Effects of age and eccentricity on visual target detection

Gruber, Nicole; Müri, René M.; Mosimann, Urs P.; Bieri, Rahel; Aeschimann, Andrea; Zito, Giuseppe A.; Urwyler, Prabitha; Nyffeler, Thomas; Nef, Tobias · 2014 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2013.00101

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Summary

This study investigates how aging and target eccentricity affect visual target detection and exploration strategies in healthy adults. The research addresses a gap in understanding peripheral vision decline, specifically examining detection performance beyond 30 degrees of eccentricity, which is relevant for daily activities like driving. The authors hypothesized that peripheral target detection deteriorates with age and that older adults might adopt different visual search strategies to compensate for reduced peripheral sensitivity. The study involved 117 healthy participants aged 20–78 years. Participants performed a binocular visual search task using a hemispheric projection system that covered a ±90° visual field. The task presented 30 images of everyday scenes containing targets (gray stars) and distractors (gray triangles) at eccentricities of 10°, 30°, and 50°. Participants were required to press a button upon detecting a target and inhibit responses for distractors. Eye movements were recorded at 30 Hz to analyze gaze positions and search strategies. Statistical analyses included linear broken-line regression and polynomial regression to determine age-related breakpoints in performance and reaction time, as well as correlations between gaze positions and detection metrics. Results indicated that target detection performance decreased with both increasing age and eccentricity. Detection at 50° eccentricity began declining at age 41, while performance at 30° and 10° remained stable until ages 62 and 66, respectively. Reaction times increased linearly with age starting around age 41 for all eccentricities, with no significant interaction between age and eccentricity for reaction time. Eye movement analysis revealed distinct age-dependent search strategies: younger subjects exhibited a passive strategy, focusing primarily on the central 20° of the visual field, whereas older subjects adopted an active strategy, increasing their gaze positions in the 20–40° range. Older subjects also showed a significantly greater mean distance between their gaze position and the target at onset compared to younger subjects. The findings suggest that age-related declines in peripheral visual detection begin in middle age and are more pronounced at higher eccentricities. The shift from a passive to an active search strategy in older adults appears to be a compensatory mechanism for reduced peripheral detection capabilities. These results highlight the importance of considering both visual resolution and attentional strategies when assessing age-related changes in visual exploration, with implications for understanding functional vision in daily life contexts such as driving.

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• visual search