Abstract
In memory, representations of spatial features are stored in different reference frames; features relative to our position are stored egocentrically and features relative to each other are stored allocentrically. Accessing these representations engages many cognitive and neural resources, and so is susceptible to age-related breakdown. Yet, recent findings on the heterogeneity of cognitive function and spatial ability in healthy older adults suggest that aging may not uniformly impact the flexible use of spatial representations. These factors have yet to be explored in a precisely controlled task that explicitly manipulates spatial frames of reference across learning and retrieval. We used a lab-based virtual reality task to investigate the relationship between object–location memory across frames of reference, cognitive status, and self-reported spatial ability. Memory error was measured using Euclidean distance from studied object locations to participants’ responses at testing. Older adults recalled object locations less accurately when they switched between frames of reference from learning to testing, compared with when they remained in the same frame of reference. They also showed an allocentric learning advantage, producing less error when switching from an allocentric to an egocentric frame of reference, compared with the reverse direction of switching. Higher MoCA scores and better self-assessed spatial ability predicted less memory error, especially when learning occurred egocentrically. We suggest that egocentric learning deficits are driven by difficulty in binding multiple viewpoints into a coherent representation. Finally, we highlight the heterogeneity of spatial memory performance in healthy older adults as a potential cognitive marker for neurodegeneration, beyond normal aging.
Highlights
As we visually experience our environment, we build mental representations of encountered spatial information, such as street signs, maps, and landmarks
We show that older adults recalled the locations of objects less accurately
Our findings provide comprehensive evidence for the directionality of this switching deficit among older adults; older adults performed worse when switching from learning in memory error) when switching between frames of reference from learning to testing compared with when no switching was required from learning to testing
Summary
As we visually experience our environment, we build mental representations of encountered spatial information, such as street signs, maps, and landmarks. Apart from our own location in space, we rely on spatial information processing to represent object locations relative to ourselves and to other objects. In memory, these spatial representations are described through two relationships: features relative to our own position are represented in an egocentric (subject-to-object) frame of reference; and features relative to each other are represented in an allocentric (object-to-object) frame of reference. Information in an allocentric frame of reference is categorized independently of one’s own location and echoes concepts from Tolman’s [8] cognitive map, which posits that the brain forms map-like representations of our environment. Map reading from an aerial perspective, referred to as bird’s eye or survey view, is associated with an allocentric frame of reference [9,10]
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