The Effects of Temporospatial Integration on Distance Estimations of Young and Elderly Adults

The effect of discontinuity on temporospati al integration in the accuracy of distance estimations was examined utilizing a slide presentation of a route. Participants were 60 young and 60 elderly adults who were randomly assigned to one of two conditions. The two conditions were determined by whether the subjects viewed the walk in a logically sequenced order or a pre-determined randomized order. Subjects viewed the walk twice and thereafter made a series of distance estimates between a series of preselected landmarks chosen by a different group of young and elderly adults. Additionally, subjects gave self-ratings on a twelve-item questionnaire to allow for an examination of the relationship between self-ratings and actual performance on the task of distance estimations. An analysis of the distance estimates revealed a significant main effect of both age and order and a significant interaction of age x order. A step-wise multiple-regression analysis on the twelve-item questionnaire indicated that question 5, asking subjects to rate themselves on mechanical skills, was a valid predictor of actual performance in the task of distance estimations. Overall results showed that elderly adults performed comparably to young adults when the route was logically sequenced but performed significantly poorer when the presentation of the route was randomized.