The role of lenticular senescence in age-related color vision changes.
OBJECTIVE
It has been reported that greater age-related losses in sensitivity occur for short-wavelength visual stimuli than for medium- and long-wavelength visual stimuli. The purpose of the current experiment was to determine to what extent optical, receptoral, and postreceptoral factors contribute to these age-related changes in color vision.


METHODS
One hundred two observers (ages 18-87) completed a minimum motion task to determine isoluminance between red and green and between red and blue. A motion-nulling task was also performed to assess the L-M postreceptoral chromatic mechanism.


RESULTS
No significant age-related changes occurred in red-green isoluminance values. Red-blue isoluminance values showed a significant and systematic decrease with age in observers with phakic eyes. Pseudophakic eyes in older subjects performed this task as well as phakic eyes in young subjects. The motion-nulling results demonstrated small age-related losses in the postreceptoral color mechanisms.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this experiment, particularly those of the red-blue isoluminance task, indicate that the optical factor of lenticular senescence is the main contributor to the age-related changes observed in color vision. A model based on age-related changes in lenticular absorbance shows good fit with the experimental data of observers with phakic eyes, suggesting that optical factors are the main cause of the age-related changes in these color vision tasks.
Nguyen-Tri
David
D
Psychophysics and Perception Laboratory, School of Optometry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. david.nguyen-tri@umontreal.ca
Overbury
Olga
O
Faubert
Jocelyn
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003119:Color Perception Tests; D015350:Contrast Sensitivity; D006801:Humans; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017949:Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells / Q000502:physiology