The Vertical Position of Visual Information Conditions Spatial Memory Performance in Healthy Aging

Memory for objects and their location is a cornerstone of adequate cognitive functioning across the lifespan. Considering that human visual perception is dependent upon the position of stimuli within the visual field, we posit that the position of objects in the environment may be a determinant aspect of mnemonic performance. In this study, a population of young and older adults completed a source monitoring task with objects presented either in the upper or lower visual field. Using multinomial processing tree modeling, we revealed that while item memory remained intact in older age, spatial memory was impaired but only for objects that had been presented in the upper visual field. Spatial memory is therefore conditioned by the vertical position of information. These findings put into question the traditional view that age-related spatial mnemonic deficits are primarily attributable to high-order associative dysfunctions and suggest that they could also originate from altered encoding of object attributes.