Yes / Purpose.: Crowding describes the increased difficulty in identifying a target object when it is surrounded by nearby objects (flankers). A recent study investigated the effect of age on visual crowding and found equivocal results: Although crowded visual acuity was worse in older participants, crowding expressed as a ratio did not change with age. However, the spatial extent of crowding is a better index of crowding effects and remains unknown. In the present study, we used established psychophysical methods to characterize the effect of age on visual crowding (magnitude and extent) in a letter recognition task. Methods.: Letter recognition thresholds were determined for three different flanker separations in 54 adults (aged 18–76 years) with normal vision. Additionally, the spatial extent of crowding was established by measuring spacing thresholds: the flanker-to-target separation required to produce a given reduction in performance. Uncrowded visual acuity, crowded visual acuity, and spacing thresholds were expressed as a function of age, avoiding arbitrary categorization of young and old participants. Results.: Our results showed that uncrowded and crowded visual acuities do not change significantly as a function of age. Furthermore, spacing thresholds did not change with age and approximated Bouma's law (half eccentricity). Conclusions.: These data show that crowding in adults is unaffected by senescence and provide additional evidence for distinct neural mechanisms mediating surround suppression and visual crowding, since the former shows a significant age effect. Finally, our data suggest that the well-documented age-related decline in peripheral reading ability is not due to age-related changes in visual crowding. / Supported by an Age UK Scholarship (AJB); a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Postdoctoral Fellowship (ATA); and a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship (BSW).

Background: To define age-related changes in the visual field by comparing "standard" central and unique peripheral visual field measurements in healthy volunteers. Methods: In a single center, retrospective, Cross-sectional, observational study, 20 volunteers with no retinal diseases or risk factors, ranging in age between 30 and 94 years (four age groups: 30’s, 50’s, 70’s, 90’s) were measured in one eye (preferentially the right one) using a Humphrey visual field 24–2 and 60–4. Results: While the central visual field remained relatively well preserved during aging showing only a mild reduction in sensitivity, a profound loss of the peripheral visual field was observed beginning in the fifth decade of life and decreasing continuously up to the 90ies. Conclusions: The peripheral visual field declined substantially from the 4th decade onward while the central visual field remained quite stable.

Background: To define age-related changes in the visual field by comparing 'standard' central and unique peripheral visual field measurements in healthy volunteers. Methods: In a single center, retrospective, Cross-sectional, observational study, 20 volunteers with no retinal diseases or risk factors, ranging in age between 30 and 94 years (four age groups: 30’s, 50’s, 70’s, 90’s) were measured in one eye (preferentially the right one) using a Humphrey visual field 24–2 and 60–4. Results: While the central visual field remained relatively well preserved during aging showing only a mild reduction in sensitivity, a profound loss of the peripheral visual field was observed beginning in the fifth decade of life and decreasing continuously up to the 90ies. Conclusions: The peripheral visual field declined substantially from the 4th decade onward while the central visual field remained quite stable.