Spatial Perspective Taking is Robust in Later Life

Abstract

In developmental studies of spatial perspective taking, it is important to clearly distinguish imagining body movement from other related cognitive information processing, to capture the genuine features of this ability in aging. This study examined the characteristics of these abilities in the older adults by comparing differences among age groups. A video game task was devised to evaluate response times from various angles of rotation. Four hundred twenty-eight healthy individuals aged 6 to 79 years (eight age groups at 10-year intervals) participated. Average response times for each age group confirmed a curvilinear change that accelerated from childhood to early adulthood and decelerated in later life. However, older participants did not display inferior performance compared with the younger adults on the response times to rotate an imaginary self to a 180° position. These results confirm previous findings that spatial perspective taking, particularly imagining body movement, remains robust in normal aging.