Studying motion processing with eye movements in healthy older adults and patients with ophthalmic diseases

As our population ages, an increasing number of Canadians experience difficulties with their vision. Although it is well known that both normal aging and age-related eye disease can affect a person's ability to see fine detail (such as in reading), tests of visual acuity used in regular eye examinations do not provide a complete picture of a person's ability to see in everyday situations, such as exercising and driving, where moving objects are often involved. Moreover, these tests often demand verbal instructions and do not accommodate sufficiently for the multilingual population of Canada with a range of cognitive functions. We propose to develop a technology utilizing eye movements to assess visual motion processing.

Our research will gather scientific evidence to understand the relationship between motion processing and eye movements in healthy seniors and patients with ophthalmic diseases, and whether it is practical to introduce the technology into clinical practice. This quick and non-verbal method of assessing vision provides a potentially cost-effective vision assessment strategy that addresses an important population health issue.