Effects of View of Life and Selection Bias on Emotional Memory in Old Age

GeroPsych ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christie Chung
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Emotional Memory ◽  
Positivity Effect ◽  
Picture Memory ◽  
Emotional Picture ◽  
At Home

Many studies have documented that we remember less negative information as we grow older. The present study examined the effects of view of life and selection bias on this positivity effect using an emotional picture memory task. Young adults were tested in the laboratory, and older adults were either tested in the laboratory or at home. Results confirmed a positivity effect in old age. Selection bias and view of life did not significantly influence older adults’ emotional memory as predicted. Metamemory, however, was affected by selection bias: Older adults tested in the laboratory had higher self-rated memory scores than those who tested at home.

scholarly journals Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Amico ◽  
Sabine Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

Examining Positivity Effect and Working Memory in Young-Old and Very Old Adults Using EEG-Derived Cognitive State Metrics

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1014-1035
Author(s):  
Joelle C. Ruthig ◽  
Dmitri P. Poltavski ◽  
Thomas Petros
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Cognitive State ◽  
Emotional Stimuli ◽  
Very Old ◽  
Positivity Effect ◽  
Old Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Young Old

The positivity effect among older adults is a tendency to process more positive and/or less negative emotional stimuli compared to younger adults, with unknown upper age boundaries. Cognitive and emotional working memory were assessed in young-old adults (60–75) and very old adults (VOAs; 80+) to determine whether emotional working memory declines similar to the age-related decline of cognitive working memory. The moderating role of valence on the link between age and emotional working memory was examined to identify change in positivity effect with advanced age. Electroencephalography (EEG) markers of cognitive workload and engagement were obtained to test the theory of cognitive resource allocation in older adults’ emotional stimuli processing. EEG recordings were collected during cognitive memory task and emotional working memory tasks that required rating emotional intensity of images pairs. Results indicate a positivity effect among VOAs that does not require additional cognitive effort and is not likely to diminish with age.

Consciousness is slower than you think

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 1081-1092 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Rabbitt
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Error Correction ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Choice Reaction Time ◽  
Incorrect Response ◽  
Response Signal ◽  
Subsequent Recall

In easy serial choice reaction time tasks (CRT tasks) young adults can very rapidly “correct” nearly all their errors by making the responses that they should have made (error-correcting responses). They are much less accurate at signalling their errors by making the same, deliberate, response to each (error-signalling responses), and they poorly remember errors that they have not signalled or corrected. When instructed to ignore errors they nevertheless involuntarily register them because the response immediately following them (responses following unacknowledged errors) are unusually slow, and they sometimes make involuntary error correction responses. Errors that are neither signalled nor remembered are registered at some level because responses following unacknowledged errors are slowed. Old age does not impair the accuracy of error correction or reduce the proportion of errors that are acknowledged because they are followed by unusually slow responses, but it does reduce the accuracy of error signalling and of recall of errors. Groups of 40 young adults (mean age 20.1 years, SD 1.1) and 40 older adults (mean 71.2 years, SD 5.1) signalled and recalled their errors increasingly accurately as intervals between each response and the next signal were increased from 150 ms to 1000 ms. Error signalling and recall improved as response-signal interval (RSI) durations increased, reaching asymptote at RSIs of 800 ms for the young and 1000 ms for the older adults. Thus processes necessary for conscious and deliberate choice or error-signalling responses and for subsequent recall of errors require more than 150 ms to complete, are slowed by old age, and may be interrupted by onset of new signals occurring earlier than 800 to 1000 ms after completion of an incorrect response.

scholarly journals Age-related Differences in Brain Activity during True and False Memory Retrieval

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 1390-1402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy A. Dennis ◽  
Hongkeun Kim ◽  
Roberto Cabeza
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Age Related

Compared to young adults, older adults show not only a reduction in true memories but also an increase in false memories. We investigated the neural bases of these age effects using functional magnetic resonance imaging and a false memory task that resembles the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Young and older participants were scanned during a word recognition task that included studied words and new words that were strongly associated with studied words (critical lures). During correct recognition of studied words (true memory), older adults showed weaker activity than young adults in the hippocampus but stronger activity than young adults in the retrosplenial cortex. The hippocampal reduction is consistent with age-related deficits in recollection, whereas the retrosplenial increase suggests compensatory recruitment of alternative recollection-related regions. During incorrect recognition of critical lures (false memory), older adults displayed stronger activity than young adults in the left lateral temporal cortex, a region involved in semantic processing and semantic gist. Taken together, the results suggest that older adults' deficits in true memories reflect a decline in recollection processes mediated by the hippocampus, whereas their increased tendency to have false memories reflects their reliance on semantic gist mediated by the lateral temporal cortex.

scholarly journals Preserved functional connectivity in the default mode and salience networks is associated with youthful memory in superaging

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiahe Zhang ◽  
Joseph Andreano ◽  
Bradford C. Dickerson ◽  
Alexandra Touroutoglou ◽  
Lisa Feldman Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Intrinsic Connectivity

ABSTRACT“Superagers” are older adults who, despite their advanced age, maintain youthful memory. Previous morphometry studies revealed multiple default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN) regions whose cortical thickness is preserved in superagers and correlates with memory performance. In this study, we examined the intrinsic functional connectivity within DMN and SN in 41 young (24.5 ± 3.6 years old) and 40 elderly adults (66.9 ± 5.5 years old). As in prior studies, superaging was defined as youthful performance on a memory recall task, the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Participants underwent a resting state fMRI scan and performed a separate visual-verbal recognition memory task. As predicted, within both DMN and SN, superagers had stronger connectivity compared to typical older adults and similar connectivity compared to young adults. Superagers also performed similarly to young adults and better than typical older adults on the recognition task, demonstrating youthful episodic memory that generalized across memory tasks. Stronger connectivity within each network independently predicted better performance on both the CVLT and recognition task in older adults. Variation in intrinsic connectivity explained unique variance in memory performance, above and beyond preserved neuroanatomy. A post-hoc analysis revealed that DMN and SN nodes were more strongly inversely correlated in superagers than in typical older adults but were similarly correlated in superagers and young adults. Stronger between-network inverse correlations also predicted better memory performance in the entire sample of older adults. These results extend our understanding of the neural basis of superaging as a model of successful aging.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTMemory capacity generally declines with age, but a unique group of older adults – ‘superagers’ – have memory capacities rivaling those of younger adults, as well as preserved neuroanatomy in an ensemble of regions contained in two core intrinsic brain networks – the default mode and salience networks. In this study, we assessed the strength of intrinsic connectivity within these networks in superagers and typical older adults compared to young adults. We also expanded the behavioral assessment of memory. As predicted, superagers have intrinsic connectivity within the default mode and salience networks that is stronger than typical older adults and similar to that of young adults. Within older adults, preserved intrinsic connectivity within each network was uniquely associated with better memory performance.

scholarly journals Stronger Functional Connectivity in the Default Mode and Salience Networks Is Associated With Youthful Memory in Superaging

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiahe Zhang ◽  
Joseph M Andreano ◽  
Bradford C Dickerson ◽  
Alexandra Touroutoglou ◽  
Lisa Feldman Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Default Mode

Abstract “Superagers” are older adults who, despite their advanced age, maintain youthful memory. Previous morphometry studies revealed multiple default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN) regions whose cortical thickness is greater in superagers and correlates with memory performance. In this study, we examined the intrinsic functional connectivity within DMN and SN in 41 young (24.5 ± 3.6 years old) and 40 older adults (66.9 ± 5.5 years old). Superaging was defined as youthful performance on a memory recall task, the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Participants underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan and performed a separate visual–verbal recognition memory task. As predicted, within both DMN and SN, superagers had stronger connectivity compared with typical older adults and similar connectivity compared with young adults. Superagers also performed similarly to young adults and better than typical older adults on the recognition task, demonstrating youthful episodic memory that generalized across memory tasks. Stronger connectivity within each network independently predicted better performance on both the CVLT and recognition task in older adults. Variation in intrinsic connectivity explained unique variance in memory performance, above and beyond youthful neuroanatomy. These results extend our understanding of the neural basis of superaging as a model of successful aging.

scholarly journals Heart Rate Variability Predicts Older Adults’ Avoidance of Negativity

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (8) ◽  
pp. 1679-1688
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Mantantzis ◽  
Friederike Schlaghecken ◽  
Elizabeth A Maylor
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Heart Rate ◽  
Heart Rate Variability ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Positivity Effect ◽  
Effect Magnitude

Abstract Objectives The ability to produce situation-appropriate cognitive and emotional responses is dependent on autonomic nervous system (ANS) functionality. Heart rate variability (HRV) is an index of ANS functionality, and resting HRV levels have been associated with cognitive control and inhibitory capacity in young adults, particularly when faced with emotional information. As older adults’ greater preference for positive and avoidance of negative stimuli (positivity effect) is thought to be dependent on cognitive control, we hypothesized that HRV could predict positivity-effect magnitude in older adults. Method We measured resting-level HRV and gaze preference for happy and angry (relative to neutral) faces in 63 young and 62 older adults. Results Whereas young adults showed no consistent preference for happy or angry faces, older adults showed the expected positivity effect, which predominantly manifested as negativity avoidance rather than positivity preference. Crucially, older but not young adults showed an association between HRV and gaze preference, with higher levels of HRV being specifically associated with stronger negativity avoidance. Discussion This is the first study to demonstrate a link between older adults’ ANS functionality and their avoidance of negative information. Increasing the efficiency of the cardiovascular system might selectively improve older adults’ ability to disregard negative influences.

Effects of Age on Searching for and Enumerating Targets that Cannot be Detected Efficiently

2005 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 1119-1142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derrick G. Watson ◽  
Elizabeth A. Maylor ◽  
Lucy A. M. Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Counting Function ◽  
Specific Task ◽  
Single Target ◽  
Task Differences

We investigated the effects of old age on search, subitizing, and counting of difficult-to-find targets. In Experiment 1, young and older adults enumerated targets (Os) with and without distractors (Qs). Without distractors, the usual subitization-counting function occurred in both groups, with the same subitization span of 3.3 items. Subitization disappeared with distractors; older adults were slowed more overall by their presence but enumeration rates were not slowed by ageing either with or without distractors. In contrast, search rates for a single target (O among Qs) were twice as slow for older as for young adults. Experiment 2 tested and ruled out one account of age-equivalent serial enumeration based on the need to subvocalize numbers as items are enumerated. Alternative explanations based on the specific task differences between detecting and enumerating stimuli are discussed.

scholarly journals The functional brain favours segregated modular connectivity at old age unless affected by neurodegeneration

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Chen ◽  
Joe Necus ◽  
Luis R. Peraza ◽  
Ramtin Mehraram ◽  
Yanjiang Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Dementia With Lewy Bodies ◽  
Lewy Bodies ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Functional Brain ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Universal Pattern ◽  
Shape And Size

AbstractBrain’s modular connectivity gives this organ resilience and adaptability. The ageing process alters the organised modularity of the brain and these changes are further accentuated by neurodegeneration, leading to disorganisation. To understand this further, we analysed modular variability—heterogeneity of modules—and modular dissociation—detachment from segregated connectivity—in two ageing cohorts and a mixed cohort of neurodegenerative diseases. Our results revealed that the brain follows a universal pattern of high modular variability in metacognitive brain regions: the association cortices. The brain in ageing moves towards a segregated modular structure despite presenting with increased modular heterogeneity—modules in older adults are not only segregated, but their shape and size are more variable than in young adults. In the presence of neurodegeneration, the brain maintains its segregated connectivity globally but not locally, and this is particularly visible in dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia; overall, the modular brain shows patterns of differentiated pathology.

scholarly journals Neural Reorganization and Compensation in Aging

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1275-1285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa M. Morcom ◽  
Wendy Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Functional Imaging ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Functional Reorganization ◽  
Theories Of Aging ◽  
The Brain

According to prominent theories of aging, the brain may reorganize to compensate for neural deterioration and prevent or offset cognitive decline. A frequent and striking finding in functional imaging studies is that older adults recruit additional regions relative to young adults performing the same task. This is often interpreted as evidence for functional reorganization, suggesting that, as people age, different regions or networks may support the same cognitive functions. Associations between additional recruitment and better performance in older adults have led to the suggestion that the additional recruitment may contribute to preserved cognitive function in old age and may explain some of the variation among individuals in preservation of function. However, many alternative explanations are possible, and recent findings and methodological developments have highlighted the need for more systematic approaches to determine whether reorganization occurs with age and whether it benefits performance. We reevaluate current evidence for compensatory functional reorganization in the light of recent moves to address these challenges.

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