Landmark Selection and Temporal-Spatial Integration: Macrospatial Abilities in Young Adults and Elderly Adults

Groups of young adults and elderly adults participated in a study examining age-related changes in macrospatial cognitive abilities. Perceptual differentiation/selection abilities were tested using a Landmark Selection task, while temporal-spatial integration abilities were explored through the use of a Scrambled Route task. In the Landmark Selection task, subjects viewed a slide presentation of a walk and then chose the landmarks which best represented the walk. For the Scrambled Route task, after viewing a slide presentation of a scrambled walk, subjects made distance estimations involving pairs of selected landmarks. Also included were self-assessment scales of spatial abilities and two psychometric tests (Picture Arrangement and Identical Pictures Test). It was hypothesized that there would be no age-related differences in the self-assessment scales and in the performance on the two route tasks, but that there would be an age-related decline in the performance on the psychometric tests. Elderly adults exhibited a significantly lower performance level on both experimental tasks, indicating an age-related decrement in macrospatial abilities utilizing perceptual differentiation/selection and temporal-spatial integration, even though their self-assessment ratings indicated otherwise. Performance on the psychometric tests of spatial abilities proved to be predictive of performance on the experimental tests.