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Age-Related Changes in the Allocation of Vertical Attention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2018

Aleksandra Mańkowska ,
Kenneth M. Heilman ,
John B. Williamson  and
Michał Harciarek
Aleksandra Mańkowska
Affiliation:
Division of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, Department of the Social Sciences, University of Gdańsk, Poland
Kenneth M. Heilman
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine Gainesville, Florida Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, Florida
John B. Williamson
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, University of Florida College of Medicine Gainesville, Florida Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, Florida
Michał Harciarek*
Affiliation:
Division of Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute of Psychology, Department of the Social Sciences, University of Gdańsk, Poland
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Michał Harciarek, Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Poland. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Objectives: Healthy individuals often have a leftward and upward attentional spatial bias; however, there is a reduction of this leftward bias with aging. The right hemisphere mediates leftward spatial attention and age-related reduction of right hemispheric activity may account for this reduced leftward bias. The right hemisphere also appears to be responsible for upward bias, and this upward bias might reduce with aging. Alternatively, whereas the dorsal visual stream allocates attention downward, the ventral stream allocates attention upward. Since with aging there is a greater atrophy of the dorsal than ventral stream, older participants may reveal a greater upward bias. The main purpose of this study was to learn if aging influences the vertical allocation of spatial attention. Methods: Twenty-six young (17 males; mean age 44.62±2.57 years) and 25 healthy elderly (13 males; mean age 72.04±.98 years), right-handed adults performed line bisections using 24 vertical lines (24 cm long and 2 mm thick) aligned with their midsagittal plane. Results: Older adults had a significantly greater upward bias than did younger adults. Conclusions: Normal upward attentional bias increases with aging, possibly due to an age-related reduction of the dorsal attentional stream that is responsible for the allocation of downward attention. (JINS, 2018, 24, 1121–1124)

Keywords

agingvisual attentionvertical line bisectionright hemi-aging hypothesisventral and dorsal attentional networks
Type
Brief Communication
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 24 , Issue 10 , November 2018 , pp. 1121 - 1124
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2018 

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