Abstract
Ageing is associated with declines in both perception and cognition. We review evidence for an interaction between perceptual and cognitive decline in old age. Impoverished perceptual input can increase the cognitive difficulty of tasks, while changes to cognitive strategies can compensate, to some extent, for impaired perception. While there is strong evidence from cross-sectional studies for a link between sensory acuity and cognitive performance in old age, there is not yet compelling evidence from longitudinal studies to suggest that poor perception causes cognitive decline, nor to demonstrate that correcting sensory impairment can improve cognition in the longer term. Most studies have focused on relatively simple measures of sensory (visual and auditory) acuity, but more complex measures of suprathreshold perceptual processes, such as temporal processing, can show a stronger link with cognition. The reviewed evidence underlines the importance of fully accounting for perceptual deficits when investigating cognitive decline in old age.
Highlights
It is well known that ageing is associated with declines in both perception and cognition
It is possible that perception and cognition decline in tandem due to common effects of ageing, but there is evidence to suggest that declines in perception and cognition impact on each other, both in the short and long term (Figure 1)
We review evidence that impoverished perceptual input can increase the cognitive difficulty of tasks, while changes to cognitive strategies and processes can compensate, to some extent, for impaired perception
Summary
It is well known that ageing is associated with declines in both perception and cognition. We review evidence that both visual and auditory perceptual impairments are associated with a faster rate of cognitive decline, and consider whether perceptual aids, such as hearing aids and glasses, can provide protection against cognitive decline. A number of cross-sectional, population-based studies have demonstrated a link between (auditory and visual) sensory impairment and poor cognition in old age (Lindenberger and Baltes, 1994; Baltes and Lindenberger, 1997; Lin et al, 2004, 2011; Tay et al, 2006; Moore et al, 2014), that does not reflect the visibility or audibility of the task materials (Lindenberger et al, 2001). Various hypotheses have been proposed to account for the link between perception and cognition
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