Age-related differences in eye movements and the association with Archimedes spiral tracing performance in young and older adults.

Age-related hand motor impairments may critically depend on visual information though few studies have examined eye movements during tasks of hand function in older adults. The purpose of this study was to assess eye movements and their association with performance while tracing on a touchscreen in young and older adults. Eye movements of 21 young (age 20-38 years; 12 females, 9 males) and 20 older (65-85 years; 10 females, 10 males) adults were recorded while performing an Archimedes spiral tracing task, a common clinical assessment sensitive to age-associated impairments in hand function. Participants traced an Archimedes spiral template on a touchscreen as accurately as possible under three conditions, using (1) a stylus, (2) the index finger, and (3) the index finger while performing a visuospatial dual task. Older adults made fewer total fixations than young adults, and participants made fewer fixations when tracing parts of the spiral where vision of the spiral template was likely more obstructed by the hand. Inter-fixation distance and inter-fixation distance variability were greater in older compared to young adults. A relationship between increased inter-fixation distance and increased spiral tracing error demonstrates the association between age-related changes in eye movements and spiral tracing performance in older adults. Results contribute novel findings of age-associated changes in ocuomotor behavior during a common clinical assessment and offer insight into motor control in older adults.
Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. Ethics approval: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. All protocols were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Consent to participate: Written informed consent was obtained from all participants included in this study. Consent for publication: Participants signed informed consent regarding publishing their data.
(© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)