Age-related changes in spatial navigation are evident by midlife and differ by sex

Accumulating evidence suggests that distinct aspects of successful navigation—path integration, acquiring spatial knowledge, and navigation strategies—change with advanced age. Yet, few studies have established whether navigation deficits emerge early in the aging process (prior to age 65) or whether early age-related deficits vary by sex. Here, we probed healthy young (ages 18-28) and midlife (ages 43-61) adults on three essential aspects of navigation. First, path integration ability shows negligible effects of sex or age. Second, robust sex differences in spatial knowledge acquisition are observed in young adulthood and persist, but are diminished, with age. Third, by midlife, men and women show decreased ability to acquire spatial knowledge and increased reliance on taking habitual paths. Together, our findings indicate that age-related changes in navigation ability and strategy are evident as early as midlife and that path integration ability is relatively spared in the transition from youth to middle age.