Investigation of the effect of visual motor skills on spatial learning and memory in healthy adults

The vestibulo-ocular reflex mechanism maintains the gaze and, as a result, the visual acuity during angular and linear head movements by making use of location and velocity information about the head delivered by the vestibular system. The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) mechanism is also thought to play a crucial role in visuospatial perception, which involves abilities such depth perception, spatial navigation, and distance perception which are used to express how mammals perceive two and three-dimensional space. The purpose of this study was to investigate at how visual motor abilities affect spatial learning and memory. The study's sample size was 50 healthy people between the ages of 18 and 55. All participants in the study were administered the Mini Mental State Test (MMST), the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI Form), the Trail-Making Test (TMT) Forms A and B for the evaluation of executive functions, the Dynamic Visual Acuity (DVA) test battery for the evaluation of visual motor functions, and Virtual Morris Water Maze Test (vMWMT) a with virtual reality system for the evaluation of spatial learning and spatial memory. Additionally, the compatibility with SMSLT parameters was investigated using the Symbol Digit Substitution Test (SDST) and the Benton Face Recognition Test (BYTT) scales. The effects of gaze stabilization on spatial learning and spatial memory in the horizontal, vertical, and sagittal directions were not statistically significant (p>0.05), whereas the effects of dynamic visual acuity on these parameters were statistically significant (p<0.05). Additionally, it was shown that smoking, participating in any sports, and wearing glasses had an impact on spatial learning and spatial memory (p<0.05). The original SMSLT protocol is likely to propose a model for all future studies using this technology and will also serve as a reference to the literature in the study of the pathways connecting the vestibular-visual system and the hippocampus.