The effects of age and mood on saccadic function in older individuals.
To investigate the effect of age and mood on saccadic function, we recorded prosaccades, predictive saccades, and antisaccades from 238 cognitively normal, physically healthy volunteers aged 44 to 85 years old. Mood levels were measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale inventories. Small, but significant, positive relationships with age were observed for the mean latency and associated variability of latency for all types of saccades, as well as the antisaccade error rate. Saccade velocity or accuracy was unaffected by age. Increasing levels of depression had a minor negative influence on the antisaccade latency, whereas increasing levels of anxiety raised the antisaccade error rate marginally.
Shafiq-Antonacci
R
R
Neurophysiology and Neurovisual Research Unit, Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria, Australia. roxy@neuro.mhri.edu.au
Maruff
P
P
Whyte
S
S
Tyler
P
P
Dudgeon
P
P
Currie
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*