the article is of individual differences both between older and younger people and within the older adult population. Decline in spatial navigation abilities is not an inevitable aspect of aging as many older adults maintain good performance well into older age. Some preliminary evidence suggests that these good performing older adults have neural patterns that are characteristic of a “younger brain.” In addition, Alzheimer's disease is characterized by neuropathological changes in those very brain regions recruited during wayfinding and thus, deficits in navigation may prove to be an early marker of cognitive decline in this devastating disease. Non-demented older adults who perform poorly on navigation tasks may turn out to be those individuals who go on to develop dementia, but this has yet to be demonstrated conclusively.