ABSTRACT
For many years, studies of perceptual development have focussed on infancy and early childhood. With the realisation that perceptual processes do not remain static, but continue to change, studies of lifespan development have sought to redress this imbalance. Fozard, Wolf, Bell, McFarland and Podolsky (1977) present a comprehensive review of visual perception research using a lifespan developmental approach. (As well as reviewing perceptual changes with age, Fozard et al. include some fairly extensive physiological considerations, which are probably not absolutely essential for this workshop. You might concentrate on pages 507-17.)
That aspects of sight deteriorate with age is well documented. Fozard et al. report, for example, that the aged are more sensitive to glare and that this reduces their static acuity more than it would a younger person's. In addition, Fozard et al. cited studies by Eriksen and his co-workers showing that the time required to identify a target increases with age, especially if the target is moving. Subjects aged between 30 and 35 years correctly identified the location of gaps in a Landolt ring about 70 per cent of the time after an exposure of only 25 msec. However, those aged between 50 and 55 years required an exposure of about 200 msec to obtain the same degree of accuracy, almost ten times as long. Subjects in their 60s required even longer exposure times.
