Creating Landmarks & Memory Anchors for Dementia Navigation
Landmarks are the cornerstones of spatial memory. This guide explains how to select, place, and maintain distinctive landmarks throughout your care home that serve as memory anchors, helping residents with dementia orient themselves and navigate independently.
Long before humans invented signs, maps, or GPS, we navigated by landmarks: a distinctive tree, a hilltop, a river crossing. This ancient navigational ability, known as landmark-based or egocentric navigation, is remarkably resilient in dementia. While the ability to form and use mental maps (allocentric navigation) declines early, the ability to recognise and orient by distinctive objects persists well into the moderate stages. Research from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden confirms that landmark-based navigation is the last wayfinding strategy to be lost as dementia progresses, making it the most valuable tool for supporting independent navigation in care settings.
What Makes an Effective Landmark#
Not every object qualifies as an effective landmark. To serve as a reliable orientation anchor, a landmark must be distinctive (unlike anything else in the building), permanent (always in the same location), visible (noticeable without actively searching), and meaningful (connected to experiences, memories, or cultural associations that the resident recognises). A generic vase on a windowsill is not a landmark because it is not distinctive. A grandfather clock, however, is distinctive, culturally familiar, and visually prominent, making it an excellent landmark candidate.
Effective landmark categories for care homes:
- Timepieces: grandfather clocks, large wall clocks with traditional analogue faces
- Furniture: distinctive bookcases, display cabinets, hall tables with a recognisable lamp
- Artwork: large-format prints or paintings with clear, colourful subject matter (landscapes, flowers, local scenes)
- Memory displays: themed shadow boxes or display cabinets with familiar objects (old tools, vintage kitchenware, sports memorabilia)
- Natural elements: large potted plants, aquariums, window boxes visible from the corridor
- Sensory features: a wall-mounted music box, a tactile panel, or a scented display (dried lavender, potpourri)
Placement Strategy#
Landmarks should be placed at decision points: corridor junctions, lift lobbies, stairwell entrances, and the approaches to key destinations such as dining rooms and lounges. Each landmark must be unique within the building; duplicating landmarks at multiple locations destroys their navigational value. The DSDC recommends a landmark at every point where a resident must make a directional choice. Additionally, place a distinctive item outside each resident's bedroom to supplement door signage with a personal landmark. This could be a memory box, a favourite photograph in a distinctive frame, or a familiar ornamental object.
Pro Tip
Involve residents and families in choosing landmark objects. An object with personal significance is far more memorable than a decoratively chosen item. If a resident was a keen gardener, a distinctive potted plant near their room serves as both a landmark and a connection to their identity. Family donations of meaningful objects create landmarks with emotional resonance.
Integrating Landmarks with Signage#
Landmarks and signage work best when they complement rather than compete with each other. A directional sign at a junction says 'Dining Room this way', while the landmark at that junction says 'You are at the place with the bookcase'. Together, they provide two independent navigation cues that reinforce each other. Staff can use landmark references when guiding residents ('Walk towards the clock, then turn left'), and over time residents build associations between landmarks and destinations that persist even as their ability to read signs declines.
Recommended Products
Our personalised door signs serve as both signage and personal landmarks. Each sign can be customised with the resident's preferred name and imagery, creating a distinctive marker that helps residents identify their own room from a distance. Combined with a memory box or personal display, these signs anchor spatial memory at the most important wayfinding destination: home.
Maintenance note
Landmarks must be maintained consistently. Moving a landmark, even temporarily for cleaning, can cause significant disorientation for residents who rely on it. Establish a protocol that landmarks are never relocated without considering the wayfinding impact, and that any temporary removal is kept as brief as possible with a substitute object placed in the same location.
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