Extrahippocampal Contributions to Age-Related Changes in Spatial Navigation Ability

Age-related decline in spatial navigation is well-known and the extant literature emphasizes the important contributions of a hippocampus-dependent spatial navigation system in mediating this decline. However, navigation is a multifaceted cognitive domain and some aspects of age-related navigational decline may be mediated by extrahippocampal brain regions and/or systems. The current review presents an overview of some key cognitive domains that contribute to the age-related changes in spatial navigation ability, and elucidates such domains in the context of an increased engagement of navigationally relevant extrahippocampal brain regions with advancing age. Specifically, this review focuses on age-related declines in three main areas: (i) allocentric strategy use and switching between egocentric and allocentric strategies, (ii) associative learning of landmarks/locations and heading directions, and (iii) executive functioning and attention. Thus far, there is accumulating neuroimaging evidence supporting the functional relevance of the striatum for egocentric/response strategy use in older adults, and of the prefrontal cortex for mediating executive functions that contribute to successful navigational performance. Notably, the functional role of the prefrontal cortex was particularly emphasized via the proposed relevance of the fronto-locus coeruleus noradrenergic system for strategy switching and of the fronto-hippocampal circuit for landmark-direction associative learning. In view of these putative prefrontal contributions to navigation-related functions, we recommend future spatial navigation studies to adopt a systems-oriented approach that investigates age-related alterations in the interaction between the prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, and extrahippocampal regions, as well as an individual differences approach that clarifies the differential engagement of prefrontal executive processes among older adults.