Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27070044›Full record

SynthesisExperimental aging research2016

Visual Acuity does not Moderate Effect Sizes of Higher-Level Cognitive Tasks.

James R Houston, Ilana J Bennett, Philip A Allen, David J Madden

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-Analysis
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Experimental aging research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

James R Houstona Department of Psychology , The University of Akron , Akron , Ohio , USA.
Ilana J Bennettb Department of Neurobiology and Behavior , University of California , Irvine , Irvine California , USA.
Philip A Allena Department of Psychology , The University of Akron , Akron , Ohio , USA.
David J Maddenc Brain Imaging and Analysis Center , Duke University Medical Center , Durham , North Carolina , USA.
University of Akron · USDuke Medical Center · USUniversity of California, Irvine · US

Funding

Neuroimaging of Visual Attention in AgingR01AG039684 · NIA · DUKE UNIVERSITY · PI MADDEN, DAVID J. · 2011 to 2022
$5.0M
High-resolution multimodal imaging of episodic memory networks in aging.R00AG047334 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE · PI BENNETT, ILANA JACQUELINE · 2016 to 2018
$737k
High-resolution multimodal imaging of episodic memory networks in aging.K99AG047334 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI BENNETT, ILANA JACQUELINE · 2014 to 2015
$196k
NIA NIH HHS AG039684NIA NIH HHS AG047334NIA NIH HHS K99 AG047334NIA NIH HHS R00 AG047334NIA NIH HHS R01 AG039684
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

background/study contextDeclining visual capacities in older adults have been posited as a driving force behind adult age differences in higher-order cognitive functions (e.g., the "common cause" hypothesis of Lindenberger & Baltes, 1994, Psychology and Aging, 9, 339-355). McGowan, Patterson, and Jordan (2013, Experimental Aging Research, 39, 70-79) also found that a surprisingly large number of published cognitive aging studies failed to include adequate measures of visual acuity. However, a recent meta-analysis of three studies (La Fleur and Salthouse, 2014, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 21, 1202-1208) failed to find evidence that visual acuity moderated or mediated age differences in higher-level cognitive processes. In order to provide a more extensive test of whether visual acuity moderates age differences in higher-level cognitive processes, we conducted a more extensive meta-analysis of topic.

methodsUsing results from 456 studies, we calculated effect sizes for the main effect of age across four cognitive domains (attention, executive function, memory, and perception/language) separately for five levels of visual acuity criteria (no criteria, undisclosed criteria, self-reported acuity, 20/80-20/31, and 20/30 or better).

resultsAs expected, age had a significant effect on each cognitive domain. However, these age effects did not further differ as a function of visual acuity criteria.

conclusionThe current meta-analytic, cross-sectional results suggest that visual acuity is not significantly related to age group differences in higher-level cognitive performance-thereby replicating La Fleur and Salthouse (2014). Further efforts are needed to determine whether other measures of visual functioning (e.g., contrast sensitivity, luminance) affect age differences in cognitive functioning.

Indexed as

CognitionVisual AcuityAgingAttentionExecutive FunctionHumansMemoryPerception

Identifiers

PMID27070044
PMCPMC4902024
OpenAlexW2338086383

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.