title: Aging, perception, and visual short-term memory for luminance-defined form.
abstract: The sensory, perceptual, and visual short-term memory (VSTM) capacity of young and older observers for processing luminance-defined shape information was assessed in a series of experiments. The following were assessed: each individual's threshold necessary to detect a square from its background as measured by luminance thresholds; the capacity for making simultaneous size discriminations when compensating for individual differences in sensory input; the capacity for making sequential size discriminations; and the capacity for remembering size differences over time. The results show a selective deficit for simultaneous perceptual processing for older subjects, which cannot be attributed to differences in sensory input, task difficulty, interhemispheric transfer, or VSTM.
authors.affiliation: Ecole d'optométrie, Université de Montréal, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sara
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faubert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012858:Size Perception / Q000502:physiology