Aging and visual attention

ABSTRACT—Older adults are often slower and less accurate than are younger adults in performing visual-search tasks, suggesting an age-related decline in attentional function-ing. Age-related decline in attention, however, is not en-tirely pervasive. Visual search that is based on the observer’s expectations (i.e., top-down attention) is rela-tively preserved as a function of adult age. Neuroimaging research suggests that age-related decline occurs in the structure and function of brain regions mediating the vi-sual sensory input, whereas activation of regions in the frontal and parietal lobes is often greater for older adults than for younger adults. This increased activation may represent an age-related increase in the role of top-down attention during visual tasks. To obtain a more complete account of age-related decline and preservation of visual attention, current research is beginning to explore the re-lation of neuroimaging measures of brain structure and function to behavioral measures of visual attention. KEYWORDS—visual perception; adult development; cogni-tion; reaction time; neuroimaging The frequently quoted observation by William James that ‘‘Every one knows what attention is’ ’ (James, 1890/1950, p. 403) is also applicable to the topic of visual attention, because ‘‘everyone knows’ ’ that there is age-related change in visual attention. Scientific research on attention over the past 100 years has continued to expand the definition of attention. Similarly, re-search on adult age-related differences, conducted over a more recent period, has provided additional insight into the changes in attention that occur during adulthood. The results of this re-search are important because they challenge the assumption that decline is the only form of age-related change. In addition, neuroimaging studies are providing a wealth of information re-garding the brain mechanisms of attention. Thus, current ac-counts of age-related changes in attention reflect two influences: behavioral research focused on defining the role of attention in task performance and neuroimaging research directed towards identifying the relevant neural systems