Visual feedback and declines in attention are associated with altered visual strategy during a force-steadiness task in older adults. J Neurophysiol 2023 Nov 01;130(5):1309-1320
Date
10/25/2023Pubmed ID
37877175Pubmed Central ID
PMC10972634DOI
10.1152/jn.00486.2022Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85177103605 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 1 CitationAbstract
Greater heterogeneity exists in older adults relative to young adults when performing highly skilled manual tasks. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of visual feedback and attentional demand on visual strategy during a submaximal force-steadiness task in young and older adults. Eye movements of 21 young (age 20-38 yr; 11 females, 10 males) and 21 older (age 65-90 yr; 11 females, 10 males) adults were recorded during a pinch force-steadiness task while viewing feedback with higher and lower gain and while performing a visuospatial task. For the visuospatial task, participants imagined a star moving around four boxes and reported the final location after a series of directions. Performance on standardized tests of attention was measured. All participants gazed near the target line and made left-to-right saccadic eye movements during the force-steadiness tasks without the visuospatial task. Older adults made fewer saccades than young adults (21.0 ± 2.9 and 23.6 ± 4.4 saccades, respectively) and with higher versus lower gain (20.9 ± 4.0 and 23.7 ± 3.5 saccades, respectively). Most participants used the same visual strategy when performing the visuospatial task though seven older adults used an altered strategy; gaze did not stay near the target line nor travel exclusively left to right. Performance on standardized measures of attention was impaired in this subset compared with older adults who did not use the altered visual strategy. Results indicate that visual feedback influences visual strategy and reveals unique eye movements in some older adults when allocating attention across tasks.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study contributes novel findings of age-related changes in visual strategy and associations with attentional deficits during hand motor tasks. Older adults used fewer saccades than young adults and with higher versus lower gain visual feedback during a force-steadiness task. A subset of older adults used an altered visual strategy when allocating attention across multiple tasks. Given that this subset demonstrated attentional deficits, the altered visual strategy could serve to indicate motor and/or cognitive impairments.
Author List
Heintz Walters B, Huddleston WE, O'Connor K, Wang J, Hoeger Bement M, Keenan KGAuthor
Jinsung Wang PhD Assistant Professor in the Human Movement Sciences department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultAged
Aged, 80 and over
Attention
Eye Movements
Feedback, Sensory
Female
Humans
Male
Saccades
Young Adult
