title: Age-related differences in spatial memory: effects of structural and organizational context.
abstract: The authors examined effects of structural and organizational spatial context on younger and older adults' memory for an arrangement of dollhouse furniture pieces. For half of the participants, landmark objects (Experiment 1) and a floor plan beneath the array (Experiment 2) served as structural context during study and replacement. Organizational context was varied by grouping items randomly or as 6 rooms in a prototypical house. Two study and replacement trials were given. In Experiment 1, landmark structural cues improved younger adults' performance, whereas both age groups benefited from the floor plan in Experiment 2. In both experiments, positive effects of organizational context and trial occurred. Higher order interactions further revealed that structural and organizational context effects varied in size across trials, suggesting that both age groups used spatial contextual cues more effectively with practice. Implications of these results for current views on cognitive compensation in adulthood are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge 70803-5501, USA. pskatie@lsuvm.sncc.lsu.edu
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Cherry
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011897:Random Allocation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014888:Wechsler Scales