title: Age-related changes in visual pseudoneglect.
abstract: Pseudoneglect is a slight but consistent leftward attentional bias commonly observed in healthy young populations, purportedly explained by right hemispheric dominance. It has been suggested that normal aging might be associated with a decline of the right hemisphere. According to this hypothesis, a few studies have shown that elderly tend to exhibit a rightward attentional bias in line bisection. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis in young and older participants using a perceptual landmark task. Results yield evidence for an age-related shift, from a strong attentional leftward bias in young adults toward a suppressed or even a reversed bias in the elderly. Right hemisphere impairment coupled to a left hemispheric compensation might explain the perceptual shift observed in older adults. However, a decline in corpus callosum function cannot be excluded. Alternatively, these results may be in agreement with the hypothesis of an age-related specific inhibition of return dysfunction, an overt attentional orienting mechanism, and/or a decrease of dopamine.
authors.affiliation: UR2NF Unité de Recherches en Neuropsychologie et Neuroimagerie Fonctionnelle, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Campus du Solbosch CP191, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Rémy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Peigneux
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*