Are alcohol-related attentional biases and holistic perception independent processes?

Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with the development of attentional biases for alcohol-related cues and their prioritization in heavy drinkers. Recently, it has been hypothesized that holistic processing may also play a role in this prioritization, with higher alcohol consumers exhibiting stronger holistic perception for alcohol cues. However, it is unclear how processing stimuli holistically may be related to attentional biases. We explored potential relationships between attentional biases, holistic processing, and alcohol consumption in a sample of drinkers using two tasks. In the first, a visual probe task replicated previous findings by showing an increased attentional bias for alcohol-related stimuli in individuals with higher alcohol consumption. Surprisingly, using an inversion paradigm to measure holistic perception in our second task, we showed reduced holistic processing for both alcohol and nonalcohol cues in higher alcohol consumers compared to light alcohol consumers. Although alcohol consumption was positively associated with attentional biases and negatively associated with holistic processing, these cognitive processes were not associated with each other. This study supports a model of visual perception in which attentional biases and holistic processing are independently linked with alcohol use. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Visual processing speed and its association with future dementia development in a population-based prospective cohort: EPIC-Norfolk.

Visual processing deficits have frequently been reported when studied in individuals with dementia, which suggests their potential utility in supporting dementia screening. The study uses EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Cohort Study data (n = 8623) to investigate the role of visual processing speed assessed by the Visual Sensitivity Test (VST) in identifying the risk of future dementia using Cox regression analyses. Individuals with lower scores on the simple and complex VST had a higher probability of a future dementia diagnosis HR1.39 (95% CI 1.12, 1.67, P < 0.01) and HR 1.56 (95% CI 1.27, 1.90, P < 0.01), respectively. Although other more commonly used cognitive dementia screening tests were better predictors of future dementia risk (HR 3.45 for HVLT and HR 2.66, for SF-EMSE), the complex VST showed greater sensitivity to variables frequently associated with dementia risk. Reduced complex visual processing speed is significantly associated with a high likelihood of a future dementia diagnosis and risk/protective factors in this cohort. Combining visual processing tests with other neuropsychological tests could improve the identification of future dementia risk.

The Effectiveness of Home-Based Exergames Training on Cognition and Balance in Older Adults: A Comparative Quasi-Randomized Study of Two Exergame Interventions.

Background and Objectives: The effectiveness of exergames on fall risk and related physical and cognitive function in older adults is still unclear, with conflicting findings. The discrepancy in these results could be due to the different components and task-specific demands of individual exergame interventions. This open-label quasi-randomized study aimed to compare the efficacy of 2 different home-based dual-task exergame treatments on cognition, mobility, and balance in older people. Research Design and Methods: Fifty older adults (65-85 years of age) were allocated to one of two 8-week exergame interventions: Cognitive-Intensive Exergame Training (CIT) or Physical-Intensive Exergame Training (PIT). Cognitive functions, balance, and mobility were assessed at baseline and after 8 weeks. Group × time interaction was measured by repeated-measure ANOVA, and both intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) analyses were performed to assess the effectiveness of exergame interventions. Results: ITT analyses showed that improvement in visual processing speed and visuospatial working memory was greater in the CIT group, with a medium effect size (p = .04; η2 = 0.09 and p = .01; η2 = 0.12). The improvement in verbal memory and attention was significant within both groups (p < .05), but this improvement was not different between the groups (p > .05). A significant improvement in balance was also observed in the PIT group, with a medium effect size (p = .04; η2 = 0.09). Although mobility improved significantly in both groups (p < .01), there was no significant difference between groups (p = .08). These results were largely supported by the PP analysis. Discussion and Implications: Dual-task exergame training can improve mobility and cognition in older adults. However, the different cognitive and physical demands of these interventions may have varying impacts on fall risk and related physical or cognitive functions. Therefore, a training program that includes both cognitive and physical domains with appropriate intensity is essential for the development of tailored exergame interventions to reduce fall risk in older adults.

Alcohol Use Predicts Face Perception Impairments and Difficulties in Face Recognition.

Background: Risky alcohol use is related to a variety of cognitive impairments, including memory and visuo-perceptual difficulties. Remarkably, no prior work has assessed whether usage of alcohol can predict difficulties perceiving facial identity. Objectives: Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether riskier alcohol consumption predicted impairments in face perception and self-reported difficulties in face recognition. Results: Participants (N = 239, male = 77) were over 18 years old and had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Alcohol use was assessed using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT), while face recognition difficulties were determined by the 20-item Prosopagnosia Index questionnaire (PI20). A subsample of participants (N = 126, male = 51) completed the Cambridge Face Perception task (CFPT) to assess their face perception ability. Multiple linear regressions showed significant models of prediction on both face perception and face recognition when considering AUDIT score and age as predictors. Conclusion: This study suggested, for the first time, that risky alcohol use predicts both poorer visuo-perceptual processing for faces and self-reported difficulties in face recognition.

Does physical exercise improve the capacity for independent living in people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment: an overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

OBJECTIVE: To summarise existing systematic reviews which assessed the effects of physical exercise on activities of daily living, walking, balance and visual processing in people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. METHODS: In this overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, seven electronic databases were searched to identify eligible reviews published between January 2015 and April 2021. RESULTS: A total of 30 systematic reviews were identified and included in the overview. The most frequent type of exercise for the intervention group was multimodal exercises. Mind-body exercises, exergames, dance intervention and aerobic exercise were other exercise types. Most of the reviews reported that exercise is significantly effective for improving activities of daily living (SMD 95%CI, from 0.27 to 1.44), walking (SMD 95%CI, from 0.08 to 2.23), balance (SMD 95%CI, from 0.37 to 2.24) and visuospatial function (SMD 95%CI, from 0.16 to 0.51), which are among the most leading determinants of independent living in individuals with dementia or mild cognitive impairment. CONCLUSION: Evidence has shown that exercise (especially multicomponent exercise programmes including cognitive, physical and multitasking exercises) with sufficient intensity improves the activities of daily living skills. Exercise also improves walking, balance and visual processing, which can provide a more independent life for people with dementia and mild cognitive impairment. Cognitively impaired people should therefore be encouraged to exercise regularly in order to be more independent.Supplemental data for this article is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2021.2019192.

Does an acute bout of moderate exercise reduce alcohol craving in university students?

Craving is considered to be a vital contributor to the onset and maintenance of alcohol misuse. However, there is little known about its potential moderators and there are few interventions that specifically target these cravings. Exercise generates multiple psychological and physiological effects that in theory may reduce craving, and therefore we hypothesised that a short exercise circuit may potentially alter reward circuits. Recent research centred around neuroimaging studies suggests that similar reward circuits in the brain stimulated through exercise are also found to be activated by commonly misused substances such as alcohol. Peripheral levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, as well as the release of endorphins that would otherwise be artificially stimulated using alcohol are hypothesised to increase via alternate substitution induced by exercise. Exercise would thus replace effects of alcohol use to a substantial extent, and therefore was theorised to decrease craving and subsequently reduce hazardous alcohol use. A university student sample who reported hazardous drinking levels participated in either an exercise, colouring (as an active control) or a passive control intervention, and self-reported alcohol craving, mood, anxiety, and positive and negative affect scores were assessed. The present study found that a short exercise circuit significantly reduced alcohol craving, whilst also eliciting beneficial effects on mood and anxiety. This knowledge will help aid the utilisation of exercise as a potential therapeutic tool to reduce alcohol craving, prevent hazardous alcohol use and develop a greater understanding of the mechanisms that underlie addictive behaviour.

The role of chronotype and reward processing in understanding social hierarchies in adolescence.

INTRODUCTION: Circadian rhythms shift toward an evening preference during adolescence, a developmental period marked by greater focus on the social domain and salience of social hierarchies. The circadian system influences maturation of cognitive architecture responsible for motivation and reward, and observation of responses to reward cues has provided insights into neurocognitive processes that underpin adolescent social development. The objective was to investigate whether circadian phase of entrainment (chronotype) predicted both reward-related response inhibition and social status, and to explore whether mediator and moderator relationships existed between chronotype, reward processing, and social status outcomes. METHODS: Participants were 75 adolescents aged 13-14 years old (41 females) who completed an eye tracking paradigm that involved an inhibitory control task (antisaccade task) within a nonsocial reward (Card Guessing Game) and a social reward (Cyberball Game) context. Chronotype was calculated from weekend midsleep and grouped into early, intermediate, and later terciles. Participants indicated subjective social status compared with peers in seven domains. RESULTS: An intermediate and later chronotype predicted improved inhibitory control in the social versus nonsocial reward context. Chronotype also predicted higher perceived social status in two domains (powerful, troublemaker). Intermediate chronotypes reported higher "Powerful" status whereas later chronotypes were higher on "Troublemaker." Improved social reward-related performance predicted only the higher powerful scores and chronotype moderated this relationship. Improved inhibitory control to social reward predicted higher subjective social status in the intermediate and later chronotype group, an effect that was absent in the early group. CONCLUSION: This behavioral study found evidence that changes toward a later phase of entrainment predicts social facilitation effects on inhibitory control and higher perceived power among peers. It is proposed here that circadian delayed phase in adolescence is linked to approach-related motivation, and the social facilitation effects could reflect a social cognitive capacity involved in the drive to achieve social rank.

Top-down and bottom-up attentional biases for smoking-related stimuli: Comparing dependent and non-dependent smokers.

INTRODUCTION: Substance use causes attentional biases for substance-related stimuli. Both bottom-up (preferential processing) and top-down (inhibitory control) processes are involved in attentional biases. We explored these aspects of attentional bias by using dependent and non-dependent cigarette smokers in order to see whether these two groups would differ in terms of general inhibitory control, bottom-up attentional bias, and top-down attentional biases. This enables us to see whether consumption behaviour would affect these cognitive responses to smoking-related stimuli. METHODS: Smokers were categorised as either dependent (N = 26) or non-dependent (N = 34) smokers. A further group of non-smokers (N = 32) were recruited to act as controls. Participants then completed a behavioural inhibition task with general stimuli, a smoking-related eye tracking version of the dot-probe task, and an eye-tracking inhibition task with smoking-related stimuli. RESULTS: Results indicated that dependent smokers had decreased inhibition and increased attentional bias for smoking-related stimuli (and not control stimuli). By contrast, a decreased inhibition for smoking-related stimuli (in comparison to control stimuli) was not observed for non-dependent smokers. CONCLUSIONS: Preferential processing of substance-related stimuli may indicate usage of a substance, whereas poor inhibitory control for substance-related stimuli may only emerge if dependence develops. The results suggest that how people engage with substance abuse is important for top-down attentional biases.

Pupil dilation reflects the authenticity of received nonverbal vocalizations.

The ability to infer the authenticity of other's emotional expressions is a social cognitive process taking place in all human interactions. Although the neurocognitive correlates of authenticity recognition have been probed, its potential recruitment of the peripheral autonomic nervous system is not known. In this work, we asked participants to rate the authenticity of authentic and acted laughs and cries, while simultaneously recording their pupil size, taken as proxy of cognitive effort and arousal. We report, for the first time, that acted laughs elicited higher pupil dilation than authentic ones and, reversely, authentic cries elicited higher pupil dilation than acted ones. We tentatively suggest the lack of authenticity in others' laughs elicits increased pupil dilation through demanding higher cognitive effort; and that, reversely, authenticity in cries increases pupil dilation, through eliciting higher emotional arousal. We also show authentic vocalizations and laughs (i.e. main effects of authenticity and emotion) to be perceived as more authentic, arousing and contagious than acted vocalizations and cries, respectively. In conclusion, we show new evidence that the recognition of emotional authenticity can be manifested at the level of the autonomic nervous system in humans. Notwithstanding, given its novelty, further independent research is warranted to ascertain its psychological meaning.

The Disengagement of Visual Attention: An Eye-Tracking Study of Cognitive Impairment, Ethnicity and Age.

Various studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with an impairment of inhibitory control, although we do not have a comprehensive understanding of the associated cognitive processes. The ability to engage and disengage attention is a crucial cognitive operation of inhibitory control and can be readily investigated using the "gap effect" in a saccadic eye movement paradigm. In previous work, various demographic factors were confounded; therefore, here, we examine separately the effects of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease, ethnicity/culture and age. This study included young (N = 44) and old (N = 96) European participants, AD (N = 32), mildly cognitively impaired participants (MCI: N = 47) and South Asian older adults (N = 94). A clear reduction in the mean reaction times was detected in all the participant groups in the gap condition compared to the overlap condition, confirming the effect. Importantly, this effect was also preserved in participants with MCI and AD. A strong effect of age was also evident, revealing a slowing in the disengagement of attention during the natural process of ageing.

A comparison of post-saccadic oscillations in European-Born and China-Born British University Undergraduates.

Previous research has revealed that people from different genetic, racial, biological, and/or cultural backgrounds may display fundamental differences in eye-tracking behavior. These differences may have a cognitive origin or they may be at a lower level within the neurophysiology of the oculomotor network, or they may be related to environment factors. In this paper we investigated one of the physiological aspects of eye movements known as post-saccadic oscillations and we show that this type of eye movement is very different between two different populations. We compared the post-saccadic oscillations recorded by a video-based eye tracker between two groups of participants: European-born and Chinese-born British students. We recorded eye movements from a group of 42 Caucasians defined as White British or White Europeans and 52 Chinese-born participants all with ages ranging from 18 to 36 during a prosaccade task. The post-saccadic oscillations were extracted from the gaze data which was compared between the two groups in terms of their first overshoot and undershoot. The results revealed that the shape of the post-saccadic oscillations varied significantly between the two groups which may indicate a difference in a multitude of genetic, cultural, physiologic, anatomical or environmental factors. We further show that the differences in the post-saccadic oscillations could influence the oculomotor characteristics such as saccade duration. We conclude that genetic, racial, biological, and/or cultural differences can affect the morphology of the eye movement data recorded and should be considered when studying eye movements and oculomotor fixation and saccadic behaviors.

An online cognitive bias task: the Rough Estimation Task using Qualtrics.

Measurement of cognitive bias typically relies on laboratory-based tasks. In order for cognitive bias measures to be useful outside of laboratory settings, a simple measure is required which does not rely on precise measurement tools, for example, precise reaction time measurement (which can be done only with specialized software typically running through either dedicated hardware or specifically configured computers). The Rough Estimation Task is a simple reading task which has been previously shown to be an effective measure of alcohol-related cognitive bias. We conducted an online version of the Rough Estimation Task, so that we could measure cognitive bias away from a laboratory environment. We also measured whether baseline Rough Estimation Task scores could predict future drinking and Rough Estimation Task scores. A sample of undergraduate participants completed the study online. We found that the online Rough Estimation Task was associated with both current and future drinking, as measured in a follow-up online task. The results imply that the online Rough Estimation Task could be used as a simple online measure of cognitive bias for both concurrent and future drinking behavior, and so raises hope for employing this measure outside of laboratory settings and possibly even in clinical applications.

Alcohol usage predicts holistic perception: A novel method for exploring addiction.

Holistic perception is a special form of automatic and experience dependent processing that prioritises objects of interest through the visual system. We therefore speculated that higher levels of alcohol consumption may be associated with enhanced holistic perception for alcohol cues. In our first experiment, we confirmed this hypothesis by showing that increasing regular alcohol usage was associated with greater holistic perception of alcohol, but not non-alcohol, cues. We replicated this finding in a second experiment, but confirmed drink-specific holistic perception for lager cues was not predicted by experience with that drink, but general alcohol usage. In our final experiment when alcohol images were absent from the task, higher levels of alcohol consumption predicted decreased holistic perception for non-rewarding cues. Alcohol use is therefore linked to inverse alterations in holistic perception for alcohol versus non-alcohol cues, with the latter's effects context dependent. We hypothesise that such inverse relationships may be due to limited cortical resources becoming reutilised for alcohol cues at the expense of other stimuli. Future work will be required to determine holistic perception's role in maintaining addiction, its predictive value in successful abstinence, and its relationship with characteristics of addiction such as cue reactivity, attentional biases and personality traits.

Abnormalities of saccadic eye movements in dementia due to Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

Background: There is increasing evidence that people in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have subtle impairments in cognitive inhibition that can be detected by using relatively simple eye-tracking paradigms, but these subtle impairments are often missed by traditional cognitive assessments. People with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are at an increased likelihood of dementia due to AD. No study has yet investigated and contrasted the MCI subtypes in relation to eye movement performance. Methods: In this work we explore whether eye-tracking impairments can distinguish between patients with the amnesic and the non-amnesic variants of MCI. Participants were 68 people with dementia due to AD, 42 had a diagnosis of aMCI, and 47 had a diagnosis of naMCI, and 92 age-matched cognitively healthy controls. Results: The findings revealed that eye-tracking can distinguish between the two forms of MCI. Conclusions: The work provides further support for eye-tracking as a useful diagnostic biomarker in the assessment of dementia.

Substance usage intention does not affect attentional bias: implications from Ecstasy/MDMA users and alcohol drinkers.

BACKGROUND: An attentional bias towards substance-related stimuli has been demonstrated with alcohol drinkers and many other types of substance user. There is evidence to suggest that the strength of an attentional bias may vary as a result of context (or use intention), especially within Ecstasy/MDMA users. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to empirically investigate attentional biases by observing the affect that use intention plays in recreational MDMA users and compare the findings with that of alcohol users. METHOD: Regular alcohol drinkers were compared with MDMA users. Performance was assessed for each group separately using two versions of an eye-tracking attentional bias task with pairs of matched neutral, and alcohol or MDMA-related visual stimuli. Dwell time was recorded for alcohol or MDMA. Participants were tested twice, when intending and not intending to use MDMA or alcohol. Note, participants in the alcohol group did not complete any tasks which involved MDMA-related stimuli and vice versa. RESULTS: Significant attentional biases were found with both MDMA and alcohol users for respective substance-related stimuli, but not control stimuli. Critically, use intention did not affect attentional biases. Attentional biases were demonstrated with both MDMA users and alcohol drinkers when usage was and was not intended. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate the robust nature of attentional biases i.e. once an attentional bias has developed, it is not readily affected by intention.

Alcohol-related attentional bias in a gaze contingency task: Comparing appetitive and non-appetitive cues.

BACKGROUND: Non-problem drinkers attend automatically to alcohol-related cues compared to non-alcohol related cues on tests of inhibitory control. Moreover, attentional bias for alcohol-related cues varies between problem and non-problem drinkers. AIM: To examine attentional bias towards alcoholic and non-alcoholic appetitive cues between problem and non-problem drinkers. METHOD: Forty-one university students (9 male, 32 female; Mage = 21.50) completed an eye-tracking gaze contingency paradigm, measuring the number of times participants looked at peripherally and centrally located stimuli (break frequency) when instructed to maintain focus on a target object. Stimuli consisted of appetitive alcohol-related (e.g., wine), appetitive non-alcohol-related (e.g., cola) and non-appetitive (e.g., fabric softener) stimuli. Participants were split using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) into non-problem (M AUDIT = 3.86) and problematic drinkers (M AUDIT = 11.59). RESULTS: Problematic drinkers had higher break frequencies towards peripheral appetitive stimuli than towards non-appetitive stimuli, while break frequency was equivalent between appetitive cues presented centrally (alcohol and non-alcohol-related). In contrast, there were no differences in break frequency across stimuli type or cue presentation location (central or peripheral) for non-problem drinkers. CONCLUSION: In contrast to non-problem drinkers, people displaying more problematic consumption practices may find it more difficult to inhibit eye movements towards appetitive stimuli, particularly when in peripheral vision. This may suggest that attentional biases, as measured in terms of overt eye movements, in problem drinkers may be most powerful when the alcoholic and appetitive stimuli are not directly in field of view. An uncertainty reduction process in the allocation of attention to appetitive cues may help explain the patterns of results observed.

Determining Typical Smartphone Usage: What Data Do We Need?

Problematic smartphone use is an emerging issue in behavioral addiction research. At the same time, measuring smartphone use with mobile apps has become increasingly common. However, understanding how much data are necessary requires careful consideration if the field is to move forward. Here, we examine how much time should be spent measuring mobile phone operation to reliably infer general patterns of usage and repetitive checking behaviors. In a second analysis, we consider whether a self-report measure of problematic smartphone use is associated with real-time patterns of use. Results suggest that smartphone usage collected for a minimum of 5 days will reflect typical weekly usage (in hours), but habitual checking behaviors (uses lasting <15 seconds) can be reliably inferred within 2 days. These measurements did not reliably correlate with a self-reported measure. We conclude that patterns of smartphone use are repetitive and our results suggest that checking behavior is a particularly consistent and efficient measure when quantifying typical and problematic smartphone usage.

Digital Traces of Behaviour Within Addiction: Response to Griffiths (2017).

Griffiths' (2017) response to the recent commentary piece by Ryding and Kaye (2017) on "Internet Addiction: A conceptual minefield" provided a useful critique and extension of some key issues. We take this opportunity to further build upon on one of these issues to provide some further insight into how the field of "internet addiction" (IA) or technological addictions more generally, may benefit from capitalising on behavioural data. As such, this response extends Griffiths' (2007) points surrounding the efficacy of behavioural data previously used in studies on problematic gambling, to consider its merit for future research on IA or associated topics such as Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) or "Smartphone addiction". Within this, we highlight the challenges associated with utilising behavioural data but provide some practical solutions which may support researchers and practitioners in this field. These recent developments could, in turn, advance our understanding and potentially validate such concepts by establishing behavioural correlates, conditions and contexts. Indeed, corroborating behavioural metrics alongside self-report measures presents a key opportunity if scholars and practitioners are to move the field forward.

Environmental Context Influences Visual Attention to Responsible Drinking Messages.

AIMS: Responsible drinking messages (RDMs) are used as a key tool to reduce alcohol-related harms. A common form of RDM is in a poster format displayed in places such as bars, bus stops and toilet cubicles. However, evidence for the effectiveness of RDMs remains limited. Moreover, it is not known how environmental contexts (e.g. the number of alcohol-related cues in the environment) impact how such RDMs are interacted with, nor how this in turn affects their efficacy. METHODS: One hundred participants completed a pseudo taste preference task in either in a bar laboratory (alcohol cue rich environmental context) or a traditional laboratory. The walls of the laboratory displayed either RDM or control posters during this task and eye tracking was used to assess participant attention to the posters. RESULTS: Participants looked at the RDM posters less in the bar laboratory where the environmental context is rich in alcohol cues compared to a traditional laboratory where alcohol cues are sparse. Neither poster type or environmental context affected the amount of 'alcohol' consumed and the amount of visual attention given to RDMs was unrelated to the amount of 'alcohol' consumed. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide experimental evidence that RDMs do not influence drinking behaviour in the direction intended (reduced consumption in situ). In addition, locating RDMs in alcohol-cue rich environments may result in sub-optimal behavioural responses to the RDM materials (e.g. visual attention to content). To maximize the potential impact of RDMs, the optimal location for RDMs is in environments where pre-existing alcohol cues are sparse to non-existent. SHORT SUMMARY: Responsible drinking messages (RDMs) aim to reduce alcohol consumption, however, the findings of this study show that they may not influence in situ consumption. These findings also suggest that the optimal location for RDMs is in environments with few or no other alcohol-related cues.

Effect of aging on post-saccadic oscillations.

Recent research have shown that the eye movement data measured by an eye tracker does not necessarily reflect the exact rotations of the eyeball. For example, post-saccadic eye movements may be more reflecting the relative movements between the pupil and the iris rather than the eyeball oscillations. Since, accurate measurement of eye movements is important in many studies, it is crucial to identify different factors that influence the dynamics of the eye movements measured by an eye tracker. Previous studies have shown that deformation of the internal structure of the iris and size of the pupil directly affect the amplitude of the post-saccadic oscillations that are measured by video-based eye trackers that are pupil-based. In this paper, we look at the effect of aging on post-saccadic oscillations. We recorded eye movements from a group of 43 young and 22 older participants during an abstract and a more natural viewing task. The recording was conducted with a video-based eye tracker using the pupil center and corneal reflection. We anticipated that changes in the muscle strength as an effect of aging might affect, directly or indirectly, the post-saccadic oscillations. Results showed that the size of the post-saccadic oscillations were significantly larger for our older group. The results suggests that aging has to be considered as an important factor when studying the post-saccadic eye movements.