Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2021 Apr;22(2):207-214. doi: 10.1007/s10162-020-00780-1. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
Sense of direction is an individual's ability to navigate within an environment and generate a mental map of novel environments. Although sense of direction is correlated with psychometric tests of spatial ability, it also reflects an individual's real-world spatial ability that is not fully captured by laboratory-based assessments. Sense of direction is known to vary widely in the population and has been shown to decline with age. However, other factors that contribute to an individual's sense of direction have not been well-characterized. Vestibular impairment has been linked to reduced spatial cognitive ability, which encompasses spatial memory and navigation skills. Several studies have shown that vestibular input is necessary for effective spatial cognition, notably accurate spatial navigation ability. These studies have typically considered laboratory-based spatial navigation assessments; however, the influence of vestibular function on variation in real-world sense of direction is unknown. In this study, we evaluated whether vestibular function is associated with self-reported sense of direction. Participants for this cross-sectional study were recruited from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, a longstanding cohort study of healthy aging. In a modified version of the Santa Barbara Sense-of-Direction (SBSOD) Scale, participants rated statements about spatial and navigational abilities. A lower average score indicates poorer self-reported sense of direction. Vestibular function testing included cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) to assess saccular function, ocular VEMP to assess utricular function, and the video head-impulse test to assess semicircular canal function based on vestibular ocular reflex. The study sample included 82 participants with mean age of 71.0 (± 16.9) years and mean SBSOD score of 4.95(± 1.07). In a multivariate linear regression model, female sex and bilateral saccular loss were associated with a lower average SBSOD score. These data suggest that vestibular impairment contributes to the known variation in spatial navigation ability.
方向感是个体在环境中导航并生成新环境心理地图的能力。虽然方向感与空间能力的心理测量测试相关，但它也反映了个体在现实世界中的空间能力，而实验室评估并不能完全捕捉到这一点。方向感在人群中差异很大，并且随着年龄的增长而下降。然而，导致个体方向感的其他因素尚未得到很好的描述。前庭功能障碍与空间认知能力下降有关，包括空间记忆和导航技能。几项研究表明，前庭输入对于有效的空间认知至关重要，特别是准确的空间导航能力。这些研究通常考虑基于实验室的空间导航评估；然而，前庭功能对现实世界方向感变化的影响尚不清楚。在这项研究中，我们评估了前庭功能是否与自我报告的方向感有关。这项横断面研究的参与者是从巴尔的摩老龄化纵向研究中招募的，这是一项针对健康老龄化的长期队列研究。在圣巴巴拉方向感量表（SBSOD）的修改版中，参与者对关于空间和导航能力的陈述进行评分。平均得分越低表示自我报告的方向感越差。前庭功能测试包括颈性前庭诱发肌源性电位（VEMP）以评估球囊功能、眼性 VEMP 以评估椭圆囊功能以及视频头脉冲测试以基于前庭眼反射评估半规管功能。研究样本包括 82 名参与者，平均年龄为 71.0（±16.9）岁，平均 SBSOD 评分为 4.95（±1.07）。在多元线性回归模型中，女性性别和双侧球囊丧失与 SBSOD 平均评分较低相关。这些数据表明，前庭功能障碍导致了已知的空间导航能力变化。
