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Researchers identify factors associated with asymmetric attentional visual fields
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2008;49(10):4672-4678.
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Age, gender, visual performance and cognitive ability are associated with the size and shape of the asymmetric attentional visual field, which encompasses central and peripheral visual fields.
The attentional visual field (AVF) plays a significant role in driving performance and other critical functions.
"A new finding of our study was the identification of different AVF shape profiles and the demographic, cognitive and visual factors associated with the AVF shape," the study authors said.
The study included 1,386 registered motorists aged 67 years to 87 years who underwent visual and cognitive assessments, answered questionnaires and gave medical histories.
Researchers saw asymmetric AVFs in 910 subjects (66%) and symmetrical AVFs in 476 subjects (34%). They associated a symmetric AVF with poor cognitive and visual performance. Female subjects, black subjects, and subjects with a history of depression, less education and lower visual acuity had a smaller AVF.
Most subjects had an asymmetric AVF profile in which the horizontal AVF was wider than the vertical AVF.
"It may be that persons allocate their visual attention resources to areas of the visual field that maximize task performance," the authors said.