Aubrey J B, Dobbs A R
Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Exp Aging Res. 1990 Autumn;16(3):133-9. doi: 10.1080/07340669008251540.
Community-residing young and elderly persons were given six maps with routes indicated by lines connecting dots. The dots were arranged in a 3 x 3 matrix that corresponded to the placement of discs affixed to the testing room floor. Route lengths increased by one segment with each subsequent map. In one condition participants were instructed not to turn the map while walking the indicated route and thus the orientation of the map to the room varied as the person followed the path. In a second condition participants turned the map while following the route, keeping it aligned with the room. Elderly persons made fewer correct choices and took more time to make direction decisions than younger people as did females compared to males. When the map could not be turned, decision times were related to the amount of misalignment between the map and the room. Elderly persons, especially females were influenced more by map misalignment than were young people. The results indicate that mental realignment is an important aspect of route following and may explain some of the difficulty older people have with such tasks.
居住在社区的年轻人和老年人拿到了六张地图，上面的路线由连接各点的线条标明。这些点排列成一个3×3的矩阵，与贴在测试房间地板上的圆盘位置相对应。每张后续地图上的路线长度增加一段。在一种情况下，参与者被指示在沿着指示路线行走时不要转动地图，因此当人沿着路径行走时，地图相对于房间的方向会发生变化。在第二种情况下，参与者在沿着路线行走时转动地图，使其与房间保持对齐。与年轻人相比，老年人做出的正确选择较少，做出方向决策的时间更长，女性与男性相比也是如此。当地图不能转动时，决策时间与地图和房间之间的不对齐程度有关。老年人，尤其是女性，比年轻人更容易受到地图不对齐的影响。结果表明，心理重新定位是路线跟随的一个重要方面，这可能解释了老年人在这类任务中遇到的一些困难。
