Motion perception in the ageing visual system: Minimum motion, motion coherence, and speed discrimination thresholds

Snowden, Robert Jefferson ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9900-480X and Kavanagh, Emma 2006. Motion perception in the ageing visual system: Minimum motion, motion coherence, and speed discrimination thresholds. Perception 35 (1) , pp. 9-24. 10.1068/p5399

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Abstract

We aimed to address two issues: first, to describe how the perception of motion differs in elderly observers as compared to younger ones; and, second, to see if these changes in motion perception could be accounted for by the known changes in the ability of elderly observers to detect patterns (as indexed via contrast sensitivity). The lower threshold of motion, motion coherence, and speed discrimination were measured, alongside contrast sensitivity, in a group of thirty-two older (mean age 61.5 years) and thirty-two younger (mean age 23.2 years) subjects. The older observers showed losses in their ability to detect slow motions as indexed via the lower threshold of motion for random-dot patterns and for gratings of a range of spatial frequencies. They also were impaired on a test of motion coherence, but only for stimuli of a slow to medium speed, whereas faster speeds showed no decline with age. Finally, at all speeds tested the older observers required greater differences in speed in order to discriminate between patterns moving at different speeds. The pattern of losses on motion perception tasks was not predicted by the deficits of the older groups, such as loss of detection thresholds for high spatial and/or temporal frequencies. It is concluded that these hypotheses do not provide an adequate account of the data, and therefore that the losses occurring with age are complex and probably are a result of the loss of several types of cell.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Additional Information:	Pdf uploaded in accordance with publisher's policy at http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/0301-0066/ (accessed 20/02/2014).
Publisher:	Pion
ISSN:	0301-0066
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 03:16
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/32651

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