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Aging coincides with a decline in navigation and wayfinding abilities, but it is unclear to what extent factors relating to a given individual may contribute to mitigating this decline. The present study aims to analyze how older adults' objective cognitive functioning and self-reported subjective wayfinding inclinations predict their navigation performance. Sixty-four older adults were assessed on their general cognitive functioning (all scoring from 22 to 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA), visuospatial working memory (VSWM), and perspective-taking abilities. Their self-assessed wayfinding inclinations (such as their sense of direction, pleasure in exploring places, and spatial anxiety) were also examined. Then participants learned a path in an environment from video navigation and performed a route repetition task (which maintained the same egocentric perspective as the learning phase), and a sketch map task (which involved switching from an egocentric perspective used in the learning phase to an allocentric perspective). The results showed that positive wayfinding inclinations (in terms of pleasure in exploring) related to participants' route repetition accuracy, while their general cognitive performance (MoCA scores) related to their sketch map drawing accuracy. Individual factors such as cognitive functioning and wayfinding inclinations relate differently to older people's navigation performance, depending on the demands of the tasks used to test their environment learning.

When navigating individuals form mental representations of their environment. Significant individual differences exist, particularly in the ability to develop survey knowledge—a map-like understanding of spatial relationships. While many studies have focused on navigation via predetermined routes, less is known about individual differences in learning environments from free exploration. This study investigated whether exploration behaviors, such as the tendency to revisit places or diffuse in the environment, are linked to mental representations and whether visuospatial factors, like visuospatial working memory and self-reported wayfinding inclinations (e.g., self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring, and spatial anxiety), contribute to these relationships. A sample of 234 participants (147 womencompleted a visuospatial working memory task and wayfinding questionnaires, then freely explored a virtual city in a CAVE environment. Revisiting (tendency to re-explore visited areas) and diffusion (extent of environmental coverage) were calculated. Their survey knowledge was assessed using a map drawing task. The results showed that exploration behaviors were related to individual differences: women exhibited less revisiting and diffusion than men; higher self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring were associated with reduced revisiting; and joystick familiarity favoured diffusion. Furthermore, exploration behaviors mediated the relationship between gender and self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring with map accuracy. Map drawing was also directly predicted by visuospatial working memory ability. These findings offer insights into the role of individual differences in exploration behaviors and their relationship to survey knowledge gained from free exploration, highlighting the importance of individual factors in how environments are experienced and processed. Significance statement Some people are better at understanding where landmarks are in a place and how they are connected, while others find it more difficult. This paper investigates whether the way we move through an environment (how we explore) relates to this ability, along with other personal factors. When exploring a city, some people move around a lot, while others stay closer to familiar areas. We found that this is related to how well people understand the layout of the place. Importantly, we also found that personal attitudes toward orientation matter: people who feel more confident and enjoy exploring tend to revisit places less. On the other hand, the ability to mentally handle visual and spatial information (visuospatial working memory) doesn’t change how we explore, but it does help us build a better understanding of the environment. Gender and familiarity with using a joystick also related to how people explored and what they learned. By studying how people move and how this relates to their individual characteristics, we can better understand how we learn about the environments.

When learning an environment from virtual navigation people gain knowledge about landmarks, their locations, and the paths that connect them. The present study newly aimed to investigate all these domains of knowledge and how cognitive factors such as visuospatial abilities and wayfinding inclinations might support virtual passive navigation. A total of 270 participants (145 women) were tested online. They: (i) completed visuospatial tasks and answered questionnaires on their wayfinding inclinations; and (ii) learnt a virtual path. The environmental knowledge they gained was assessed on their free recall of landmarks, their egocentric and allocentric pointing accuracy (location knowledge), and their performance in route direction and landmark location tasks (path knowledge). Visuospatial abilities and wayfinding inclinations emerged as two separate factors, and environmental knowledge as a single factor. The SEM model showed that both visuospatial abilities and wayfinding inclinations support the environmental knowledge factor, with similar pattern of relationships in men and women. Overall, factors related to the individual are relevant to the environmental knowledge gained from an online virtual passive navigation.

Background: Spatial cognition research strives to maximize conditions favoring environment representation. This study examined how initial (egocentric) navigation headings interact with allocentric references in terms of world-based information (such as cardinal points) in forming environment representations. The role of individual visuo-spatial factors was also examined. Method: Ninety-one undergraduates took an unfamiliar path in two learning conditions, 46 walked from cardinal south to north (SN learning), and 45 walked from cardinal north to south (NS learning). Path recall was tested with SN and NS pointing tasks. Perspective-taking ability and self-reported sense of direction were also assessed. Results: Linear models showed a better performance for SN learning and SN pointing than for NS learning and NS pointing. The learning condition x pointing interaction proved SN pointing more accurate than NS pointing after SN learning, while SN and NS pointing accuracy was similar after NS learning. Perspective-taking ability supported pointing accuracy. Conclusions: These results indicate that initial heading aligned with cardinal north prompt a north-oriented representation. No clear orientation of the representation emerges when the initial heading is aligned with cardinal south. Environment representations are supported by individual perspective-taking ability. These findings offer new insight on the environmental and individual factors facilitating environment representations acquired from navigation.

Aging coincides with a decline in map learning ability, but it is unclear to what extent different aspects of the mental representation are susceptible. The present study aimed to investigate knowledge about landmarks, their positions and distances (categorical and distance relations, respectively) in relation to aging as well as cognitive functioning (measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA]), visuospatial abilities, and self-reported wayfinding inclinations. Thirty young adults and 60 older adults (30 aged 63–74 and 30 aged 75–86) learned a map, freely recalled the landmarks and performed a map drawing task (considering the number of landmarks missing, position accuracy and distance accuracy). Before that, older participants were also assessed regarding their general cognitive functioning (MoCA) and a series of visuospatial measures. The results show age-related differences among adults in recalling landmarks and in both categorical and distance relations, with a worsening of performance of old-olds only in the former. Older adults’ MoCA score related to accuracy in the three measures, and an additional role of spatial anxiety was found for distance accuracy. Above and beyond the age-related decline, the quality of older people’s spatial mental representation is related to higher general cognitive level and lower spatial anxiety.

Background Interaction with the road environment as a pedestrian begins early, increasing during adolescence with growing independence. However, pedestrians face crash risks, particularly those with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Methods This study compared the road-crossing and sidewalk-walking behaviors of adolescents with and without ADHD in virtual road scenarios. Twenty-one participants with ADHD and 21 adolescents with typical development from 11 to 16 years of age, paired for gender and intelligence participated in the study. Results Adolescents with ADHD displayed more unintentional risky behaviors, such as wandering while crossing, looking away, and taking longer to avoid obstacles. However, they also showed positive behaviors, such as checking both sides of the road before crossing. Manifestations of inattention, as observed by parents, were associated with these risky behaviors. Conclusions Our results extend previous findings, showing that ADHD puts adolescent pedestrians at greater risk in the road context, despite manifesting also potential positive behaviors.

We examined the roles self-efficacy plays in environmental learning in terms of self-efficacy feedback and task-specific (navigation-based) self-efficacy. We manipulated self-efficacy using positive and neutral feedback to investigate the relationship between receiving positive feedback and environmental learning performance and subsequent recall. A total of 231 participants were administered visuospatial tasks, where 117 received positive feedback, and 114 received neutral feedback. Then, we tested environmental learning using route retracing, pointing, and map-completion tasks. Before each environmental task, participants evaluated their task-specific self-efficacy. A series of spatial self-reported preferences were gathered as well. Mediation models showed that receiving positive feedback after a visuospatial task influences environmental recall performance through the mediation of task-specific self-efficacy. Moreover, after accounting for experimental manipulation and gender, we found that task-specific self-efficacy, sense of direction, and visuospatial abilities influence spatial-recall task performance, even with some differences as a function of the specific recall tasks considered. Overall, our findings suggest that among individual characteristics, task-specific self-efficacy can sustain environmental learning. Furthermore, giving positive feedback can improve spatial self-efficacy before conducting spatial-recall tasks.

Experiencing an environment by navigating in it or reading a map (route and survey views, respectively) is a typical activity of everyday life. Previous research has demonstrated that aging coincides with a decline in spatial learning, but it is unclear whether this depends to some degree on how the learning conditions relate to the method used to assess the recall. The present study aims to shed light on this issue. Forty-six young, 43 young-old and 38 old-old adults learned outdoor environments from a map and a video, then performed sketch map and route repetition tasks. Participants were assessed on their visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM), and reported their self-assessed visuo-spatial inclinations. The results showed that young adults completed the sketch maps more accurately after learning from a map rather than a video. The same was true of the young-old participants (but not of the old-old), though their performance was not as good as the younger group’s. The learning condition had no effect on the route repetition task, however, and only age-related differences emerged, with both older groups performing less well than the young adults. After controlling for learning condition and age group, VSWM and participants’ reported propensity to explore places predicted their accuracy in both types of spatial task. The overall results, discussed in the light of spatial cognitive and aging models, show that learning condition (combined with recall tasks) and visuo-spatial factors influence spatial representations, even in aging.

Navigating environments is a fundamental ability of daily life, with survey knowledge playing a crucial role. Survey knowledge varies between individuals, and these variations may be related to individual differences in visuospatial working memory (VSWM) ability. However, other factors, such as the modalities of recall (cued vs. free recall) of survey knowledge, could interact with VSWM resources. The present study aimed to clarify whether various types of VSWM contribute to survey knowledge under specific recall modalities or regardless of how spatial information is retrieved. A sample of 74 young adults performed VSWM tasks with varying processing demands and degrees of active involvement. Then, they actively learned a virtual city path in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) environment, and their survey knowledge was assessed using a sketch map task in free and cued recall modalities (within-participants). Cued recall demonstrated an advantage in sketch map accuracy over free recall. VSWM with simultaneous processing and active mental imagery is associated with sketch map accuracy, but not other VSWM. Importantly, no interaction was found between VSWM and the modality of recall. Therefore, survey knowledge is primarily related to VSWM, regardless of recall modality, emphasizing the importance of VSWM ability in capturing survey knowledge after active navigation.

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.