Loss of audiovisual facilitation with age occurs for vergence eye movements but not for saccades

Abstract

Though saccade and vergence eye movements are fundamental for everyday life, the way these movements change as we age has not been sufficiently studied. The present study examines the effect of age on vergence and saccade eye movement characteristics (latency, peak and average velocity, amplitude) and on audiovisual facilitation. We compare the results for horizontal saccades and vergence movements toward visual and audiovisual targets in a young group of 22 participants (mean age 25 ± 2.5) and an elderly group of 45 participants (mean age 65 + 6.9). The results show that, with increased age, latency of all eye movements increases, average velocity decreases, amplitude of vergence decreases, and audiovisual facilitation collapses for vergence eye movements in depth but is preserved for saccades. There is no effect on peak velocity, suggesting that, although the sensory and attentional mechanisms controlling the motor system does age, the motor system itself does not age. The loss of audiovisual facilitation along the depth axis can be attributed to a physiologic decrease in the capacity for sound localization in depth with age, while left/right sound localization coupled with saccades is preserved. The results bring new insight for the effects of aging on multisensory control and attention.