Aging and Sensory Substitution in a Virtual Navigation Task.

ABSTRACT: Virtual environments are becoming ubiquitous, and used in a variety of contexts-from entertainment to training and rehabilitation. Recently, technology for making them more accessible to blind or visually impaired users has been developed, by using sound to represent visual information. The ability of older individuals to interpret these cues has not yet been studied. In this experiment, we studied the effects of age and sensory modality (visual or auditory) on navigation through a virtual maze. We added a layer of complexity by conducting the experiment in a rotating room, in order to test the effect of the spatial bias induced by the rotation on performance. Results from 29 participants showed that with the auditory cues, it took participants a longer time to complete the mazes, they too

SUBMITTER: Levy-Tzedek S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4805187 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature