Gait matters in spatial orientation: Age-related differences in real-world wayfinding and cognitive mapping

This study examined age-related differences in real-world wayfinding, with a focus on gait behavior and its role in spatial orientation. Twenty-six younger adults (age 23.6 ± 2.2) and 25 older adults (OA; age 70.5 ± 4.3) completed a naturalistic navigation task involving route learning, route retracing, and in-lab spatial memory tasks. Although OA made more spatial errors during wayfinding, they exhibited faster gait speeds than younger adults, a finding that contrasts with prior virtual environment or lab-based studies. Gait analysis revealed age-specific strategies: Younger adults maintained consistent walk ratios, suggesting cognitive prioritization, while OA showed more frequent stop-and-go behavior, suggesting greater reliance on pausing as an orienting strategy during navigation. Notably, stop-and-go frequency significantly correlated with wayfinding performance in both virtual environment and real-world conditions, indicating a potential compensatory mechanism to recalibrate internal spatial representations through intermittent pausing. These findings suggest that gait may play a more active role in navigation than previously recognized. Studying wayfinding in real environments, where gait, sensory cues, and cognitive load interact naturally, offers new insight into age-related navigational adaptation. The results underscore the value of ecological validity in understanding the motor-cognitive interplay that supports environmental memory formation across the lifespan. This research provides a foundation for developing dual task training and gait-informed interventions aimed at supporting mobility, orientation, and autonomy in OA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).