Age-related changes in rate of visual information processing.

Abstract

Each of four groups of 12 subjects performed four psychophysical tasks. The age ranges of the four groups were 19-31, 45-57, 58-70, and 71-83 years, respectively. All four tasks required some form of visual information processing: Two were backward-masking tasks; two were temporal-integration tasks. In all four tasks increasing temporal functions over age were obtained, suggesting slower processing rates as age increased. The results support an active processing model of visual perception that interprets duration of visible persistence and duration of interval in which backward masking is effective as indices of the time course of early stages in the processing of stimulus features. The evidences also suggests that backward masking and visible persistence may be mediated by distinct mechanisms that are affected differently by aging processes. A model that conceptualizes the visual system as a multichannel processor is proposed as an explanation for some of the findings.

Fast decay of iconic memory in observers with mild cognitive impairments

“…One potential factor is age-related diminishing of retinal illumination, which reduces the intensity of the proximal stimulus (39) and, therefore, increases visual persistence, which is known to increase as the intensity of the inducing stimulus decreases (40)(41)(42). Factors other than aging optics have also been suggested (37,38,43). In this study, we found that the duration of iconic memory, unlike that of visual persistence, decreased with age.…”

“…34). In the literature on aging, visual persistence has been found to generally increase with age (35)(36)(37); also see ref. 38).…”

Rate of Information Segregation in Developmentally Dyslexic Children

“…This was done in order to prevent the participant from using the first pulse pairs to guide judgments of the whole train and for compelling stimulus processing at other than pure persistence levels (Di Lollo, Arnett, & Kruk, 1982). The participant was instructed that the first pulse informed that the train was about to begin.…”

The evidence for a temporal processing deficit linked to dyslexia: A review

“…In such cases, the interstimulus gap might be regarded as a third event that makes it apparent that two stimulus events, rather than one, have occurred. In order to detect the gap between two visual stimuli, normal adults require an lSI of 50-55 msec (DiLollo, Arnett, & Kruk, 1982). In order to detect the gap between two auditory stimuli, normal adults require thresholds from approximately 5 to 16 msec (depending on the frequency ofthe stimulus) (Werner, Marean, Halpin, Spetner, & Gillenwater, 1992).…”