Are age-related deficits in route learning related to control of visual attention?

Christopher Hilton,Timothy J Slattery,Jan Wiener,Sebastien Miellet

doi:10.1007/s00426-019-01159-5

Christopher Hilton, Timothy J Slattery + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-019-01159-5

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Abstract

Typically aged adults show reduced ability to learn a route compared to younger adults. In this experiment, we investigate the role of visual attention through eye-tracking and engagement of attentional resources in age-related route learning deficits. Participants were shown a route through a realistic virtual environment before being tested on their route knowledge. Younger and older adults were compared on their gaze behaviour during route learning and on their reaction time to a secondary probe task as a measure of attentional engagement. Behavioural results show a performance deficit in route knowledge for older adults compared to younger adults, which is consistent with previous research. We replicated previous findings showing that reaction times to the secondary probe task were longer at decision points than non-decision points, indicating stronger attentional engagement at navigationally relevant locations. However, we found no differences in attentional engagement and no differences for a range of gaze measures between age groups. We conclude that age-related changes in route learning ability are not reflected in changes in control of visual attention or regulation of attentional engagement.

Highlights

Learning and recalling routes through complex environments is a common task which is essential in maintaining independence in everyday life
We investigated whether control of visual attention and attentional engagement contribute to age-related declines in route learning
The overall aim of this study was to investigate the potential contribution of control of visual attention and attentional engagement to age-related changes in route learning ability

Summary

Introduction

Learning and recalling routes through complex environments is a common task which is essential in maintaining independence in everyday life. Aged adults often report difficulty with general navigation (Burns, 1999) and show a reduced ability to learn and recall routes (Head & Isom, 2010; Moffat, Zonderman & Resnick, 2001), to retrace a route backwards (Wiener, Kmecova & de Condappa, 2012), to understand the layout of a known intersection when approaching it from a novel direction (Wiener, de Condappa, Harris & Wolbers, 2013), to bind landmarks to specific locations (Newman & Kazniak, 2000; Head & Isom, 2010) and to learn the sequence of turns along a route The current explanations of age-related decline in route learning ability focus on neurodegeneration of structures related to stimulus-responsebased, egocentric navigation, such as the caudate (see Lester, Moffat, Wiener, Barnes & Wolbers, 2017). We investigated whether control of visual attention and attentional engagement contribute to age-related declines in route learning

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