Short-wavelength acuity: blue–yellow and achromatic resolution loss with age

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) Vol. 43; no. 1; pp. 109 - 115
• Main Authors: Zlatkova, Margarita B., Coulter, Esther, Anderson, Roger S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2003; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Ageing; Aging - physiology; Aging - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Color Perception - physiology; Contrast Sensitivity - physiology; Eye and associated structures. Visual pathways and centers. Vision; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Middle Aged; Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology; Peripheral vision; Photic Stimulation - methods; Psychophysics; Resolution acuity; Retinal Cone Photoreceptor Cells - physiology; Retinal Ganglion Cells - physiology; Short-wavelength sensitive cones; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Visual Acuity - physiology; Visual Fields - physiology; Resolution acuity; Short-wavelength sensitive cones; Peripheral vision; Ageing; Eye; Human; Visual system; Senescence; Cone; Photoreceptor; Retina; Visual acuity; Short wave
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/S0042-6989(02)00411-X

Previous studies have indicated that peripheral resolution for achromatic gratings is sampling limited and directly related to the density of the underlying midget ganglion cell population. Previous studies by the authors have shown that peripheral resolution for blue-cone isolating gratings is also sampling limited, is robust to optical defocus and short-wavelength attenuation, and yields estimates of sampling density which correspond closely with the density of small bistratified ganglion cells. We measured peripheral resolution in a group of normal subjects ranging in age from 12 to 72 years, using both achromatic and blue-cone isolating gratings, to determine how performance (and hence ganglion cell density) changed with age for both systems. Resolution was higher for achromatic than blue–yellow gratings and performance was flat for both until the fifth decade. After this, performance declined for both at a rate of ∼14%/decade with no significant difference between the two rates of decline. Individual measurements of lens density were not correlated with short-wavelength sensitive resolution performance in the older subjects, further indicating that the decline in resolution was not attributable to pre-retinal absorption.