Age Differences in Pedestrian Navigational Skills and Performance: A Systemic Review and Meta-analysis

Objectives: This study summarized current findings on age differences (young vs. older adults) in pedestrian navigational performance, spatial learning, and examined moderating effects of experimental environment (e.g., real-world vs. virtual environments).

Methods: Two reviewers independently screened studies from PubMed, Web of Science, PsychInfo, and AgeLine until December 2022.

Inclusion criteria: (1) empirical navigational study; (2) healthy older adults (mean age above 60); (3) age as a categorical variable; (4) peer-reviewed paper in English.

Exclusion criteria: (1) overly simplified environments; (2) tasks performed with transportation; (3) small sample size (n<10).

Results: 5981 studies were screened, 18 were eligible with 406 total participants. Three-level meta-analysis estimated standardized mean age difference of 1.15 (95% CI: [0.64, 1.65]) in navigational performance, and 0.97 (95% CI: [0.81, 1.13]) in spatial learning. Study environments were found to marginally moderate age differences in navigational performance, but not in spatial learning.

Discussion: Older adults have poorer navigational performance and spatial learning outcomes compared to their younger counterparts, with marginally greater performance differences in virtual environments than in the real world. Findings were limited by low number eligible studies, especially real-world experiments. Future studies should continue to test generalizability of high-fidelity VR and identify spatial design elements that can mitigate age differences.