Social interactions and physical symptoms in daily life: quality matters for older adults, quantity matters for younger adults

Abstract Using two studies, we examined the late life prevalence and health consequences of discrete positive emotions posited to motivate rest and recovery (calmness) or pursuit of novelty and stimulation (excitement). Study 1 assessed the salience of these discrete emotions in older adults (n=73, Mage=73) relative to younger adults (n=73, Mage=23) over a one-week period. Multilevel models showed that older (vs. younger) adults reported higher calmness and lower excitement. Study 2 examined the longitudinal health consequences of calmness and excitement in old age (n=336, Mage=75), as moderated by perceived control. Multilevel growth models showed that calmness, but not excitement, buffered against 10-year declines in psychological well-being (perceived stress, depressive symptoms) and physical health (physical symptoms, chronic conditions) for older adults with low perceived control. Results suggest that positive emotions with disparate motivational functions become more (calmness) or less (excitement) salient and have diverging implications for health in old age.

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EASILY ACCESSIBLE EVALUATIVE INFORMATION COULD FACILITATE OLDER ADULTS’ (BUT NOT ALL) TRUSTWORTHINESS JUDGEMENT

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.3144 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S855-S855

Author(s):

Linlin Chen ◽

Xin Zhang

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Memory Load ◽

Economic Status ◽

Investment Decisions ◽

Facial Appearance ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Facial Cues ◽

Correction Rate ◽

Small Subgroup

Abstract Facial appearance served great function in social interactions, especially for older adults in making trustworthiness judgements. Previous literatures have consistently shown that when making trustworthiness judgements older adults tended to rely more on facial cues rather than behaviors, due to declines in cognition. However, one question remains unsolved, whether older adults could make accurate trustworthiness judgements if evaluative information (with minimal memory load) is easily accessible. Sixty younger adults (YAs) and sixty older adults (OAs) were recruited, and asked to make investment decisions for different brokers in ninety-six trials. In each trial, brokers’ facial appearance (trustworthy and untrustworthy looking) and different behavioral evaluative information (good: Ninety percent positive evaluations, neutral: Fifty percent positive evaluations, bad: Ninety percent negative evaluations) were displayed simultaneously on screen to facilitate investment decisions. Brokers’ facial appearances and behaviors were set to be independent to each other. The results indicated that YAs’ and the majority of OAs’ proportions of correct investment increase, gradually reaching a stable high correction rate, although OAs needed more trials than did YAs. The findings extended prior work by suggesting that both OAs and YAs had similar abilities to distinguish different brokers according to easily accessible evaluative information. However, and surprisingly, a small subgroup of OAs (with low economic status) still had a lower correction rate even after ninety-six trials, suggesting that they could not distinguish brokers based on their evaluations at all, who might be at risk for fraud.

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How Is Daily Social Interaction Related to Loneliness in Older Adults? The Roles of Trait Loneliness and Personality

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.1778 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 461-462

Author(s):

Ruixue Zhaoyang ◽

Stacey Scott ◽

Karra Harrington ◽

Martin Sliwinski

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Multilevel Models ◽

Daily Life ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

The Past ◽

Aging Study ◽

Ecological Momentary ◽

Community Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract Loneliness is prevalent among older adults and is associated with increased risks for morbidity and mortality. This study examined what types of social interactions could reduce loneliness for older adults and who would benefit the most from social interactions. We used data from 312 community-dwelling older adults (aged 70 to 90 years) who completed ecological momentary assessments (EMA) five times a day for 16 consecutive days using smartphones (n=20,507 reports), as part of the ongoing Einstein Aging Study (EAS). At each EMA, participants reported their social interactions in the past 3 to 4 hours and their current feelings of loneliness. Results from multilevel models revealed that older adults reported lower levels of loneliness on occasions when they had pleasant social interactions (p<.000) or interactions with family (p=.001) in the past few hours, compared with occasions when they had no social interaction. In contrast, they reported higher levels of loneliness if they had unpleasant social interactions in the past few hours (p=.004). These within-person (WP) effects of social interactions on momentary loneliness were significantly moderated by participants’ trait levels of loneliness and neuroticism; and were significantly stronger among those with higher (vs. lower) trait loneliness (ps <.001) or neuroticism (ps <.042). Other personality traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) did not moderate any WP association. These results highlight the importance of having pleasant social interactions and frequent interactions with family for reducing older adults’ loneliness in daily life, especially for those higher in trait loneliness and neuroticism.

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Age-Related Differences in the Perception of Eye-Gaze from a Social Robot

10.31234/osf.io/n2fqg ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lucas Morillo Mendez ◽

Martien GS Schrooten ◽

Amy Loutfi ◽

Oscar Martinez Mozos

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Perception ◽

Daily Life ◽

Social Robots ◽

Human Robot Interaction ◽

Facilitation Effect ◽

Verbal Cues ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Wide Range

The sensibility to deictic gaze declines naturally with age and often results in reduced social perception. Thus, the increasing efforts in developing social robots that assist older adults during daily life tasks need to consider the effects of aging. In this context, as non-verbal cues such as deictic gaze are important in natural communication in human-robot interaction, this paper investigates the performance of older adults, as compared to younger adults, during a controlled, online (visual search) task inspired by daily life activities, while assisted by a social robot.This paper also examines age-related differences in social perception. Our results showed a significant facilitation effect of head movement representing deictic gaze from a Pepper robot on task performance. This facilitation effect was not significantly different between the age groups. However, social perception of the robot was less influenced by its deictic gaze behavior in older adults, as compared to younger adults. This line of research may ultimately help informing the design of adaptive non-verbal cues from social robots for a wide range of end users.

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Daily social interactions related to daily performance on mobile cognitive tests among older adults

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0256583 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (8) ◽

pp. e0256583

Author(s):

Ruixue Zhaoyang ◽

Stacey B. Scott ◽

Lynn M. Martire ◽

Martin J. Sliwinski

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Older Adults ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Behavioral Interventions ◽

Daily Life ◽

Cognitive Tests

The lack of social contact or good social relationships has been linked with cognitive decline and higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. One important but unexamined question is how daily social interactions relate to older adults’ cognitive function in daily life. The present study examined how changes in daily social interactions related to fluctuations in older adults’ performance on mobile cognitive tests from day to day. Using an ecological momentary assessments approach, 312 older adults (aged 70 to 90 years) completed surveys on social interactions and mobile cognitive tests five times a day for 16 consecutive days using smartphones. Multilevel modeling was used for analyses. Results demonstrated that having more daily social interactions, especially more pleasant social interactions, related to better cognitive performance the same day and over the subsequent two days. Cognitive performance, however, did not predict subsequent changes in social interactions across days. At the between-person level, older adults who had more (vs. less) frequent interactions with close partners on average, especially with their friends, had better cognitive performance. Finally, the average levels of social interactions also moderated the within-person associations between daily social interactions and the same-day cognitive performance. In sum, results from this study highlight the importance of having pleasant social interactions and frequent interactions with friends for older adults’ cognitive function in daily life, and have important implications for future behavioral interventions targeting certain features of daily social interactions to reduce risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

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THE IMPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS FOR OLDER ADULTS’ EXPERIENCES OF WELL-BEING IN DAILY LIFE

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.053 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S15-S15

Author(s):

Shannon T Mejia ◽

Shelbie Turner ◽

Karen Hooker

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Daily Life ◽

Communication Technologies ◽

Well Being ◽

Random Coefficient Models ◽

Social Partners ◽

Personal Understanding

Abstract Digital communication technologies expand opportunities for social interactions and as a result have the potential to either amplify or dampen the coupling of social interactions with well-being in daily life. We use data from the 100-day Personal Understanding of Life and Social Experiences project (n = 99, age = 50 – 88) to examine variation in the sensitivity of older adults’ daily reports of well-being to the quality of social interactions with their five closest social partners across digital (email/social media) and analogue (in person/by phone) interactions. Digital interactions were more common among less-close social partners. Multilevel random coefficient models showed days with more digital interactions than normal to be characterized by a) lower well-being and b) less sensitivity in well-being to the quality of social interactions with close social partners on that day. The implications of our findings are discussed within a life-span perspective of social relationships and well-being.

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Daily Cognitive Difficulties and Social Experiences Among Older Adults

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.2594 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 697-697

Author(s):

Ruixue Zhaoyang ◽

Jacqueline Mogle ◽

Karra Harrington ◽

Martin Sliwinski

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Social Engagement ◽

Social Life ◽

Multilevel Models ◽

Daily Life ◽

Well Being ◽

Social Experiences ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Cognitive Difficulties

Abstract Self-reported cognitive difficulties are common in older adults and may be an early indicator of future cognitive decline or dementia. In past retrospective reports, cognitive difficulties have been linked with differences in social engagement or social relationships among older adults. However, little is known about how self-reported cognitive difficulties in daily life, such as memory lapses, relate to older adults’ daily social experiences. This study examined how self-reported cognitive difficulties were related to older adults’ daily social interactions and loneliness. Data were drawn from 312 community-dwelling older adults (aged 70 to 90 years) who reported their social interactions and loneliness throughout the day (five times) as well as cognitive difficulties (e.g., memory lapses, problems with attention) at the end of each day for 14 days. Multilevel models revealed that participants reported fewer memory lapses on days when they reported more frequent interactions with family members (p=.041). Higher levels of disruptions to daily activities caused by cognitive difficulties, in turn, predicted higher levels of loneliness the next day (p=.006), but not changes in social interactions the next day. At the between-person level, more memory lapses in daily life were associated with less frequent social interactions with friends, but more frequent unpleasant social interactions and higher levels of loneliness on average. These results suggest that older adults’ self-reported cognitive difficulties were dynamically associated with their social interactions and loneliness at the daily level and played an important role in older adults’ social life and well-being.

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Older Adults Show Less Flexible Spatial Cue Use When Navigating in a Virtual Reality Environment Compared With Younger Adults

Neuroscience Insights ◽

10.1177/2633105519896803 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

pp. 263310551989680 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kazushige Kimura ◽

James F Reichert ◽

Debbie M Kelly ◽

Zahra Moussavi

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Virtual Reality ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Daily Life ◽

Virtual Reality Environment ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Spatial Properties ◽

Cue Use ◽

Spatial Changes ◽

Human Adults

Daily life requires accurate navigation, and thus better understanding of aging on navigational abilities is critical. Importantly, the use of spatial properties by older and younger adults remains unclear. During this study, younger and older human adults were presented with a virtual environment in which they had to navigate a series of hallways. The hallways provided 2 general types of spatial information: geometric, which included distance and directional turns along a learned route, and featural, which included landmarks situated along the route. To investigate how participants used these different cue types, geometric and/or landmark information was manipulated during testing trials. Data from 40 younger (20 women) and 40 older (20 women) adults were analyzed. Our findings suggest that (1) both younger and older adults relied mostly on landmarks to find their way, and (2) younger adults were better able to adapt to spatial changes to the environment compared with older adults.

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Daily Social Interactions as a Route to Purposeful Days in Older Adulthood

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.820 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 214-214

Author(s):

Gabrielle Pfund ◽

Mathias Allemand ◽

Matthias Hofer

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Employment Status ◽

Multilevel Models ◽

Daily Life ◽

Relationship Status ◽

Health Issues ◽

Older Adulthood ◽

Reduced Risk

Abstract Sense of purpose predicts slower cognitive decline, reduced risk for health issues, and greater longevity (Pfund & Lewis, 2020). However, work is limited regarding how we can help older adults maintain purposefulness in daily life. The current study explored positive daily social interactions as a route to daily purposefulness in older adults, using a measurement burst design. Older adults completed surveys for five-day bursts spread six months apart (Mean age = 70.75, SD = 7.23; n = 104). Multilevel models demonstrated that on days when individuals reported more positive social interactions, they reported feeling more purposeful (b = 0.39, 95% CI [0.28, 0.51]) when accounting for health, employment, and relationship status. Employment status moderated this association, as daily social interactions were more strongly associated with daily purpose for unemployed/retired individuals (b = -0.23, 95% CI [-0.38, -0.08]). Positive social interactions thus may help older adults maintain purposefulness, particularly after retirement.

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Cognitive Load Affects Speech Motor Performance Differently in Older and Younger Adults

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2018_jslhr-s-17-0222 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

pp. 1258-1277 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Megan K. MacPherson

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Motor Performance ◽

Age Groups ◽

Incongruent Condition ◽

Sentence Production ◽

Movement Duration ◽

Production Task ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Speech Motor

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive load imposed by a speech production task on the speech motor performance of healthy older and younger adults. Response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory were the primary cognitive processes of interest.MethodTwelve healthy older and 12 healthy younger adults produced multiple repetitions of 4 sentences containing an embedded Stroop task in 2 cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent. The incongruent condition, which required participants to suppress orthographic information to say the font colors in which color words were written, represented an increase in cognitive load relative to the congruent condition in which word text and font color matched. Kinematic measures of articulatory coordination variability and movement duration as well as a behavioral measure of sentence production accuracy were compared between groups and conditions and across 3 sentence segments (pre-, during-, and post-Stroop).ResultsIncreased cognitive load in the incongruent condition was associated with increased articulatory coordination variability and movement duration, compared to the congruent Stroop condition, for both age groups. Overall, the effect of increased cognitive load was greater for older adults than younger adults and was greatest in the portion of the sentence in which cognitive load was manipulated (during-Stroop), followed by the pre-Stroop segment. Sentence production accuracy was reduced for older adults in the incongruent condition.ConclusionsIncreased cognitive load involving response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory processes within a speech production task disrupted both the stability and timing with which speech was produced by both age groups. Older adults' speech motor performance may have been more affected due to age-related changes in cognitive and motoric functions that result in altered motor cognition.

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