Date of Award

Summer 1986

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Program/Concentration

Psychology

Committee Director

Kathleen C. Kirasic

Committee Member

Gary Allen

Committee Member

Glynn D. Coates

Committee Member

Robin J. Lewis

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.P65H34

Abstract

Groups of young adults and elderly adults participated in a study examining age-related changes in macrospatial cognitive abilities. Perceptual differentiation/selection abilities were tested using a Landmark Selection task, while temporal-spatial integration abilities were explored through the use of a Scrambled Route task. In the Landmark Selection task, subjects viewed a slide presentation of a walk and then chose the landmarks which best represented the walk. For the Scrambled Route task, after viewing a slide presentation of a scrambled walk, subjects made distance estimations involving pairs of selected landmarks. Also included were self-assessment scales of spatial abilities and two psychometric tests (Picture Arrangement and Identical Pictures Test). It was hypothesized that there would be no age-related differences in the self-assessment scales and in the performance on the two route tasks, but that there would be an age-related decline in the performance on the psychometric tests. Elderly adults exhibited a significantly lower performance level on both experimental tasks, indicating an age-related decrement in macrospatial abilities utilizing perceptual differentiation/selection and temporal-spatial integration, even though their self-assessment ratings indicated otherwise. Performance on the psychometric tests of spatial abilities proved to be predictive of performance on the experimental tests.

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DOI

10.25777/a1ef-9c88

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