Visual memory testing in older adults with age-related visual decline: A measure of memory performance or visual functioning?

Juliette V. Drobny, Kaarin J. Anstey*, Sally Andrews

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    13 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Although we know that vision is correlated with memory performance in older adults, the implications for this in terms of neuropsychological assessment have not been investigated. Relationships among age, visual acuity, and visual and verbal memory in 89 community dwelling volunteers aged 60 to 87 years were examined. Vision was tested using the Landolt C and visual and verbal memory were assessed via the Visual Reproduction (VR) and Word List (WL) subtests from the Wechsler Memory Scale, Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1997), respectively. Significant correlations were observed between vision and the VR and WL tasks. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that vision significantly increased the R2 for VR and WL after controlling for age and education. The effect of vision was not specific to visual memory. We conclude that vision is correlated with general memory function in older adults, and is not modality specific.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)425-435
    Number of pages11
    JournalJournal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology
    Volume27
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2005

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