The proposed research is in response to NOT-OD-10-032 (""""""""NIH announces the availability of recovery act funds for competitive revision applications through the NIH Basic and Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet). A well documented finding in the literature is that visual perception declines with age. These declines include the perception of target orientation, low contrast stimuli, motion, shape and form. Age related declines in visual processing have been implicated as a leading cause of falls among the elderly as well as the increased risk of accidents for older drivers. The proposed revision will include research that will examine two distinct and new areas of inquiry not addressed in the parent grant. The first study will test predictions from a formal model of perceptual learning (the perceptual template model proposed by Lu and Dosher, 1999;2008). The experiment will determine, using drifting or moving Gabor patches, whether PL among older subjects results in changes in internal noise, changes in sensitivity to external noise, or changes in multiplicative noise. A second study will extend the results of the first experiment to motion stimuli using random dot cinematograms. The third study will examine whether PL changes in sensory processing for older subjects are the result of changes in center-surround inhibition. This issue will be examined by conducting an experiment using stimuli that has been previously used to demonstrate reduced center-surround inhibition among older observers, and determining whether this age-related effect changes as a function of PL.
The proposed research will examine how training with visual displays can be used to improve visual perception for older individuals. The studies will include behavioral research to determine how perception improves and how the improvement is related to changes in brain activity.
The proposed research will examine how training with visual displays can be used to improve visual perception for older individuals. The studies will include behavioral research to determine how perception improves and how the improvement is related to changes in brain activity.
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