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Spatial navigation: Cognitive variables involved in route retracing among an elderly population |
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| Authors: | Christel Jacob Constant Rainville Alain Trognon Reinhard Fescharek Cédric Baumann Isabelle Clerc-Urmes Thérèse Rivasseau Jonveaux |
| Institution: | 1. Centre Mémoire de Ressources et de Recherche de Lorraine, CHRU de Nancy, Nancy, France;2. Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada;3. Laboratoire Interpsy, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France;4. Fescharek Sculpture & Design, Marburg, Germany;5. Unité de Méthodologie, Data Management et Statistique (UMDS), Département Méthodologie, Promotion, Investigation (DMPI), Délégation à la Recherche Clinique et à l'Innovation (DRCI), CHRU de Nancy, Nancy, France;6. Centre Mémoire de Ressources et de Recherche de Lorraine, CHRU de Nancy, Nancy, France
Laboratoire Lorrain de Psychologie et Neurosciences de la Dynamique des Comportements (2LPN), Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France Laboratoire Interpsy, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France |
| Abstract: | The cognitive processes involved in route retracing are not well known. This study aims to highlight them in an elderly population in which contradictory results have been obtained, certain studies showing specific difficulties for route retracing, others not. Thirty-nine elderly subjects performed a route-learning task (forward-backward) in a garden, then completed spatial knowledge tasks and standardised cognitive tests. Results show four factors that were predictive of route retracing performance: route repetition, the pointing task, and two standardised cognitive tests, one assessing spatial working memory, and another global cognitive efficiency. According to these results, route retracing involves route and survey knowledge (i.e., egocentric and allocentric strategy), and the integration of forward-backward perspectives is underpinned by the spatial working memory. Moreover, the subjects did not make more errors in route retracing than in the route repetition task, suggesting that a real environment could compensate for a failing allocentric strategy. |
| Keywords: | cognitive map ecological environment healing garden route learning spatial memory |