Aging isn't easy on the eyes or the memory, but doctors of optometry can positively impact a patient's outlook. Two new studies confirm eye health and vision care play an important role in maintaining quality of life. The first study was published September 2018 in JAMA Ophthalmology. Visual acuity was assessed and the study results confirmed not only that visual acuity and cognitive impairment were linked, but also reported that vision is "likely the driving force" in the changes, not the reverse. In the second study published October 2018 in Neuropsychologia, Canadian researchers looked at visual sampling behavior and the neural activity within the hippocampus, a region of the brain essential to long-term memory and learning. The conclusions? “Aging is associated with a reduction in the functional relationship between visual exploration and neural activity," the researchers said. Click here to read the full story.