Visual field asymmetries develop throughout adolescence

Abstract

For human adults, visual perception varies with polar angle at isoeccentric locations from the center of gaze. The same visual information yields better performance along the horizontal than vertical meridian (horizontal vertical anisotropy, HVA) and along the lower than upper vertical meridian (vertical meridian asymmetry, VMA). For children, performance is better along the horizontal than vertical meridian (HVA) but does not differ between the lower and upper vertical meridian. Here, we investigated whether the extent of the HVA varies and whether the VMA emerges and develops during adolescence, or whether the VMA only emerges in adulthood. We found that both the HVA and VMA develop gradually throughout adolescence and become as pronounced as those of adults only in late adolescence.