Exploring age-related differences in virtual maze navigation: The impact of external cues on search-strategy

Visuospatial navigation problems represent a significant challenge to quality of life in older adults. We have previously shown that, in a virtual honeycomb-shaped maze (in which participants face numerous sequential Left/Right junctions; honeycomb free-movement pattern [FMP] Y-maze), younger individuals (18−40) typically adopt a strategy of alternating their turns at successive junctions, while those aged ≥ 70 show significantly fewer alternations, potentially due to diminished visuospatial working memory. However, reduced alternation could also reflect decreased exploratory drive in older adults, characterized by diminished intrinsic motivation to engage with novel environments. Here, we explored whether alternation patterns reflect working memory processes, hypothesizing that reductions in alternation among older adults may be linked to spatial working memory deficits. To test this, we first measured visuospatial working memory using the Corsi block tapping test and found a strong positive correlation between Corsi performance and alternation in the honeycomb FMP Y-maze, providing direct empirical support that alternation is working memory-dependent. We also found a significant negative correlation between Corsi and repetition, suggesting that repetition is a lower-demand alternative to alternation. We then introduced distal cues to facilitate orientation, and showed participants a map of the maze to help familiarize them with the environment. Distal cues were intended to reduce memory load by providing clear orientation markers, whereas the map was designed to increase exploratory drive by enhancing participants’ spatial confidence. When provided with distal cues, older adults increased their sequential alternations, whereas the map condition did not have the same effect. These findings suggest that spatial memory limitations in older adults affect navigational choices, with alternation being a memory-dependent strategy and repetition potentially offering a lower-effort alternative. This could have implications for designing environments to enhance independence in older adults and in the design of cognitive tests for spatial working memory.