Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Adult cognitive abilities in the laboratory and in real-life settings: Basic theoretical and methodological issues
- Part IA Systematic approaches to laboratory and real-world research
- Part IB Combining laboratory and real-world research
- Part II Cognition in adulthood and late life: Findings in real-life settings
- Part IIA Everyday cognitive abilities
- 11 Memory for prose: Perspectives on the reader
- 12 Prose processing in adulthood: The text, the reader, and the task
- 13 Speech comprehension and memory through adulthood: The roles of time and strategy
- 14 The effects of aging on perceived and generated memories
- 15 Aging and word retrieval: Naturalistic, clinical, and laboratory data
- 16 Acquisition and utilization of spatial information by elderly adults: Implications for day-to-day situations
- 17 Inner-city decay? Age changes in structure and process in recall of familiar topographical information
- 18 The cognitive ecology of problem solving
- 19 Everyday problem solving: Methodological issues, research findings, and a model
- 20 Prospective/intentional memory and aging: Memory as adaptive action
- Part IIB Concomitant influences
- Part III Cognitive enhancement and aging: Clinical and educational applications
- Part IIIA Issues and perspectives
- Part IIIB Enhancement approaches
- Part IIIC Designing programs for cognitive rehabilitation
- Subject index
- Author index
16 - Acquisition and utilization of spatial information by elderly adults: Implications for day-to-day situations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Adult cognitive abilities in the laboratory and in real-life settings: Basic theoretical and methodological issues
- Part IA Systematic approaches to laboratory and real-world research
- Part IB Combining laboratory and real-world research
- Part II Cognition in adulthood and late life: Findings in real-life settings
- Part IIA Everyday cognitive abilities
- 11 Memory for prose: Perspectives on the reader
- 12 Prose processing in adulthood: The text, the reader, and the task
- 13 Speech comprehension and memory through adulthood: The roles of time and strategy
- 14 The effects of aging on perceived and generated memories
- 15 Aging and word retrieval: Naturalistic, clinical, and laboratory data
- 16 Acquisition and utilization of spatial information by elderly adults: Implications for day-to-day situations
- 17 Inner-city decay? Age changes in structure and process in recall of familiar topographical information
- 18 The cognitive ecology of problem solving
- 19 Everyday problem solving: Methodological issues, research findings, and a model
- 20 Prospective/intentional memory and aging: Memory as adaptive action
- Part IIB Concomitant influences
- Part III Cognitive enhancement and aging: Clinical and educational applications
- Part IIIA Issues and perspectives
- Part IIIB Enhancement approaches
- Part IIIC Designing programs for cognitive rehabilitation
- Subject index
- Author index
Summary
Spatial activities form such an integral part of everyday life that they are rarely noticed as phenomena unto themselves. However, we are reminded of the critical roles that spatial thought and behavior play in the quality of life when problems occur in the course of these activities, as, for example, when we search for but cannot find a desired object or when we become disoriented in an unfamiliar part of town. Relatively little is known about the effects of aging on human spatial abilities, especially those cognitive skills involved in spatial activities. Consequently, we can make only the most general of inferences regarding the impact of spatial cognition and behavior on the quality of life for elderly adults.
Clearly, additional research is needed in this area, but in order to be of optimal value, this research should be guided by a general conceptual framework that can be used to evaluate previous empirical work and point to promising avenues for future inquiry. The purpose of this chapter is to delineate a potentially valuable approach to the scientific study of spatial cognition and behavior in elderly adults, with particular emphasis on the spatial tasks that confront them in the course of their daily lives. Fundamental to this approach is the proposition that meaningful research in this area should be based on an understanding of real-world situations, that is, psychological events in their ecological context.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Everyday Cognition in Adulthood and Late Life , pp. 265 - 283Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
- 5
- Cited by