Psychology and Aging, Vol 41(3), May 2026, 340-350; doi:10.1037/pag0000950
Global motion perception (GMP) is essential for tasks such as navigation, speed judgment, and motion-based obstacle avoidance. Previous research has identified sex-asynchronous aging in GMP, with older women showing a more pronounced decline in global motion efficiency than older men. However, the underlying visual mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, random-dot kinematograms and the perceptual template model were employed to investigate the visual noise mechanisms contributing to sex differences in GMP aging. By comparing the differences in visual noise between 106 younger adults (66 women) and 94 older adults (55 women), this study found that, compared to younger adults, both older men and women exhibited a shared aging mechanism characterized by increased internal additive noise and deficits in external noise exclusion. However, further analysis indicated that older women had significantly higher internal noise levels and greater deficits in external noise exclusionthan older men. Moreover, the increase in internal noise was significantly greater than the decrease in external noise exclusion, suggesting that elevated internal noise is the primary factor driving their more pronounced perceptual decline. To our knowledge, this study is the first to apply the perceptual template model to reveal the visual noise mechanisms underlying sex differences in the aging of GMP, offering new insights into the influence of age and sex on motion perception. These findings also provide guidance for potential strategies to improve visual perception in older adults by targeting changes in noise processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)