Differential Effects of Aging on Directional and Absolute Errors in Visuospatial Memory

Memory for visuospatial arrays was studied in 62 healthy dextral adults whose age ranged from 20 to 90 years old. Ten abstract figures were presented in each hemispace over a series of learning trials, and then delayed free recall of figure placement was obtained. Directional and absolute errors wer...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychology 1992-10, Vol.6 (4), p.331-339
Main Authors: JUE, DONALD, MEADOR, KIMFORD J, ZAMRINI, EDWARD Y, ALLEN, MARTHA E, FELDMAN, DANIEL S, LORING, DAVID W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Differences
Aging
Human
Spatial Memory
Visual Perception
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Summary:Memory for visuospatial arrays was studied in 62 healthy dextral adults whose age ranged from 20 to 90 years old. Ten abstract figures were presented in each hemispace over a series of learning trials, and then delayed free recall of figure placement was obtained. Directional and absolute errors were calculated for the vertical and horizontal dimensions in each hemispace. Figures were misplaced significantly downward and leftward in both hemispaces. Both vertical and horizontal absolute error increased significantly with age, but no age effects on directional errors were observed. The increase in absolute error over age is consistent with decreased anterograde memory and visuospatial skills in the elderly. The directional errors are believed to result from an attentional shift toward proximal peripersonal space, in combination with attentional shifts from differential left versus right cerebral activation. The results demonstrate that all aspects of visuospatial function do not decline uniformly with age. Furthermore, women performed significantly better than men on this spatial array memory task but performed worse than men on the Judgment of Line Orientation Test, demonstrating that various components of visuospatial mechanisms may be differentially affected by gender.
ISSN:0894-4105
1931-1559
DOI:10.1037/0894-4105.6.4.331