Spatial navigation as an integrative framework to investigate the interaction between perception and memory in young and older adulthood

Stephen Ramanoël, Université Côte d’Azur, LAMHESS, Nice, France & Sorbonne Universités, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, 17 rue  Moreau, F-75012 Paris, France

When: 7th July 11 am

Where: Espace Pouillon

-- Welcome coffee 15 minutes before -- 

Abstract: Spatial navigation paradigms offer a representative case of intricate high-level functions that involve dynamic interactions of multi-sensory perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes. Older adults exhibit prominent impairments in their capacity to navigate efficiently, reorient themselves in unfamiliar environments or update their path when faced with obstacles. This decline in navigational capabilities has traditionally been ascribed to dysexecutive functions and memory deficits. In contrast, the contributions of age-related visual decline and motor impairments to spatial performances are usually overlooked. Additionally, until now, the neural correlates of spatial cognition have mostly been studied in static conditions thereby disregarding perceptual (other than visual) and motor aspects of natural navigation. To address this gap, we implemented a highly interdisciplinary approach, bringing together clinical, psychophysical and behavioral assessments as well as neuroimaging paradigm involving freely moving behavior (mobile EEG), and virtual reality. In this seminar, I will present and discuss experimental results from both young and healthy older participants using an integrative approach that ranges from passive perception of visual scenes to active navigation tasks. This work helps to provide new insights into the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying age-related spatial abilities deficits under more ecologically valid experimental settings.

Key words: Spatial Memory, Scene Processing, Memory, EEG, fMRI, mobile EEG