Abstract
The useful field of view (UFOV) test is a computerized test that measures the amount of information someone can extract from a visual scene in one glance. It consists of three subtests and its scores show relatively strong relations with everyday activities such as driving. UFOV performance decreases in several visual conditions as well as with ageing and can be improved by training. However, studies have mainly focused on elderly and patients. Few studies have investigated healthy subjects under the age of 50 years. In the current study, we examine UFOV performance throughout adulthood. In addition, we investigate which visual and neural processes underlie changes in performance related to ageing. To that end, we included 46 adults aged 18 to 70 years who reported no visual problems. Participants underwent a thorough visual screening. In addition, we obtained several psychophysical and electrophysiological measures at various levels of the visual system. Specifically, we measured retinal responses using multifocal electroretinograms, early visual processing with onset and pattern visual evoked potentials and cognitive processing with an oddball paradigm. As expected, we found an age related decline in total UFOV performance, that is, scores became higher with increasing age. This effect seems mainly driven by the third UFOV subtest. The first and second subtests show less variability, with performance being very high in general for these tests. The age-related decline seems unrelated to visual acuity. Furthermore, preliminary analyses of the electrophysiological measurements indicate that low-level neural processing of visual stimuli remains unchanged. This suggests that the age-related decline in UFOV performance may be due to diminishing higher-level neural processes.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2017