RELATIVE PRESERVATION OF EGOCENTRIC BUT NOT ALLOCENTRIC SPATIAL MEMORY IN AGING

There is indirect evidence for the dissociation of egocentric and allo centric spatial memory in aging. We directly examined performance of s ubjects on tasks of both kinds. Twenty young (18-30 years) and 20 olde r adults (64-76 years) were asked to recall the location of object pai rs presented in two of six positions on a board. At recall, half of th e subjects were given only one of the items in the pair to relocate (e gocentric), and the other half relocated items paired at study (alloce ntric). The results supported the hypothesis that allocentric, but not egocentric, spatial memory declines with age.