Perceptual Function in the Elderly and after Stroke

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Abstract
Perceptual function was assessed in 60 clinically healthy subjects aged about 60 (n=34) and 80 (n=26), and in stroke survivors who were assessed either early (n=109) or four to six years (n=75) after the stroke. Using two indices, one characterising low‐order perception and the other higher‐order perception, the clinically healthy subjects invariably had no impairment in the low‐order index. Slight impairments occurred in 35% of 60‐year‐old and 77% of 80‐year‐old healthy subjects. Considerably more pronounced disturbances occurred in the stroke victims, among whom about 60% had impairment or higher‐order perceptual function and about 10% had low‐order perceptual deficits. Thus as higher‐order perception is age dependent, it appears that in rehabilitation of stroke allowance should be made for predictable signs of advancing age.