Visual Spatial Integration in the Elderly

Purpose: To investigate the effect of ageing on contour integration in subjects whose ages ranged from 20 to 99 years.

Methods: Detection thresholds were measured for a closed chain of Gabor patches oriented tangentially to a circle (target) embedded in a background of randomly positioned and oriented Gabors (noise). Detection thresholds were measured for different distances of elements composing the target.

Results: Sensitivity decreases gradually with age at all interelement distances. Sensitivity decreases with increasing interelement distance, in both young and elderly subjects. The decrease of integration capability with age is not related to a decrease in contrast sensitivity.

Conclusions: Overall, the data provide evidence of a deterioration of cortical functionality with age, in agreement with other studies on texture and motion processing.