title: Aging affects pointing to unseen targets encoded in an allocentric frame of reference.
abstract: The goal of the present study was to determine whether aging influences aiming performance to a remembered target encoded in an allocentric frame of reference. We presented four targets simultaneously. The targets were then withdrawn from the screen. Following a recall delay, only three of the targets were presented on the screen in the same configuration as before but at a different location from their first presentation. We asked younger (M=21.9 years) and older participants (M=73.8 years) to point first to the missing target. Because participants did not know where on the computer screen the targets would be presented at the end of the recall delay, they had no choice but to use an allocentric frame of reference to encode its location when the targets were first presented. The results indicate that older participants were significantly more variable when pointing to the remembered target than their younger counterparts, suggesting a decline of allocentric spatial memory with aging.
authors.affiliation: Département de kinésiologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lemay
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Proteau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013028:Space Perception; D013997:Time Factors