AGE-RELATED FUNCTIONAL FIELD LOSSES ARE NOT ECCENTRICITY DEPENDENT

Previous studies have found an increase in peripheral target localizat ion errors in normally sighted older adults. These results have been i nterpreted as indicative of a constriction of the ''useful field of vi ew''. In the present study, we parametrically manipulated masking, dis tracters and stimulus luminance and examined the relationships between peripheral target localization and age. We found that backward maskin g and/or flashed distracters increased error rates. This decrement in performance was larger for more peripherally located targets and large st for the older subjects at all stimulus locations. Stimulus luminanc e (either 2 or 78 cd/m(2)) had no effect on peripheral localization pe rformance at any age. We also demonstrated that all subjects, regardle ss of age, had higher localization error rates to more peripherally lo cated targets. In older subjects, error rates increased equally at all eccentricities; that is, there was an eccentricity independent increa se in the number of target localization errors as a function of age. T his finding does not support the interpretation of a selective constri ction of the functional visual field in older subjects. Copyright (C) Elsevier Science Ltd.