A Life Span Study of Exploratory Eye Movements in Healthy Subjects: Gender Differences and Affective Influences

Abstract

Abbreviations: TESL, total eye scanning length; TNGP, total numbers of gaze points. Edited by RYOJI YAMAKAWA A Life Span Study of Exploratory Eye Movements in Healthy Subjects Summary:To evaluate age and gender differences as well as effects of affection, we examined exploratory eye movements. Exploratory eye movements were recorded in healthy subjects (57 women and 57 men) ranging from 9 to 74 years. All subjects were divided into three groups as pre puberty, young, and older adults to study the influences of age and gonadal hormones. Exploratory eye movements were analyzed for total eye scanning length (TESL), and total numbers of gaze points (TNGP) as subjects viewed neutral or affectively charged pictures. TESL and TNGP in older adults were significantly larger than that in both pre puberty and young adults for crying babies. TESL and TNGP in pre puberty were significantly smaller than that in both young and older adults for circles. TESL and TNGP in pre puberty were significantly smaller than that in older adults for smiling babies. Pre puberty and young adult of both genders for crying babies showed significantly shorter TESL than for when smiling babies. When viewing circles, young adult women had shorter TESL than men. TNGP in young adult women was smaller than in men for circles or crying babies. TNGP of young adult women in the visual right field was significantly smaller than in men. TNGP for crying babies was significantly smaller than that for smiling babies in young adults of both genders for the left field. Exploratory eye movements thus are a useful marker of visual cognitive function. Gender differences were limited to younger adults, suggesting influences of gonadal hormones.

Eye movements reveal sexually dimorphic deficits in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

“…For example, female rats prenatally exposed to alcohol show deficits in their ability to use or respond to environmental cues (Weinberg, 1988, 1992b), which could translate into deficits in visual response processing. Additionally, several studies have found differences in exploratory eye movements between control males and females when viewing natural images (Nishiura et al, 2007; Mercer Moss et al, 2012). Based on these findings, we sought to investigate if any behavioral eye movement measures displayed an interaction between males and females in control and FASD participants.…”