Spatial vision in older adults: perceptual changes and neural bases

McKendrick, Allison M; Chan, Yu Man; Nguyen, Bao Ngoc

doi:10.1111/opo.12565

Cited by 17 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 157 publications

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“…Healthy aging alters a range of perceptual contrast effects, including contrast detection, 28,29 contrast discrimination, 28 spatial contrast suppression 30,31 and contrast gain signatures. 32 Such perceptual effects are consistent with changes to both structural and neurochemical changes in the senescent visual system (for review, see McKendrick et al 33 ) In many ophthalmic conditions, the effects of aging and the effects of disease appear along a continuum. For example, the retinal nerve fiber layer thins somewhat with aging but is pathological with glaucoma; lenticular changes arise in most older adults but are pathological with cataracts.…”

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confidence: 69%

An Electrophysiological Comparison of Contrast Response Functions in Younger and Older Adults, and Those With Glaucoma

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Nguyen

McKendrick

et al. 2019

Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci.

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PURPOSE. Aging and glaucoma both result in contrast processing deficits. However, it is unclear the extent to which these functional deficits arise from retinal or post-retinal neuronal changes. This study aims to disentangle the effects of healthy human aging and glaucoma on retinal and post-retinal contrast processing using visual electrophysiology. METHODS. Steady-state pattern electroretinograms (PERG) and pattern visual evoked potentials (PVEP) were simultaneously recorded across a range of contrasts (0%, 4%, 9%, 18%, 39%, 73%, 97%; 0.88 diameter checks, 318 diameter checkerboard) in 13 glaucoma patients (67 6 6 years), 15 older (63 6 8 years) and 14 younger adults (27 6 3 years). PERG and PVEP contrast response functions were fit with a linear and saturating hyperbolic model, respectively. PERG and PVEP magnitude, timing (phase), and model fit parameters (slope, semi-saturation constant) were compared between groups. RESULTS. PERG responses were reduced and delayed in older adults relative to younger adults, and further reduced and delayed in glaucoma patients across all contrasts. PVEP signals were also reduced and delayed in glaucoma patients, relative to age-similar (older) controls. However, despite having reduced PERG magnitudes, older adults did not demonstrate reduced PVEP magnitudes. CONCLUSIONS. Older adults with healthy vision demonstrate reduced magnitude and delayed timing in the PERG that is not reflected in the PVEP. In contrast, glaucoma produces functional deficits in both PERG and PVEP contrast response functions. Our results suggest that glaucomatous effects on contrast processing are not a simple extension of those that arise as part of the aging process.

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confidence: 69%

An Electrophysiological Comparison of Contrast Response Functions in Younger and Older Adults, and Those With Glaucoma

Lek

Nguyen

McKendrick

et al. 2019

Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci.

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“…A further question is whether retinal and visual measures are affected by the same factors that promote Parkinson dementia, such as age. The relationship between older age and poorer vision is well established, 34 and higher age at onset and age in itself is strongly linked with development of dementia in PD. 14,15 Whether some factor such as increased amyloid deposition in cortical and retinal structures is responsible for both effects or whether there are separate processes affecting vision more selectively is not yet known.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual tests predict dementia risk in Parkinson disease

et al. 2020

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ObjectiveTo assess the role of visual measures and retinal volume to predict the risk of Parkinson disease (PD) dementia. MethodsIn this cohort study, we collected visual, cognitive, and motor data in people with PD. Participants underwent ophthalmic examination, retinal imaging using optical coherence tomography, and visual assessment including acuity and contrast sensitivity and highlevel visuoperception measures of skew tolerance and biological motion. We assessed the risk of PD dementia using a recently described algorithm that combines age at onset, sex, depression, motor scores, and baseline cognition. ResultsOne hundred forty-six people were included in the study (112 with PD and 34 age-matched controls). The mean disease duration was 4.1 (±2·5) years. None of these participants had dementia. Higher risk of dementia was associated with poorer performance in visual measures (acuity: ρ = 0.29, p = 0.0024; contrast sensitivity: ρ = −0.37, p < 0.0001; skew tolerance: ρ = −0.25, p = 0.0073; and biological motion: ρ = −0.26, p = 0.0054). In addition, higher risk of PD dementia was associated with thinner retinal structure in layers containing dopaminergic cells, measured as ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner plexiform layer (IPL) thinning (ρ = −0.29, p = 0.0021; ρ = −0.33, p = 0.00044). These relationships were not seen for the retinal nerve fiber layer that does not contain dopaminergic cells and were not seen in unaffected controls. ConclusionVisual measures and retinal structure in dopaminergic layers were related to risk of PD dementia. Our findings suggest that visual measures and retinal GCL and IPL volumes may be useful to predict the risk of dementia in PD. Practical ImplicationsNeurology® Clinical Practice is committed to providing clinical insights helpful to neurologists in everyday practice. Each Full Case includes a "Practical Implications" statement, a pearl of wisdom for the practicing clinician.

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“…It should also be recognized that aging impacts the entire visual pathway ranging from diseases affecting the eye itself (e.g. cataracts) up to changes in visual cortices [22][23][24]. Therefore, we can't entirely rule out direct age-related changes in the visual system that may contribute to the present loss of motor priming.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priming of grasping muscles when viewing a safety handle is diminished with age

et al. 2019

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Merely viewing objects within reachable space can activate motor cortical networks and potentiate movement. This holds potential value for smooth interaction with objects in our surroundings, and could offer an advantage for quickly generating targeted hand movements (e.g. grasping a support rail to maintain stability). The present study investigated if viewing a wall-mounted safety handle resulted in automatic activation of motor cortical networks, and if this effect changes with age. Twenty-five young adults (18-30 years) and seventeen older adults (65+ years) were included in this study. Single-pulse, transcranial magnetic stimulation was applied over the motor cortical hand representation of young and older adults shortly after they viewed a safety handle within reaching distance. Between trials, vision was occluded and the environment was unpredictably altered to reveal either a safety handle, or no handle (i.e. covered). Modulation of intrinsic hand muscle activity was evident in young adults when viewing a handle, and this was selective in terms of both the muscles activated and the time at which it emerged. By contrast, older adults failed to show any changes when viewing the safety handle. Specifically, the presence of a handle increased corticospinal activity in hand muscles of young adults when TMS was applied 120 ms after opening the goggles (p = .014), but not in the older adults (p > .954). The fact that the visual priming observed in younger adults was absent in older adults suggests that aging may diminish the ability to quickly put our visual world into automatic motor terms.

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Spatial vision in older adults: perceptual changes and neural bases

Cited by 17 publications

References 157 publications

An Electrophysiological Comparison of Contrast Response Functions in Younger and Older Adults, and Those With Glaucoma

An Electrophysiological Comparison of Contrast Response Functions in Younger and Older Adults, and Those With Glaucoma

Visual tests predict dementia risk in Parkinson disease

Priming of grasping muscles when viewing a safety handle is diminished with age

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