Human visual spatio-temporal frequency performance as a function of age.

Deterioration of human spatial frequency contrast sensitivity with increasing age was measured, for both stationary and drifting gratings, by producing interference fringes directly on the subject's retinas. There were losses at high spatial frequency up to 40 years of age, and losses at all spatial frequencies thereafter. Older subjects exhibited better than expected performance for drifting low spatial frequency gratings. These results are consistent with the differential effects of aging on different populations of visual neurons.