Closeness to friends explains age differences in positive emotional experience during the lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Background Studies on age differences in emotional states during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that older adults experienced greater emotional wellbeing compared to younger adults. We hypothesized these age differences to be related to the perception of closeness to family/friends or the engagement in daily activities during the pandemic. Aim To investigate age differences in positive and negative emotional experiences and whether the perception of closeness to family/friends and the engagement in daily activities during pandemic explained such age-related differences. Methods Through a cross-sectional study, 1,457 adults aged 18–87 years old completed an online survey assessing positive and negative emotional experiences, the perception of more closeness to family/friends, and daily activities that participants started/re-started during the pandemic. Results Increasing age was associated with more positive and less negative emotional experiences. Age differences in positive emotional experience were explained by the perception of more closeness to friends and not by the engagement in daily activities. For negative emotional experience age, differences remained significant even after accounting for the perception of closeness to family/friends and engagements in daily activities. Discussion Older adults’ greater overall level of positive emotional experience was explained by their greater perception of more closeness to friends. We speculate that social closeness provides a coping mechanism to increase emotional wellbeing employed especially in older adults. Conclusion Our findings reinforce the link between perceived social closeness and emotional wellbeing especially in older adults. To cope with stressful situation, it is important to encourage older adults to increase the closeness to their social network.

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Behavioral and fMRI evidence that arousal enhances bottom-up attention and memory selectivity in young but not older adults

10.1101/2021.07.02.450802 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sara N Gallant ◽

Briana L Kennedy ◽

Shelby L Bachman ◽

Ringo Huang ◽

Tae-Ho Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Emotional Experience ◽

Noradrenergic System ◽

Attention And Memory ◽

Bottom Up ◽

Age Related ◽

Selective Processing ◽

The Brain

During a challenge or emotional experience, increases in arousal help us focus on the most salient or relevant details and ignore distracting stimuli. The noradrenergic system integrates signals about arousal states throughout the brain and helps coordinate this adaptive attentional selectivity. However, age-related changes in the noradrenergic system and attention networks in the brain may reduce the efficiency of arousal to modulate selective processing in older adults. In the current neuroimaging study, we examined age differences in how arousal affects bottom-up attention to category-selective stimuli differing in perceptual salience. We found a dissociation in how arousal modulates selective processing in the young and older brain. In young adults, emotionally arousing sounds enhanced selective incidental memory and brain activity in the extrastriate body area for salient versus non-salient images of bodies. Older adults showed no such advantage in selective processing under arousal. These age differences could not be attributed to changes in the arousal response or less neural distinctiveness in old age. Rather, our results suggest that, relative to young adults, older adults become less effective at focusing on salient over non-salient details during increases in emotional arousal.

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Age Differences in the Social Associative Learning of Trust Information

10.31234/osf.io/b38rd ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Kendra Leigh Seaman ◽

Alexander P. Christensen ◽

Katherine Senn ◽

Jessica Cooper ◽

Brittany Shane Cassidy

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Social Cues ◽

Trust Game ◽

Time Model ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Cortical Areas ◽

Age Related ◽

The Social ◽

Over Time

Trust is a key component of social interaction. Older adults, however, often exhibit excessive trust relative to younger adults. One explanation is that older adults may learn to trust differently than younger adults. Here, we examine how younger (N=33) and older adults (N=30) learn to trust over time. Participants completed a classic iterative trust game with three partners. Younger and older adults shared similar amounts but differed in how they shared money. Compared to younger adults, older adults invested more with untrustworthy partners and less with trustworthy partners. As a group, older adults displayed less learning than younger adults. However, computational modeling shows that this is because older adults are more likely to forget what they have learned over time. Model-based fMRI analyses revealed several age-related differences in neural processing. Younger adults showed prediction error signals in social processing areas while older adults showed over-recruitment of several cortical areas. Collectively, these findings suggest that older adults attend to and learn from social cues differently from younger adults.

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Adult age differences in subjective responses to dynamic socioemotional incentives

10.31234/osf.io/4u3kc ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sade J Abiodun ◽

Galen McAllister ◽

Gregory Russell Samanez-Larkin ◽

Kendra Leigh Seaman

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Emotional Valence ◽

Incentive Motivation ◽

Social Signals ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Positivity Effect ◽

Adult Age ◽

Age Related ◽

Adult Age Differences

Facial expressions are powerful communicative social signals that motivate feelings and action in the observer. However, research on incentive motivation has overwhelmingly focused on money and points and the limited research on social incentives has been mostly focused on responses in young adulthood. Previous research on the age-related positivity effect and adult age differences in social motivation suggest that older adults might experience higher levels of positive arousal to socioemotional stimuli than younger adults. Affect ratings following dynamic emotional expressions (anger, happiness, sadness) varying in magnitude of expression showed that higher magnitude expressions elicited higher arousal and valence ratings. Older adults did not differ significantly in levels of arousal when compared to younger adults, however their ratings of emotional valence were significantly higher as the magnitude of expressions increased. The findings provide novel evidence that socioemotional incentives may be relatively more reinforcing as adults age. More generally, these dynamic socioemotional stimuli that vary in magnitude are ideal for future studies of more naturalistic affect elicitation, studies of social incentive processing, and use in incentive-driven choice tasks.

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Age Differences in the Required Coefficient of Friction During Level Walking Do Not Exist When Experimentally-Controlling Speed and Step Length

Journal of Applied Biomechanics ◽

10.1123/jab.2013-0275 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 542-546 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Dennis E. Anderson ◽

Christopher T. Franck ◽

Michael L. Madigan

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Coefficient Of Friction ◽

Age Groups ◽

Step Length ◽

Age Difference ◽

Age Related ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Independent Effects ◽

Positive Effect

The effects of gait speed and step length on the required coefficient of friction (COF) confound the investigation of age-related differences in required COF. The goals of this study were to investigate whether age differences in required COF during self-selected gait persist when experimentally-controlling speed and step length, and to determine the independent effects of speed and step length on required COF. Ten young and 10 older healthy adults performed gait trials under five gait conditions: self-selected, slow and fast speeds without controlling step length, and slow and fast speeds while controlling step length. During self-selected gait, older adults walked with shorter step lengths and exhibited a lower required COF. Older adults also exhibited a lower required COF when walking at a controlled speed without controlling step length. When both age groups walked with the same speed and step length, no age difference in required COF was found. Thus, speed and step length can have a large influence on studies investigating age-related differences in required COF. It was also found that speed and step length have independent and opposite effects on required COF, with step length having a strong positive effect on required COF, and speed having a weaker negative effect.

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USING VR FOR NAVIGATION ASSESSMENT IN OLDER ADULTS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.896 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S240-S240

Author(s):

Scott Moffat

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Large Scale ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Science Research ◽

Later Life ◽

Functional Independence ◽

Spatial Strategies ◽

Age Related ◽

Field Of Inquiry

Abstract There has been a long tradition of wayfinding and orienteering studies in humans but these have mostly neglected possible age-related differences in navigation. This field of inquiry is experiencing something of a resurgence of interest due to the development of VR technology which has brought the systematic study of large scale navigation into the laboratory and into the MRI scanning environment. Empirical studies to date identify navigation as an aspect of cognition that is vulnerable to the aging process. Functional and structural neuroimaging studies in humans suggest that age-related changes in the brain’s “navigation circuit” may underlie these behavioral age differences. Older adults also adopt unique spatial strategies and knowledge of these strategy preferences could enlighten both basic science research in spatial cognition and also inform the development of age-specific technological assistance that may extend functional independence of older adults into later life.

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ANGER, LOVE, SADNESS: DO EMOTION WORDS HAVE THE SAME SEMANTIC MEANING ACROSS AGE-GROUPS?

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.3099 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S841-S842

Author(s):

Madeline J Nichols ◽

Jennifer A Bellingtier ◽

Frances Buttelmann

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Language Use ◽

Age Groups ◽

Past Research ◽

Semantic Meaning ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Emotion Words ◽

Emotion Word ◽

Age Related

Abstract Every day we use emotion words to describe our experiences, but past research finds that the meanings of these words can vary. Furthermore, historical shifts in language use and experiential knowledge of the emotions may contribute to age-differences in what these emotion words convey. We examined age-related differences in the valence, arousal, and expression connoted by the words anger, love, and sadness. We predicted age-related differences in the semantic meanings of the words would emerge such that older adults would more clearly differentiate the positivity/negativity of the words, whereas younger adults would report higher endorsement for the conveyed arousal and expression. Participants included American and German older adults (N=61; mean age=68.98) and younger adults (N=77; mean age=20.77). Using the GRID instrument (Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, 2013), they rated each emotion word for its valence, arousal, and expression when used by a speaker of the participant’s native language. Across emotions and dimensions, older adults were generally more moderate in their understanding of emotion words. For example, German older adults rated anger and sadness as suggesting the speaker felt less bad and more good than the younger adults. American older adults rated love as connoting the speaker felt more bad and less good than younger adults. Arousal ratings were higher for German younger, as opposed to older, adults. Cultural differences were most pronounced for sadness such that German participants gave more moderate answers than American participants. Overall, our research suggests that there are age-related differences in the understanding of emotion words.

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Age Differences in Risk and Resilience Factors in COVID-19-Related Stress

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbaa120 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ann Pearman ◽

MacKenzie L Hughes ◽

Emily L Smith ◽

Shevaun D Neupert

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Online Survey ◽

The United States ◽

Proactive Coping ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Resilience Factors ◽

Related Stress ◽

Middle Aged Adults

Abstract Objectives Older adults are at higher risk for death and infirmity from COVID-19 than younger and middle-aged adults. The current study examines COVID-19-specific anxiety and proactive coping as potential risk and resilience factors that may be differentially important for younger and older adults in understanding stress experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Five hundred and fifteen adults aged 20–79 years in the United States reported on their anxiety about developing COVID-19, proactive coping, and stress related to COVID-19 in an online survey. Results Although there were no age differences in stress levels, anxiety about developing COVID-19 was associated with more COVID-19 stress for older adults relative to younger adults, but proactive coping was associated with less COVID-19 stress for older adults relative to younger adults. Discussion Our results suggest that anxiety might function as a risk factor, whereas proactive coping may function as a resilience factor for older adults’ COVID-19 stress. We encourage future context-dependent investigations into mental health among older adults during this pandemic and beyond.

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Situation model updating in young and older adults

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025419874125 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 016502541987412

Author(s):

Lara Hoeben Mannaert ◽

Katinka Dijkstra

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Language Comprehension ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Model Updating ◽

Situation Model ◽

Future Research ◽

Situation Models ◽

The Past ◽

Age Related

Over the past decade or so, developments in language comprehension research in the domain of cognitive aging have converged on support for resilience in older adults with regard to situation model updating when reading texts. Several studies have shown that even though age-related declines in language comprehension appear at the level of the surface form and text base of the text, these age differences do not apply to the creation and updating of situation models. In fact, older adults seem more sensitive to certain manipulations of situation model updating. This article presents a review of theories on situation model updating as well how they match with research on situation model updating in younger and older adults. Factors that may be responsible for the resilience of language comprehension in older age will be discussed as well as avenues for future research.

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Age Differences in the Efficiency of Filtering and Ignoring Distraction in Visual Working Memory

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10080556 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 556

Author(s):

Mariana R. Maniglia ◽

Alessandra S. Souza

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Visual Working Memory ◽

Age Differences ◽

Visual Information ◽

Healthy Aging ◽

Age Related ◽

Continuous Scale ◽

Single Feature

Healthy aging is associated with decline in the ability to maintain visual information in working memory (WM). We examined whether this decline can be explained by decreases in the ability to filter distraction during encoding or to ignore distraction during memory maintenance. Distraction consisted of irrelevant objects (Exp. 1) or irrelevant features of an object (Exp. 2). In Experiment 1, participants completed a spatial WM task requiring remembering locations on a grid. During encoding or during maintenance, irrelevant distractor positions were presented. In Experiment 2, participants encoded either single-feature (colors or orientations) or multifeature objects (colored triangles) and later reproduced one of these features using a continuous scale. In multifeature blocks, a precue appeared before encoding or a retrocue appeared during memory maintenance indicating with 100% certainty to the to-be-tested feature, thereby enabling filtering and ignoring of the irrelevant (not-cued) feature, respectively. There were no age-related deficits in the efficiency of filtering and ignoring distractor objects (Exp. 1) and of filtering irrelevant features (Exp. 2). Both younger and older adults could not ignore irrelevant features when cued with a retrocue. Overall, our results provide no evidence for an aging deficit in using attention to manage visual WM.

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Age Differences in Negative, but Not Positive, Rumination

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbz109 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 75 (1) ◽

pp. 80-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lisa Emery ◽

Anne Sorrell ◽

Cassidy Miles

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Age Differences ◽

Strong Evidence ◽

Null Hypothesis ◽

Bayesian Analyses ◽

Repetitive Thought ◽

Age Related ◽

Positive Rumination

Abstract Objectives The main objective of this study was to determine whether there are age differences in positive and negative repetitive thought (ie, rumination). Method Young adults (ages 19–39; n = 114) and older adults (ages 60–85; n = 88) completed measures of negative and positive rumination. Bayesian analyses were used to determine whether age differences were present for both negative (young > old) and positive (old > young) rumination. Results There was extremely strong evidence for age differences in negative rumination, with lower scores in older adults. In contrast, the evidence was in favor of the null hypothesis for positive rumination. Discussion Age-related positivity is better characterized as decreased dwelling on the meaning of negative moods, rather than increased attention to positive ones.

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