TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial memory and aging
T2 - Performance on a human analog of the Morris water maze
AU - Newman, M. C.
AU - Kaszniak, A. W.
N1 - Funding Information:
* This work was part of a dissertation project for Mary C. Newman, and was supported by The McDonnell-Pew and Flinn Foundations (graduate fellowship for Mary C. Newman), the American Psychological Association Research Directorate (Dissertation Research Award for Mary C. Newman), and the National Multipurpose Research and Training Center, Grant DC-01409, from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (postdoctoral fellowship for Mary C. Newman). We would like to express our thanks to Geoffrey L. Ahern, John J. B. Allen, Carol A. Barnes, Elizabeth L. Glisky, and Lynn Nadel for their contributions to the design of the study and review of a previous version (dissertation) of the manuscript. Thanks are also extended to the research assistants and participants who gave so generously of their time. An earlier report of the study was presented at the 104th Convention of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Canada, August, 1996. Address correspondence to: Mary C. Newman, National Center for Neurogenic Communication Disorders, Speech and Hearing Sciences Building 71, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. E-mail: newmanm@u.arizona.edu. Accepted for publication: December 13, 1999.
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - Rodent studies demonstrate parallel age-related changes in spatial memory and the hippocampal formation. Converging cognitive, neuropsychological, and neurobiological evidence suggests similar changes in humans, although these correlates have not been studied in the same individuals. The purpose of the current project was to develop and validate a human analog of a rodent spatial memory task for future use in correlative studies of spatial memory and brain structure and function. Younger and older healthy adults studied the location of a target relative to distal cues in a large tent-like enclosure. Group performances were similar for the practice trial, which could be solved verbally, suggesting similar abilities to remember the configuration of multiple stimuli in a large space. However, on subsequent trials, which depended more upon spatial memory, older adults were impaired relative to their younger counterparts.
AB - Rodent studies demonstrate parallel age-related changes in spatial memory and the hippocampal formation. Converging cognitive, neuropsychological, and neurobiological evidence suggests similar changes in humans, although these correlates have not been studied in the same individuals. The purpose of the current project was to develop and validate a human analog of a rodent spatial memory task for future use in correlative studies of spatial memory and brain structure and function. Younger and older healthy adults studied the location of a target relative to distal cues in a large tent-like enclosure. Group performances were similar for the practice trial, which could be solved verbally, suggesting similar abilities to remember the configuration of multiple stimuli in a large space. However, on subsequent trials, which depended more upon spatial memory, older adults were impaired relative to their younger counterparts.
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U2 - 10.1076/1382-5585(200006)7:2;1-U;FT086
DO - 10.1076/1382-5585(200006)7:2;1-U;FT086
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033835539
VL - 7
SP - 86
EP - 93
JO - Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition
JF - Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition
SN - 1382-5585
IS - 2
ER -