Farnaz Cheraghifar - Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, South Tehran, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Soltanzadeh Hossein - Professor of Architecture, Department of Architecture, Central Tehran, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Hadi Ghoddusifar - Assistant Professor of Architecture, Department of Architecture, South Tehran, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

 Space perception is the firs t s tep towards recognizing and communicating with the environment. Despite similar perception sys tems in human beings, the perception of surroundings is different from person to person. Therefore, different perceptions of similar objective spaces can result from several factors, and only one influential factor cannot determine the perceived subject. This s tudy seeks to identify cognitive aspects of different areas of the elderly perception in architecture and determine the cognitive characteris tics of independent elderly residents in Shahrak-e-Gharb of Tehran to obtain primary data and their perceptual, cognitive characteris tics using cognitive maps. This is a theoretical-applied s tudy with a qualitative-quantitative method. The library method was used for data collection, field observation to measure the s tatus quo, and interview and cognitive maps technique to collect research data. The sample size of ۳۸ persons was calculated using the Cochran formula. According to the findings, the average perceived cognitive paths of the men group were higher than that of women, and the average perceived cognitive places of the women group were higher than that of men. Aging and length of residence do not affect the number of perceived elements.  As aging occurs, the number of perceived places decreases, and the number of perceived paths increases. Mos t recognized spaces in cognitive maps represent a place for people's memories. So, cognitive spaces should be improved before the cognitive abilities of the elderly decline.

Cognition, Senior Citizens, Elderly perception, Cognitive Map