Abstract
Purpose: Deficits of motion perception have been reported for older adults. Here we examine the effects of attention and aging on the detection of motion and judgments of motion direction. Methods: Twenty-one older and twenty-one younger adults were asked to view a fixation cross and determine the direction and location of motion in a single dot moving in one of eight directions at one of eight equally distant peripheral locations. In addition, attention was reduced in some conditions by having subjects perform a subsidiary letter naming task. Results: In comparison to younger adults, we found that older adults had difficulties determining the direction of motion and these difficulties were exacerbated by reductions in attention. However, both older and younger adults were able to detect the location of motion targets and perform the letter naming task with accuracy. Conclusions: We suggest that deficits in naming motion direction found in older adults may result from reductions in general processing and attention deficits that lead to poor focus on object detail.
Ryerson University Arts SRC Grant