scholarly journals Sensorimotor-Cognitive Couplings in the Context of Assistive Spatial Navigation for Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schellenbach ◽  
Martin Lövdén ◽  
Julius Verrel ◽  
Antonio Krüger ◽  
Ulman Lindenberger
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Cognitive Demand ◽  
Spatial Processing ◽  
Assistive Device ◽  
Cognitive Demands ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age

With advancing adult age, sensorimotor functioning, spatial processing, and the motivation to explore new environments decline, leading to impaired spatial navigation skills. Using a controlled virtual-world laboratory equipped with a treadmill interface, we examined how assistive navigation technologies differing in cognitive demand affect walking regularity and navigation performance in younger and older adults. Relative to an assistive device with low cognitive demands, older, but not younger adults’ navigation performance decreased with a cognitively more demanding device. Furthermore, older adults showed higher gait irregularity than younger adults, especially with the cognitively demanding device. We conclude that assistive navigation devices show promise in supporting older adults’ pedestrian mobility if aging-induced increments in cognitive demands of spatial navigation and postural control are considered.

scholarly journals Adult age differences in subjective responses to dynamic socioemotional incentives

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.

scholarly journals Mental Health and Social Connectedness Across the Adult Lifespan in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Madeline A. Gregory ◽  
Nicole K. Legg ◽  
Zachary Senay ◽  
Jamie-Lee Barden ◽  
Peter Phiri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age

Abstract The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has had profound consequences on collective mental health and well-being, and yet, older adults appear better off than younger adults. The current study examined mental health impacts of the pandemic across adult age groups in a large sample (n = 5,320) of Canadians using multiple hierarchical regression analyses. Results suggest older adults are experiencing better mental health and more social connectedness relative to younger adults. Loneliness predicted negative mental health outcomes across all age groups, while the negative association between social support and mental health was only significant at average and high levels of loneliness in the 65–69 age group. Results point towards differential mental health impacts of the pandemic across adult age groups and indicate that loneliness and social support may be key intervention targets during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research should further examine mechanisms of resiliency among older Canadian adults during the pandemic.

scholarly journals Adult age differences in frequency estimations of happy and angry faces

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Negative Events ◽  
High Likelihood ◽  
Social Signals ◽  
Positive Events ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Social Events ◽  
The Difference

With increasing age, the ratio of gains to losses becomes more negative, which is reflected in expectations that positive events occur with a high likelihood in young adulthood, whereas negative events occur with a high likelihood in old age. Little is known about expectations of social events. Given that younger adults are motivated to establish new social relations, they should be vigilant towards signals of opportunities for socializing, such as smiling faces. Older adults, who are particularly motivated to avoid negative encounters, should be vigilant towards negative social signals, such as angry faces. Thus, younger adults should overestimate the occurrence of positive social signals, whereas older adults should overestimate the occurrence of negative social signals. Two studies (Study 1: n = 91 younger and n = 89 older adults; Study 2: n = 50 younger and n = 50 older adults) partly supported these hypotheses using frequency estimates of happy and angry faces. Although both younger and older adults overestimated the frequency of angry compared to happy faces, the difference was significantly more pronounced for older adults.

Understanding Adult Age Differences in the Frequency of Problems With Friends

2016 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-179
Author(s):  
Leo Schlosnagle ◽  
JoNell Strough
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Friendship Quality ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Frequent Contact ◽  
Contact Frequency ◽  
Adult Age Differences ◽  
Significant Mediator

We investigated characteristics of younger and older adults’ friendships. Younger ( N = 39) and older ( N = 39) adults completed measures pertaining to a specific friend they had (i.e., contact frequency, positive friendship quality, and negative friendship quality) and their frequency of problems with friends in general. Older adults reported fewer problems with friends in general, and fewer negative friendship qualities, less frequent contact, and more positive friendship qualities with a specific friend than younger adults. Contact frequency, positive friendship quality, and negative friendship quality with a specific friend were related to frequency of problems with friends in general, but only contact frequency was a significant mediator of the relation between age and frequency of problems with friends in general. Results show that characteristics of a specific friendship relate to problems with friends in general, and that contact frequency with a specific friend mediates the relation between age and problems with friends in general. Implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Depth of Processing and Text Recall in Adulthood

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger A. Dixon ◽  
Alexander von Eye
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Deep Processing ◽  
Depth Of Processing ◽  
Aging Research ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Intentional Condition ◽  
Better Than

The depth of processing model suggests that incidental learning occurs at various “depths” corresponding to the degree of semantic analysis. Because deep processing is associated with improved recall, and because older adults generally perform at a lower level than younger adults, this model has been applied to aging research. The present study examined the validity of this model by comparing a sample of three German adult age groups with a similar sample in an earlier American study. Specifically, subjects read a 500-word narrative under one of four conditions: (a) a shallow, nonsemantic orienting task; (b) and (c) two deep, semantic orienting tasks; or (d) an intentional condition. Results indicated that, overall, younger adults performed better than older adults, that recall in the intentional condition was significantly better than in the two deep processing conditions, and recall in these conditions was better than in the shallow condition. Cross-sample comparisons and subsequent implications for the validity of the model are discussed.

Age, Sex, and STEM Education Influence Spatial Processing Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 1224-1228
Author(s):  
Alexis R. Neigel ◽  
Shannon K.T. Bailey ◽  
James L. Szalma ◽  
Valerie K. Sims
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Spatial Abilities ◽  
Spatial Processing ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
The Cross ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Relationship

Previous research has demonstrated that individual differences can influence spatial processing performance. In the present study, the relationship between age, sex, and participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) coursework was examined in relation to two types of spatial abilities: mental rotation and cross-sectioning performance. Fifty-one younger adults and twelve older adults (both STEM and non-STEM majors) completed paper-and-pencil-based versions of each test. The results indicated that older adults holding a STEM degree outperformed STEM younger adults and all non-STEM majors on the cross-sectioning test and committed fewer errors related to perspective-taking on this test. Men outperformed women on both spatial ability measures, but this was not significant. Women also made more errors in perspective-taking on the cross-sectioning test, which lowered their cross- sectioning scores. The results indicate that specific spatial abilities may be retained in older age based on educational background.

Younger Adults Can Be More Suggestible than Older Adults: The Influence of Learning Differences on Misinformation Reporting

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammy A. Marche ◽  
Jason J. Jordan ◽  
Keith P. Owre
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Learning Condition ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Misleading Information ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Initial Learning ◽  
Criterion Learning ◽  
The One

ABSTRACTThe aim of the present investigation was to determine whether differences in the strength of original information influence adult age differences in susceptibility to misinformation. One-half of the younger and older adults watched a slide sequence once (one-trial learning) that depicted a theft, whereas the remaining participants viewed the slide sequence repeatedly to ensure that all critical details were encoded (criterion learning). Three weeks later and immediately prior to final testing, participants were asked questions that contained misleading information. As expected, the degree of initial learning influenced age differences in misinformation reporting. That is, when event memory was poorer for older than younger adults (in the criterion learning condition), older adults were more susceptible to misinformation than younger adults. However, when memory of the event was poor (in the one-trial learning condition), the younger adults reported more misled details than the older adults, possibly because the younger adults had better memory for the misleading information. Therefore, strength of initial memory influences the extent and direction of adult suggestibility and helps explain the discrepancy found across studies in this area.

scholarly journals Memory Guides the Comprehension of Event Changes for Older and Younger Adults

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher N. Wahlheim ◽  
Jeffrey M. Zacks
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Cued Recall ◽  
Final Recall ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Adult Age ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Memory Disruption ◽  
Waking Up ◽  
Differential Deficit

AbstractTwo experiments examined adult age differences in the use of memory to comprehend changes in everyday activities. Participants viewed movies depicting an actor performing activities on two fictive days in her life. Some activities were repeated across days, other activities were repeated with a changed feature (e.g., waking up to an alarm clock or a phone alarm), and a final set of activities was performed on Day 2 only. After a one-week delay, participants completed a cued recall test for the activities of Day 2. Unsurprisingly, exact repetition boosted final recall. More surprising, features that changed from Day 1 to Day 2 were remembered approximately as well as features that were only presented on Day 2—showing an absence of proactive interference and in some cases proactive facilitation. Proactive facilitation was strongly related to participants’ ability to detect and recollect the changes. Younger adults detected and recollected more changes than older adults, which in part explained older adults’ differential deficit in memory for changed activity features. We propose that this pattern may reflect observers’ use of episodic memory to make predictions during the experience of a new activity, and that when predictions fail, this triggers processing that benefits subsequent episodic memory. Disruption of this chain of processing could play a role in age-related episodic memory deficits.

scholarly journals Older Adults Show Reduced Spatial Precision but Preserved Strategy-Use During Spatial Navigation Involving Body-Based Cues

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. McAvan ◽  
Yu Karen Du ◽  
Alexis Oyao ◽  
Stephanie Doner ◽  
Matthew D. Grilli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Spatial Memories ◽  
Target Locations ◽  
Virtual Morris Water Maze

Older adults typically perform worse on spatial navigation tasks, although whether this is due to degradation of memory or an impairment in using specific strategies has yet to be determined. An issue with some past studies is that older adults are tested on desktop-based virtual reality: a technology many report lacking familiarity with. Even when controlling for familiarity, these paradigms reduce the information-rich, three-dimensional experience of navigating to a simple two-dimensional task that utilizes a mouse and keyboard (or joystick) as means for ambulation. Here, we utilize a wireless head-mounted display and free ambulation to create a fully immersive virtual Morris water maze in which we compare the navigation of older and younger adults. Older and younger adults learned the locations of hidden targets from same and different start points. Across different conditions tested, older adults remembered target locations less precisely compared to younger adults. Importantly, however, they performed comparably from the same viewpoint as a switched viewpoint, suggesting that they could generalize their memory for the location of a hidden target given a new point of view. When we implicitly moved one of the distal cues to determine whether older adults used an allocentric (multiple landmarks) or beaconing (single landmark) strategy to remember the hidden target, both older and younger adults showed comparable degrees of reliance on allocentric and beacon cues. These findings support the hypothesis that while older adults have less precise spatial memories, they maintain the ability to utilize various strategies when navigating.

scholarly journals 20 Optic Flow Stimuli Effects on Standing Balance in Young and Older People with Low and High Fall Risk

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. iv6-iv8
Author(s):  
Daina Sturnieks ◽  
Brandon Tan ◽  
Michela Persiani ◽  
Matthew Brodie ◽  
Stephen Lord
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Postural Control ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Fall Risk ◽  
Center Of Pressure ◽  
Radial Expansion ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Falls Risk ◽  
Increased Risk

Abstract Introduction Optic flow stimuli can destabilise postural control, especially those with increased visual field dependence. This study aimed to examine the effects of optic flow stimuli on postural stability between: 1) younger and older adults; and 2) low-falls-risk and high-falls-risk older adults. Methods 76 participants were grouped into ‘young’ (20-40 years, n=25), and ‘old’ (≥65 years, n=51); the latter was further stratified into ‘old-LFR’ (low fall risk, n=27) and ‘old-HFR’ (high fall risk, n=24). Participants stood on a force platform in a dark room with motion capture markers on the head, torso and lower limb. Optic flow stimuli were projected on a large screen encompassing the field of view as moving white dots for 30 seconds in four different conditions: radial expansion, radial contraction, circular (roll vection) anticlockwise and circular clockwise. Postural control was calculated from center of pressure (COP) and lower limb joint and trunk angles; changes between baseline (static dots) and optic flow conditions were compared between groups. Results Optic flow stimuli led young and older participants to shift their COP in the expected direction for each stimulus condition (forward for expansion, backward for contraction, left for anticlockwise, right for clockwise). For radial expansion, significantly increased anteroposterior sway was found in old-LFR and old-HFR (p≤0.001) but not \young (p≥0.17). Similar results were seen for radial contraction. For circular clockwise, significantly increase mediolateral sway was found in old-HFR (p=0.002) but not young (p=0.912) or old-LFR (p=0.749). Results differed for circular anticlockwise, with greater changes seen in anteroposterior sway compared with mediolateral, particularly in old-HFR. No stimuli by group interaction effects were seen in body kinematics. Conclusions Optic flow stimuli have a more destabilising effect on balance in older than younger adults, particularly those at increased risk of falling.

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