AB011. Reliance on central vs. peripheral vision for visual search in younger and older adults

Abstract

Background: It has been suggested that older adults show a reduced attentional field compared to younger adults. This may be attributed to a poorer utilization of peripheral vision (i.e., peripheral attentional allocation) and a higher reliance on central vision compared to younger adults. To test this, we examined the importance of central, peri-foveal and near periphery information in younger and older adults by comparing their visual search performance while their central vision was blocked, in the presence of different sized artificial central scotomas. We tested participants in two versions of visual search, pop-out and serial search, because they require a different use of central and peripheral attention. Pop-out search relies on processing of the entire visual scene (i.e., global processing) whereas serial search requires processing of each feature serially (i.e., local processing).