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Development of a Gaze-Contingent Display Framework Designed for Perceptual and Oculomotor Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss
Published on: April 11, 2025
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Influence of aging on visual attention and peripheral perception
Anne-Sophie Laurin1,2, Noémie Redureau1,3, Julie Ouerfelli-Ethier1,4
1School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Journal of Vision
|October 1, 2025
Summary
Aging is associated with a smaller attentional field, impacting visual search and peripheral vision. Older adults showed reduced contrast and global motion perception, linked to their attentional field size.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Vision Science
- Gerontology
Background:
- Visual attention extends around fixation during search.
- Aging may reduce the attentional field, impairing visual function.
- The relationship between attentional field size and peripheral vision in aging is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the attentional field size in younger and older adults.
- To determine if attentional field size is related to peripheral visual functions in aging.
- To explore the impact of aging on visual search and motion perception.
Main Methods:
- 30 younger and 20 older adults performed a pop-out visual search task with gaze-contingent windows.
- Attentional field size was estimated based on search times.
- Peripheral visual functions (contrast discrimination, local/global motion perception) were assessed at 5° and 10° eccentricity.
Main Results:
- Older adults had longer search times and significantly smaller attentional fields than younger adults.
- Older adults exhibited higher thresholds for contrast discrimination and global motion perception.
- Negative correlations were found between attentional field size and contrast/global motion perception thresholds in older adults.
Conclusions:
- Aging is characterized by reduced attentional fields.
- Smaller attentional fields in older adults are associated with deficits in contrast and global motion perception.
- These findings emphasize the role of spatial attention in peripheral vision and suggest dorsal visual network decline in aging.
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