Do older adults show differences in the initial processing of coherent vs. non-coherent motion stimuli compared with younger adults? An event-related potential (ERP) study
Wed—Casino_1.811—Poster3—9004
Presented by: Stefan Berti
Coherent motion stimuli can trigger the sensation of self-motion in a stationary observer. Recent studies suggest that this phenomenon, called vection, shows some effect of age. Here, we focus on the question whether the sensory processing of visual motion, which can trigger vection, also exhibit age-related differences. To this end, we compared event-related potentials (ERPs) in older adults (N = 25; age range: 65-83) and younger adults (N = 22; 20-35 years) in two conditions: participants observed optokinetic stimuli either constituting a coherent or a non-coherent motion stimulus. ERPs time-locked to the motion onset of the optokinetic stimuli revealed differences between coherent and non-coherent motion at parietal-occipital electrodes around 100-150 ms (P1) and 150-230 ms (P2). However, ERPs showed no significant age differences. Further, in a separate rating block, participants reported that vection was significantly stronger following coherent vs. non-coherent; again, no age effect was found. Taken together, our results suggest relative age-related stability in the subjective experience and neurophysiological basis of visually induced vection.
Keywords: Age-differences, vection, vision, event-related brain potentials (ERP), sensory processing