Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France; Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
Guillaume Tatur
Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
Anthony Ozier-Lafontaine
Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
Colas N Authié
Institut de la Vision, Streetlab, Paris, France
José-Alain Sahel
Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France; Department of Ophthalmology, The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, United States; CHNO des Quinze-Vingts, INSERM-DGOS CIC, Paris, France; Department of Ophthalmology, Fondation Ophtalmologique Rothschild, Paris, France
Angelo Arleo
Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
Human spatial cognition has been mainly characterized in terms of egocentric (body-centered) and allocentric (world-centered) wayfinding behavior. It was hypothesized that allocentric spatial coding, as a special high-level cognitive ability, develops later and deteriorates earlier than the egocentric one throughout lifetime. We challenged this hypothesis by testing the use of landmarks versus geometric cues in a cohort of 96 deeply phenotyped participants, who physically navigated an equiangular Y maze, surrounded by landmarks or an anisotropic one. The results show that an apparent allocentric deficit in children and aged navigators is caused specifically by difficulties in using landmarks for navigation while introducing a geometric polarization of space made these participants as efficient allocentric navigators as young adults. This finding suggests that allocentric behavior relies on two dissociable sensory processing systems that are differentially affected by human aging. Whereas landmark processing follows an inverted-U dependence on age, spatial geometry processing is conserved, highlighting its potential in improving navigation performance across the lifespan.
