Speed of Accommodation and Age

Abstract

The time needed to change accommodation from a near to a far target or from a far to a near target (0.457 and 5.486 m) was measured with a psychophysical threshold procedure in 65 U.S. Navy fighter pilots. The age of the pilots ranged from 24 to 44 years. The speed of accommodative change, far-to-near (FN), slowed with age in a statistically significant fashion; however, near-to-far (NF) did not appreciably slow with age. The intrasubject variability was greater FN than NF but there was not a statistically significant dependence of variability upon age.