AGE DIMINISHES PERFORMANCE ON AN ANTISACCADE EYE-MOVEMENT TASK

The antisaccade eye movement task, which has been linked to frontal lo be function, presents a target in one visual field and asks subjects t o move their eyes to the same location in the opposite field. The task requires inhibition of the reflexive prosaccade to the cue, initiatio n of the antisaccade to the opposite field, and visuo-spatial memory o f the cue location. Forty-two subjects from 19-79 years of age perform ed this task and a control task, visually guided saccades to the cue i tself, to determine which functions are affected by aging. The time to initiate antisaccades increased linearly with age at a rate greater t han the time to initiate visually guided saccades. This difference sug gests that the processing time to inhibit the incorrect movement to th e cue is selectively increased with age. Older subjects also made more incorrect prosaccadic movements to the cue, a finding consistent with the loss of inhibitory processing capacity. The accuracy of movements did not change, which suggests that visuo-spatial memory is unaffecte d by aging. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.