Abstract
Spatial orientation is essential for daily life, but it deteriorates with aging. The present study was aimed at investigating age changes across the adult lifespan in the self-reported use of navigation aids and everyday orientation experiences, as well as investigating to what extent these are related to visuospatial working memory (VSWM) and self-reported wayfinding inclinations. A sample of 456 people aged 25–84 years rated how much they use navigation aids (maps, GPS, verbal directions), how much they went out, and how much they reached or lost their way to unfamiliar destinations (in 2016). Then, they performed the jigsaw puzzle test (VSWM) and questionnaires on sense of direction, pleasure in exploring, and spatial anxiety. The results showed that increasing age is related to a lower tendency to go out, fewer experiences of finding one’s way and getting lost, a lower level of GPS use, and increased verbal directions use. After age changes were accounted for, VSWM was related to aid use and orientation experiences (except for losing one’s way), wayfinding inclinations (especially spatial anxiety) to using a map, and orientation experiences. Overall, other than age, VSWM and one’s wayfinding attitudes can play a role–albeit it a modest one–in spatial behaviors.
Highlights
The abilities to navigate and orient oneself to the environment are essential in daily life for one to successfully reach destinations and avoid getting lost
The present study was aimed at investigating from an adult lifespan perspective the relationship among self-reported everyday spatial behaviors, such as orientation experiences, people’s use of navigation aids, individual visuospatial factors in terms of visuospatial working memory (VSWM), and one’s wayfinding inclinations
Step 3 accounted for another 10% of the variance, with Sense of direction and spatial representation (SDSR) and spatial anxiety emerging as significant predictors, meaning that a low level of anxiety and a high sense of direction reduces the frequency of getting lost in an unfamiliar place
Summary
The abilities to navigate and orient oneself to the environment are essential in daily life for one to successfully reach destinations and avoid getting lost. Such abilities have been shown to decline with increasing age [1,2]. At the same time, asking people to self-report their experienced navigation issues is a modality used to detect everyday habits related to navigation-based experiences [8]. Studies investigating the navigation issues in older adults both with self-reports (in terms of the strategies adopted while navigating, as well as the characteristics of the environment that are believed to increase the experience of getting lost) and new environment learning showed a link between subjective–self-reported–and objective–performance-based–modalities [9]. Merit being investigated across the adult lifespan for better analyzing the navigation issue (age-related changes and their extent) as experienced in daily life
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