The effects of ageing and visual field loss on pointing to visual targets

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of ageing on visuomotor function and subsequently evaluate the effect of visual field loss on such function in older adults. Methods: Two experiments were performed: 1) to determine the effect of ageing on visual localisation and subsequent pointing precision, and 2) to determine the effect of visual field loss on these outcome measures. For Experiment 1, we measured visual localisation and pointing precision radially at visual eccentricities of 5, 10 and 15° in 25 older (60-72 years) and 25 younger (20-31 years) adults. In the pointing task, participants were asked to point to a target on a touchscreen at a natural pace that prioritised accuracy of the tou..