Abstract
Several aspects of visual function deteriorate with age, including visual acuity and contrast sensitivity (Morrison and McGrath, 1985; Owsley et al., 1983; Tulunay-Keesey et al., 1988; Elliot et al., 1990; for review see Sekuler and Owsley, 1982; Pitts, 1982). Optical changes (senile miosis, corneal and lens opacification) account for only some of the age-related losses, suggesting that they are at least in part neural (Wheale, 1975; Morrison and McGrath, 1985; Nameda et al, 1989). Neural losses can occur at any stage between the retina and the visual cortex (see for review Wheale, 1986; Ordy et al., 1982), but little is known about the relative contribution of the retina and the post-retinal visual pathway to the age-related dysfunction.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Celesia, G.C., Kaufman, D, & Cone, S. (1987) Effects of age on pattern electroretinograms and visual evoked potentials. Electroencephalography and clinical Neurophysiology. 68: 161–171.
Derrington, A.M., & Lennie, P. (1984) Spatial and temporal contrast sensitivities of neurones in lateral geniculate nucleus of macaque. Journal of Physiology 357: 219–240.
Elliott D.B., Whitaker, D., & MacVeigh, D. (1990) Neural contribution to spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity decline in healthy ageing eyes. Vision Research 30: 541–547.
Fiorentini, A., Maffei, L., Pirchio, M., Spinelli, D., & Porciatti, V. (1981) The ERG in response to alternating gratings in patients with diseases of the peripheral visual pathway. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 21: 490–493.
Kaplan, E., Lee, B., & Shapley, R.M. (1990) New views of primate retinal function. Progress in retinal Research 9: 273–336.
Livingstone, M. & Hubel, D.H. (1988) Segregation of form, color, movement and depth: anatomy, physiology and perception. Science 240: 740–749.
Merigan, W. H., & Maunsell, J.H.R. (1990) Macaque vision after magnocellular lateral geniculate lesions. Visual Neuroscience 5: 347–352.
Morrison, J.D. & McGrath, C. (1985) Assessment of the optical contributions to the age-related deterioration in vision. Quarterly Journal of experimental Physiology 70: 249–269.
Nameda, N., Kawara, T., & Ohzu H. (1989) Human visual Spatio-temporal frequency performance as a function of age. Optometry and Vision Science 66: 760–765.
Ordy, M.J., Brizzee, K.R., & Johnson, H.A. (1982) Cellular alterations in visual pathways and the limbic system: implications for vision and short-term memory. In Aging and Human Visual Functions. eds. Sekuler, R., Kline, D., & Dismukes, K., pp. 79–114. New York: Alan R. Liss.
Owsley, C., Sekuler, R., & Siemsen D. (1983) Contrast sensitivity throughout adulthood. Vision Research 23: 689–699.
Pitts, D. (1982) The effects of aging on selected visual functions: dark adaptation, visual acuity, stereopsis, and brightness contrast. In Aging and Human Visual Function, eds. Sekuler, R., Kline, D., & Dismukes, K., pp. 131–159. New York: Alan R. Liss.
Plant, G. T., Hess, R.F., & Thomas, S.J. (1986) The pattern evoked electroretinogram in optic neuritis. Brain 109: 469–490.
Porciatti, V., Falsini, B., Scalia, G., Fadda, A., & Fontanesi, G. (1988) The pattern electroretinogram by skin electrodes: effect of spatial frequency and age. Documenta Ophthalmologica 70: 117–122.
Regan, D. (1966) Some characteristics of average steady-state and transient responses evoked by modulated light. Electroencephalography and clinical Neurophysiology 20: 238–248.
Sekuler, R., & Owsley, C. (1982) The spatial vision of older humans. In Aging and Human Visual Function, eds. Sekuler, R., Kline, D., & Dismukes, K., pp. 185–202. New York: Alan R. Liss.
Shapley, R. (1990) Visual sensitivity and parallel retinocortical channels. Annual Review of Psychology 41: 635–658.
apley, R., & Perry, H. (1986) Cat and monkey retinal ganglion cells and their visual functional roles. Trends in Neurosciences 5: 229–235.
Tulunay-Keesey U., Ver Hoeve J.N., & Terkla-McGrane C. (1988) Threshold and suprathreshold spatiotemporal response throughout adulthood. Journal of the optical Society of America A 5: 2191–2200.
Weale, R.A. (1975) Senile changes in visual acuity. Transactions of the Ophthalmological Society, UK 95: 36–38.
Weale, R.A. (1986) Retinal senescence. Progress in retinal Research 5: 53–73.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Porciatti, V., Burr, D.C., Fiorentini, A., Morrone, C. (1991). Spatio-Temporal Properties of the Pattern ERG and VEP: Effect of Ageing. In: Bagnoli, P., Hodos, W. (eds) The Changing Visual System. NATO ASI Series, vol 222. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3390-0_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3390-0_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6497-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-3390-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive