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Changes of tuning but not dynamics of contrast adaptation with age.

ABSTRACT: Normal aging results in pronounced optical and neural changes in the visual system. Processes of adaptation are thought to help compensate for many of these changes in order to maintain perceptual constancy, but it is uncertain how stable adaptation itself remains with aging. We compared the dynamics of adaptation in young (aged 19-24 years) and older (aged 66-74) adults. Contrast thresholds for Gabor patterns were tracked during and after 300 s adaptation to vertical and horizontal Gabor patches. The time course of contrast adaptation and asymptotic adaptation magnitude were similar between older and young adults when normalized for their respective baseline thresholds. Older adults showed stronger transfer of adaptation to the orthogonal orientation and there was an asymmetry between the transfer of adaptation between the horizontal and vertical orientations for both groups. These results suggest age-related changes in orientation tuning while the processes of cortical contrast adaptation remain largely intact with aging.

SUBMITTER: Gao Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8363565 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Changes of tuning but not dynamics of contrast adaptation with age.

Gao Yi Y Webster Michael A MA Jiang Fang F

Vision research 20210710

Normal aging results in pronounced optical and neural changes in the visual system. Processes of adaptation are thought to help compensate for many of these changes in order to maintain perceptual constancy, but it is uncertain how stable adaptation itself remains with aging. We compared the dynamics of adaptation in young (aged 19-24 years) and older (aged 66-74) adults. Contrast thresholds for Gabor patterns were tracked during and after 300 s adaptation to vertical and horizontal Gabor patche ...[more]

PMID: 34252728

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Project description:The brain uses information from different sensory systems to guide motor behavior, and aging is associated with simultaneous decline in the quality of sensory information provided to the brain and deterioration in motor control. Correlations between age-dependent decline in sensory anatomical structures and behavior have been demonstrated in many sensorimotor systems, and it has recently been suggested that a Bayesian framework could explain these relationships. Here we show that age-dependent changes in a human sensorimotor reflex, the vestibuloocular reflex, are explained by a Bayesian optimal adaptation in the brain occurring in response to death of motion-sensing hair cells. Specifically, we found that the temporal dynamics of the reflex as a function of age emerge from ( r = 0.93, P < 0.001) a Kalman filter model that determines the optimal behavioral output when the sensory signal-to-noise characteristics are degraded by death of the transducers. These findings demonstrate that the aging brain is capable of generating the ideal and statistically optimal behavioral response when provided with deteriorating sensory information. While the Bayesian framework has been shown to be a general neural principle for multimodal sensory integration and dynamic sensory estimation, these findings provide evidence of longitudinal Bayesian processing over the human life span. These results illuminate how the aging brain strives to optimize motor behavior when faced with deterioration in the peripheral and central nervous systems and have implications in the field of vestibular and balance disorders, as they will likely provide guidance for physical therapy and for prosthetic aids that aim to reduce falls in the elderly. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We showed that age-dependent changes in the vestibuloocular reflex are explained by a Bayesian optimal adaptation in the brain that occurs in response to age-dependent sensory anatomical changes. This demonstrates that the brain can longitudinally respond to age-related sensory loss in an ideal and statistically optimal way. This has implications for understanding and treating vestibular disorders caused by aging and provides insight into the structure-function relationship during aging.

Dataset Information

Changes of tuning but not dynamics of contrast adaptation with age.

Publications

Changes of tuning but not dynamics of contrast adaptation with age.

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