Spatial Bias and Right Hemisphere Function: Sex-Specific Changes with Aging

Abstract

Patterns of cerebral asymmetry related to visuospatial functions may change with age. The typical leftward bias on a line bisection task may reflect cerebral asymmetry. With age, such leftward bias decreases. This study demonstrated that the age-related decrease of leftward bias may actually be sex-specific. In addition, previous research suggests that young adults' deviation in line bisection may reflect asymmetric hemispheric activation of perceptual-attentional "where" spatial systems, rather than motor-intentional "aiming" spatial systems; thus, we specifically fractionated "where" and "aiming" bias of men and women ranging in age from 22 to 93 years old. We observed that older men produced greater rightward line bisection errors, of primarily "where" spatial character. However, women's errors remained leftward biased, and did not significantly change with age. "Where" spatial systems may be linked to cortico-cortical processing networks involving the posterior part of the dorsal visuospatial processing stream. Thus, the current results are consistent with the conclusion that reduced right dorsal spatial activity in aging may occur in the male, but not female, adult spatial system development.