The Tölz Temporal Topography Study: Mapping the visual field across the life span. Part I: The topography of light detection and temporal-information processing

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Temporal performance parameters vary across the visual field. Their topographical distributions relative to each other and relative to basic visual performance measures and their relative change over the life span are unknown. Our goal was to characterize the topography and age-related change of temporal performance. We acquired visual field maps in 95 healthy participants (age: 10–90 years): perimetric thresholds, double-pulse resolution (DPR), reaction times (RTs), and letter contrast thresholds. DPR and perimetric thresholds increased with eccentricity and age; the periphery showed a more pronounced age-related increase than the center. RT increased only slightly and uniformly with eccentricity. It remained almost constant up to the age of 60, a marked change occurring only above 80. Overall, age was a poor predictor of functionality. Performance decline could be explained only in part by the aging of the retina and optic media. In Part II, we therefore examine higher visual and cognitive functions.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.3758/s13414-012-0278-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Related collections

Most cited references 69

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

The inner experience of time.

Marc Wittmann (2009)

The striking diversity of psychological and neurophysiological models of 'time perception' characterizes the debate on how and where in the brain time is processed. In this review, the most prominent models of time perception will be critically discussed. Some of the variation across the proposed models will be explained, namely (i) different processes and regions of the brain are involved depending on the length of the processed time interval, and (ii) different cognitive processes may be involved that are not necessarily part of a core timekeeping system but, nevertheless, influence the experience of time. These cognitive processes are distributed over the brain and are difficult to discern from timing mechanisms. Recent developments in the research on emotional influences on time perception, which succeed decades of studies on the cognition of temporal processing, will be highlighted. Empirical findings on the relationship between affect and time, together with recent conceptualizations of self- and body processes, are integrated by viewing time perception as entailing emotional and interoceptive (within the body) states. To date, specific neurophysiological mechanisms that would account for the representation of human time have not been identified. It will be argued that neural processes in the insular cortex that are related to body signals and feeling states might constitute such a neurophysiological mechanism for the encoding of duration.

0 comments Cited 94 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Neuropsychology of timing and time perception.

Warren Meck (2005)

Interval timing in the range of milliseconds to minutes is affected in a variety of neurological and psychiatric populations involving disruption of the frontal cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Our understanding of these distortions in timing and time perception are aided by the analysis of the sources of variance attributable to clock, memory, decision, and motor-control processes. The conclusion is that the representation of time depends on the integration of multiple neural systems that can be fruitfully studied in selected patient populations.

0 comments Cited 80 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Neural bases of visual deficits during aging.

Peter Spear (1993)

Visual abilities decline during normal (non-pathological) aging. Many of these visual declines cannot be attributed to optical changes and must therefore be due to changes in the retina or central visual pathways. These include declines in visual acuity and spatial contrast sensitivity (especially under low luminance levels), suprathreshold contrast vision and contrast gain, temporal-frequency contrast sensitivity and resolution, spatial-temporal interactions, hyperacuity, binocular processing, and sensitivity to motion. Certain aspects of these vision deficits and comparisons with neurophysiological and lesion-behavior studies in monkeys suggest hypotheses about the nature and location (e.g. magnocellular vs parvocellular pathways, specific visual structures, and so on) of the neural deficits. Despite the well-documented psychophysical deficits, available anatomical studies in humans and monkeys suggest that aging has only relatively minor effects on the retino-geniculo-striate pathway. Retinal photoreceptor losses are relatively restricted to rods, and there is compensation among the remaining rods for those that are lost. Although some retinal ganglion cells appear to be lost, the loss is small relative to individual-to-individual variability. In addition, there appear to be no massive cell losses in the LGN or striate cortex. Physiological results in the monkey LGN suggest that the functional properties of LGN neurons, and therefore their retinal inputs, are not significantly affected by aging. Retinal pattern-evoked ERG studies in humans likewise suggest that the physiological properties of the retina are little affected by aging. Comparisons between pattern-evoked ERG and cortical evoked potentials in the same individuals suggest that some neural change occurs between the retina and striate cortex, but the location and nature of this change is not known. Thus, we are far from being able to answer the question, What are the neural bases of visual deficits during aging? There are several possible reasons for this: (1) The neurobiological methods that have been brought to bear on the question have been fairly limited. (2) Investigations of neural changes may not have been guided sufficiently by what is known about the psychophysical changes that occur with aging. (3) Existing studies may not have examined the correct locations in the visual system. (4) There is large individual-to-individual variability in the effects of aging and, with the small samples of individuals that typically are available in neural studies of aging, the variability could obscure detection of aging-related changes. Suggestions are offered for ways in which future research can solve these problems.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

0 comments Cited 69 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Dorothe A. Poggel: +49-4221-9160109 , dapoggel@gmail.com

Hans Strasburger: strasburger@uni-muenchen.de

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Atten Percept Psychophys

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Atten Percept Psychophys

Title: Attention, Perception & Psychophysics

Publisher: Springer-Verlag (New York )

ISSN (Print): 1943-3921

ISSN (Electronic): 1943-393X

Publication date (Electronic): 7 April 2012

Publication date PMC-release: 7 April 2012

Publication date (Print): 2012

Volume: 74

Issue: 6

Pages: 1114-1132

Affiliations

[1 ]GRID grid.5252.0, ISNI 000000041936973X, Generation Research Program (GRP), , Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, Human Science Center, ; Bad Tölz, Germany

[2 ]GRID grid.7450.6, ISNI 0000000123644210, Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, , Georg-August University Göttingen, ; Göttingen, Germany

[3 ]GRID grid.5252.0, ISNI 000000041936973X, IuK, , Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich, ; Munich, Germany

[4 ]Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute of Advanced Study, Lehmkuhlenbusch 4, 27753 Delmenhorst, Germany

Article

Publisher ID: 278

DOI: 10.3758/s13414-012-0278-z

PMC ID: 5486645

PubMed ID: 22484795

SO-VID: 47a5638e-44a3-4e1c-9177-837e0d248dbb

History

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry

Keywords: temporal processing,visual field maps,double-pulse resolution,reaction time,perimetric thresholds,letter contrast sensitivity,visual system,aging,relative defect

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry

Keywords: temporal processing, visual field maps, double-pulse resolution, reaction time, perimetric thresholds, letter contrast sensitivity, visual system, aging, relative defect

The Tölz Temporal Topography Study: Mapping the visual field across the life span. Part I: The topography of light detection and temporal-information processing

Read this article at

Abstract

Electronic supplementary material

Related collections

Measurement of Glucocorticoid Receptor Signaling in Major Depression

Most cited references 69

The inner experience of time.

Neuropsychology of timing and time perception.

Neural bases of visual deficits during aging.

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 94

Cited by 3

Most referenced authors 312