Active ocular vergence improves postural control in elderly as close viewing distance with or without a single cognitive task.

•Effects of vision, eye movement, viewing distance and cognitive task were studied on postural control in autonomous elderly individuals.•We measured body oscillations with accelerometers placed at the lumbosacral level, near the center of mass.•The postural stability decreased when fixating on LED at 150cm vs. 20cm distance with or without simple cognitive tasks.•Active vergence between the LEDs improved the postural stability while eye closure decreased it.•In elderly, we found a beneficial contribution of vergence eye movements for a better postural control.