Attentional Demand Varies During a Blind Navigation Pathway In Young And Older Adults

Lajoie, Yves; Paquet, Nicole; Lafleur, Renee

doi:10.2174/1874230001307010001

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…This line of work also suggests that when environmental distractions related to the path, such as the complexity of the space or number of turns on the path, yield the opposite pattern whereby the distance traveled is overestimated. It has also been demonstrated that when walking to a landmark location without vision, the ability to perform a secondary task is particularly impacted when very near the landmark location, but relatively unimpaired when farther from objects (Lajoie, Paquet, & Lafleur, 2013). Future work using our spatial learning paradigm could include distance estimations to address this question.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial learning while navigating with severely degraded viewing: The role of attention and mobility monitoring.

Rand¹,

Creem-Regehr²,

Thompson³

2015

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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The ability to navigate without getting lost is an important aspect of quality of life. In five studies, we evaluated how spatial learning is affected by the increased demands of keeping oneself safe while walking with degraded vision (mobility monitoring). We proposed that safe low-vision mobility requires attentional resources, providing competition for those needed to learn a new environment. In Experiments 1 and 2 participants navigated along paths in a real-world indoor environment with simulated degraded vision or normal vision. Memory for object locations seen along the paths was better with normal compared to degraded vision. With degraded vision, memory was better when participants were guided by an experimenter (low monitoring demands) versus unguided (high monitoring demands). In Experiments 3 and 4, participants walked while performing an auditory task. Auditory task performance was superior with normal compared to degraded vision. With degraded vision, auditory task performance was better when guided compared to unguided. In Experiment 5, participants performed both the spatial learning and auditory tasks under degraded vision. Results showed that attention mediates the relationship between mobility-monitoring demands and spatial learning. These studies suggest that more attention is required and spatial learning is impaired when navigating with degraded viewing.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial learning while navigating with severely degraded viewing: The role of attention and mobility monitoring.

Rand¹,

Creem-Regehr²,

Thompson³

2015

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Impact of age and obstacles on navigation precision and reaction time during blind navigation in dual-task conditions

2014

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Navigation without vision is a skill that is often employed in our daily lives, such as walking in the dark at night. Navigating without vision to a remembered target has previously been studied. However, little is known about the impact of age or obstacles on the attentional demands of a blind navigation task. This study examined the impacts of age and obstacles on reaction time (RT) and navigation precision during blind navigation in dual-task conditions. The aims were to determine the effects of age, obstacles, and auditory stimulus location on RT and navigation precision in a blind navigation task. Ten healthy young adults (24.5±2.5 years) and ten healthy older adults (69.5±2.9 years) participated in the study. Participants were asked to walk to a target located 8m ahead. In half the trials, the path was obstructed with hanging obstacles. Participants performed this task in the absence of vision, while executing a discrete RT task. Results demonstrated that older adults presented increased RT, linear distance travelled (LDT), and obstacle contact; that obstacle presence significantly increased RT compared to trials with no obstacles; and that an auditory stimulus emitted early versus late in the path increased LDT. Results suggest that the attentional demands of blind navigation are higher in older than young adults, as well as when obstacles are present. Furthermore, navigation precision is affected by age and when participants are distracted by the secondary task early in navigation, presumably because the secondary task interferes with path estimation.

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Effect of Transient Perturbations of Short-Term Memory on Target-Directed Blind Locomotion

Piekarski

Lajoie

Paquet

2017

Journal of Motor Behavior

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It is difficult to walk without vision to a nearby destination if there is a time delay between watching the destination and walking toward it. Indeed, path deviation occurred when delays were introduced before initiating straight ahead blindfolded walking (R. A. Tyrrell, K. K., Rudolph, B. G., Eggers, & H. W. Leibowitz, 1993 ). The questions are whether the location of a 60-s delay in the walking path and whether performing a cognitive task during the delay influence the accuracy in reaching a previously seen target while walking without vision. Thirty young adults walked blindfolded and stopped when they believed they had reached a target at 8 m. Delays were 60 s in duration, were located at 0, 4, and 7 m, and involved waiting or backward counting. Significant differences were found between 0-m and 4-m delay locations for distance to target, distance travelled and path deviation (p < .05). Significant effect of backward counting during the 60-s delay was found at the 0-m delay for distance travelled (p < .05). The interaction between retaining visual guidance information during 60 s and performing a cognitive task likely influenced target-directed blind navigation.

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Attentional Demand Varies During a Blind Navigation Pathway In Young And Older Adults

Cited by 6 publications

References 26 publications

Spatial learning while navigating with severely degraded viewing: The role of attention and mobility monitoring.

Spatial learning while navigating with severely degraded viewing: The role of attention and mobility monitoring.

Impact of age and obstacles on navigation precision and reaction time during blind navigation in dual-task conditions

Effect of Transient Perturbations of Short-Term Memory on Target-Directed Blind Locomotion

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