Assessing visuospatial abilities in healthy aging: a novel visuometor task
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Date
2016
Authors
de Bruin Nutley, Natalie
Bryant, Devon C.
MacLean, Jessica N.
Gonzalez, Claudia L. R.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Abstract
This study examined the efficacy of a novel reaching-and-grasping task in determining
visuospatial abilities across adulthood. The task required male and female young (18–25
years) and older adults (60–82 years) to replicate a series of complex models by
locating and retrieving the appropriate building blocks from an array. The task allows
visuospatial complexity to be manipulated independently from the visuomotor demands.
Mental rotation and spatial visualization abilities were assessed. The results showed
that the time taken to complete the tasks increased with increased mental rotation
complexity. Patterns of hand use were also influenced by the complexity of the models
being constructed with right hand use being greater for the less complex models. In
addition, although older adults consistently performed the visuomotor tasks slower than
the younger adults, their performance was comparable when expressed as the percent
change in task demands. This is suggestive that spatial abilities are preserved in older
adults. Given the ecologically validity, the described task is an excellent candidate for
investigating: (1) developmental; (2) sex-based; and (3) pathology-based differences in
spatial abilities in the visuomotor domain.
Description
Sherpa Romeo green journal: open access
Keywords
Spatial ability , Visuomotor , Visuospatial , Reach-to-grasp , Sex , Aging
Citation
de Bruin, N., Bryant, D. C., MacLean, J. N., & Gonzalez, C. L. R. (2016). Assessing visuospatial abilities in healthy aging: a novel visuomotor task. Frontiers in Aging Neurscience, 8:7. doi:10.3389/fnagi.2016.00007