The decrease in visual acuity and other visual functions with aging has been reported extensively. This decline of visual function has been attributed to anatomical aging changes in the eye and the visual pathway. Opacities of the crystalline lens and vitreous body, miosis, and a loss of neurons at both the retina and the visual cortex have been considered to be the factors responsible for the loss of function.

With the development of surgical techniques for cataracts and the prolongation of life, patients older than 90 years often have a visual acuity over 20/20. Are their cells and neurons in the visual pathway still functioning as in youth?

Visually evoked cortical potentials (VECPs) to pattern stimulation have been known to reflect several visual functions related to neuronal function, and the effect of age on pattern VECP has been studied by a number of authors. There is general agreement that the P100 peak latency increases and amplitude decreases in the elderly. However, the ophthalmological findings described in the literature are not sufficiently clear. The present chapter deals with the aging effects on pattern VECPs mainly in elderly subjects.