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Related Experiment Videos

Age diminishes performance on an antisaccade eye movement task

A Olincy1, R G Ross, D A Youngd

  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Denver Veterans Administration Medical Center, and University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 80262, USA.

Neurobiology of Aging
|December 9, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Aging selectively impairs antisaccade eye movement control, increasing reaction times and errors due to reduced inhibitory processing. Visuo-spatial memory remains unaffected in older adults.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Aging Research
  • Ophthalmology

Background:

  • The antisaccade task, a measure of executive function linked to frontal lobe activity, involves inhibiting a reflexive eye movement (prosaccade) and executing a voluntary one (antisaccade) in the opposite direction.
  • This task assesses inhibitory control, movement initiation, and visuo-spatial memory, functions potentially impacted by the aging process.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effects of aging on the specific components of the antisaccade eye movement task.
  • To differentiate age-related changes in inhibitory control and movement initiation from visuo-spatial memory.

Main Methods:

  • Forty-two participants aged 19-79 performed an antisaccade task and a control visually guided saccade task.
  • Key metrics recorded included reaction time for movement initiation and accuracy of eye movements.

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Main Results:

  • Antisaccade initiation time increased linearly with age, at a significantly greater rate than visually guided saccades.
  • Older adults exhibited a higher rate of incorrect prosaccadic errors, indicating reduced inhibitory control.
  • Movement accuracy remained consistent across age groups, suggesting preserved visuo-spatial memory.

Conclusions:

  • Aging selectively impairs the inhibitory control required for antisaccade performance, leading to slower reaction times and increased errors.
  • The findings suggest a decline in frontal lobe-mediated inhibitory processing capacity with age.
  • Visuo-spatial memory functions appear resilient to the aging process as assessed by this task.