Oculomotor, vestibular, reaction time, and cognitive (OVRT-C) responses in 7- to 17-year-old children

Several aspects of oculomotor, vestibular, reaction time, and cognitive (OVRT-C) abilities improve throughout childhood at varying rates and become adult-like at different ages. However, developmental testing of these abilities often focuses on limited age ranges and does not elucidate clear developmental trajectories. The present study utilized high-resolution eye-tracking to evaluate 40 children aged 7–17 years on a comprehensive battery of OVRT-C tests to better understand how and when these abilities develop across childhood. As expected, mean responses on OVRT-C tests showed consistent improvement as subject age increased. We report a high prevalence of saccadic intrusions during smooth pursuit in children and adolescents, more self-paced saccades in older children, decreased auditory and visual RT with age, and fewer errors on the anti-saccade test in older children. We also used the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Bayesian information criterion (BIC) modelling to determine whether a two- or three age group division would be most appropriate for each OVRT-C test. For all key OVRT-C metrics, our data support a separation of children into two age groups as opposed to three. While the age group divide varied by OVRT-C test, these data suggest these abilities mature at differing rates, and optimal separations into two age groups rather than three may reflect a slowing of rapid development as OVRT-C performance becomes more adult-like.