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Healthy aging impairs face discrimination ability
Andrew J Logan1,2,3, Gael E Gordon1,4, Gunter Loffler1,5
1Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK.
Journal of Vision
|August 1, 2022
Summary
Healthy aging impairs face recognition, with sensitivity declining significantly after age 50. This decline disproportionately affects internal facial features, independent of vision changes, suggesting specific age-related deficits in face processing mechanisms.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Human Perception
- Aging Research
Background:
- Face recognition is crucial for social interaction.
- Age-related changes can impact various perceptual abilities.
- Understanding specific declines in face processing due to aging is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify age-related changes in face identity discrimination.
- To investigate how sensitivity to full faces and specific facial features changes with age.
- To determine if age-related deficits in face discrimination are linked to general visual acuity or cognitive decline.
Main Methods:
- Used a memory-free "odd-one-out" task to measure face discrimination sensitivity.
- Tested five adult age groups (20s to 80s) with normal vision.
- Assessed sensitivity to full-face images, external features, internal features, and control shapes.
Main Results:
- Face discrimination sensitivity declined continuously after age 50, decreasing by ~13% per decade.
- Sensitivity to internal facial features deteriorated significantly faster (~3.7 times) than external features.
- Age did not affect sensitivity to control shapes, ruling out general visual or cognitive decline.
Conclusions:
- Healthy aging is associated with a specific decline in face discrimination mechanisms.
- Encoding of internal facial features is disproportionately impaired in older adults.
- These deficits are independent of changes in visual acuity, highlighting a specialized aging effect on face perception.
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