Evaluating Age-Related Differences in Wayfinding in a Real-World Indoor Setting

Abstract

Wayfinding is an important skill that is used in many essential daily activities. While some studies have found older adults to have reduced visuospatial functioning and wayfinding performance, the majority of this research has been conducted in laboratory settings and may suffer from threats to external validity. In the current article, we report an empirical study in which 33 participants, grouped into younger adults versus older adults, were asked to find multiple destinations within a complex real-world building. Multiple outcome measures were collected, including wayfinding performance, spatial learning, self-reported uncertainty, and information-seeking behavior. The results indicated that the older adult participants spent longer amounts of time and traveled longer distances to reach the destinations compared to younger adults, with medium-large effect sizes. Older adults also tended to check signs more frequently and to spend more time examining them, with large to very large effect sizes. Spatial learning outcomes and self-reported uncertainty levels in older and younger groups were not significantly different. We discuss recommendations for future studies in this area regarding experimental design, measurement, and interpretation.