Age-Related Visual Impairments and Perceiving Linguistic Stimuli: The Rarity of Assessing the Visual Abilities of Older Participants in Written Language Research

Abstract

Background/Study Context: It is well established that declining visual abilities are widespread amongst older adults (aged 65 years and over) and are known to have profound effects on processing a range of visual stimuli. However, the incidence of assessing the visual abilities of older adults participating in written language research using visually presented linguistic stimuli (text, words, letters) is unknown. Methods: All 240 articles investigating perception of visually presented linguistic stimuli (text, words, letters) by older participants, published 2000–2010 in the three foremost journals in aging research, Experimental Aging Research, The Journals of Gerontology, Series B, and Psychology and Aging, were examined. Results: The majority of articles (68.0%) made no mention at all of participants’ visual abilities (59.2%) or relied merely on participants’ self-report (8.8%). Other articles (17.9%) reported participants’ visual abilities without mentioning any assessment, and only 14.2% reported participants’ visual abilities following appropriate assessment. Conclusion: The indications are that appropriate assessments of visual abilities are used rarely in language research investigating perception of visually presented linguistic stimuli by older participants. Much greater use and reporting of these assessments is needed to help reveal the processes underlying perception of written language in older populations.