title: Correlates of virtual navigation performance in older adults.
abstract: Despite considerable evidence for deleterious effects of aging on place learning and memory, less is known about the trajectory and the putative neural mechanisms of these decrements. The virtual Morris water task (vMWT) is a human analog of a nonhuman spatial navigation task. The present study investigated longitudinal changes in place learning in 51 healthy, nondemented adults (age 30-83 years) who completed the vMWT and a neuropsychological battery at 2 time-points (interval = ∼8 years). We also assessed cross-sectional associations between vMWT and brain structure, biochemical integrity, and standardized neuropsychological measures in a subset of 22 individuals who underwent magnetic resonance imaging at follow-up. Despite no longitudinal decrement in vMWT performance, there were cross-sectional age differences on the vMWT favoring younger adults. Negative associations were observed between vMWT latency and gray matter volumes in the right hippocampus, bilateral thalamus, and right medial orbitofrontal cortex and between vMWT latency and white matter fractional anisotropy in the bilateral uncinate fasciculus. Collectively, these results suggest a pattern of differences in the structural integrity of regions supporting successful navigation even in the absence of longitudinal performance decrements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Laura E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Korthauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Nowak
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Moffat
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Rowland
authors.affiliation: Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins, University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Barker
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Resnick
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA; National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: driscoli@uwm.edu.
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Driscoll
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D065854:Spatial Navigation / Q000502:physiology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology
keywords: DTI; Hippocampus; Memory; Normal aging; Place learning; Virtual navigation