Processing of ego-motion compatible optic flow in the elderly

Abstract

Abstract Aging impacts human observer’s performance in a wide range of visual tasks and notably in motion discrimination. Despite numerous studies, we still poorly understand how optic flow processing is impacted in the elderly. Here, we estimated motion coherence thresholds in two groups of young (age: 18–30, n = 42) and old (70–90, n = 42) adult participants for the three components of optic flow (translational, radial and rotational patterns). Stimuli were dynamic random-dot kinematograms (RDKs) projected on a large screen. Participants had to report their perceived direction of motion (leftward versus rightward for translational, inward versus outward for radial and clockwise versus anti-clockwise for rotational patterns). Stimuli had an average speed of 7°/s (additional recordings were performed at 14°/s) and were either presented full-field or with an artificial scotoma masking central vision. Statistical analyses showed that if thresholds in older adults were similar to those measured in younger participants for translational patterns, thresholds for radial patterns were significantly increased in our slowest condition and thresholds for rotational patterns were significantly decreased. Altogether, these findings support the idea that aging does not lead to a general decline in visual perception but rather has specific effects on the processing of each optic flow component.