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Meng X, Yang J, Cai AY, Ding XS, Liu W, Li H, Yuan JJ. The neural mechanisms underlying the aging-related enhancement of positive affects: electrophysiological evidences. Front Aging Neurosci 2015; 7:143. [PMID: 26300770 PMCID: PMC4527238 DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2015.00143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2015] [Accepted: 07/10/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Previous studies reported that old adults, relative to young adults, showed improvement of emotional stability and increased experiences of positive affects. Methods: In order to better understand the neural underpinnings behind the aging-related enhancement of positive affects, it is necessary to investigate whether old and young adults differ in the threshold of eliciting positive or negative emotional reactions. However, no studies have examined emotional reaction differences between old and young adults by manipulating the intensity of emotional stimuli to date. To clarify this issue, the present study examined the impact of aging on the brain’s susceptibility to affective pictures of varying emotional intensities. We recorded event-related potentials (ERP) for highly negative (HN), mildly negative (MN) and neutral pictures in the negative experimental block; and for highly positive (HP), mildly positive (MP) and neutral pictures in the positive experimental block, when young and old adults were required to count the number of pictures, irrespective of the emotionality of the pictures. Results: Event-related potentials results showed that LPP (late positive potentials) amplitudes were larger for HN and MN stimuli compared to neutral stimuli in young adults, but not in old adults. By contrast, old adults displayed larger LPP amplitudes for HP and MP relative to neutral stimuli, while these effects were absent for young adults. In addition, old adults reported more frequent perception of positive stimuli and less frequent perception of negative stimuli than young adults. The post-experiment stimulus assessment showed more positive ratings of Neutral and MP stimuli, and reduced arousal ratings of HN stimuli in old compared to young adults. Conclusion: These results suggest that old adults are more resistant to the impact of negative stimuli, while they are equipped with enhanced attentional bias for positive stimuli. The implications of these results to the aging-related enhancement of positive affects were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xianxin Meng
- School of Education, Nanyang Normal College Nanyang, China
| | - Jiemin Yang
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University Chongqing, China
| | - A Yan Cai
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University Chongqing, China
| | - Xin Sheng Ding
- School of Education, Nanyang Normal College Nanyang, China
| | - Wenwen Liu
- School of Education, Nanyang Normal College Nanyang, China
| | - Hong Li
- Research Centre for Brain Function and Psychological Science, Shenzhen University Shenzhen, China
| | - Jia Jin Yuan
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University Chongqing, China
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Gollan JK, Connolly M, Buchanan A, Hoxha D, Rosebrock L, Cacioppo J, Csernansky J, Wang X. Neural substrates of negativity bias in women with and without major depression. Biol Psychol 2015; 109:184-91. [PMID: 26073417 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2014] [Revised: 06/03/2015] [Accepted: 06/03/2015] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The functional localization of negativity bias, an influential index of emotion information processing, has yet to be identified. METHOD Depressed (n=47) and healthy participants (n=58) completed a clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders, symptom checklists, a behavioral task to measure negativity bias, and then viewed positive and negative images of social and nonsocial scenes during an event-related fMRI task. Two subsamples of participants with high (i.e., 75%; n=26) and low (i.e., 25%; n=26) negativity bias scores were as included in subsequent analyses to examine neural differences. RESULTS Depressed participants with a higher, relative to lower, negative bias showed significantly greater neural activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus. CONCLUSION High negativity bias evokes a distinctive pattern of brain activation in the frontal cortex of depressed participants. Increased activation occurred in the left inferior frontal gyrus, related to Brodmann area 44, which is associated with language and semantic processing, response inhibition, and cognitive reappraisal. This finding may reflect an abnormality in integrative emotional processing rather than processing of individual emotional dimensions in depressed participants with negativity bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jackie K Gollan
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USA.
| | - Megan Connolly
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USA
| | - Angel Buchanan
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USA
| | - Denada Hoxha
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USA
| | - Laina Rosebrock
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USA
| | - John Cacioppo
- The University of Chicago, Center for Social Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, USA
| | - John Csernansky
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, USA
| | - Xue Wang
- Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, USA
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Mindfulness Trait Predicts Neurophysiological Reactivity Associated with Negativity Bias: An ERP Study. EVIDENCE-BASED COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE 2015; 2015:212368. [PMID: 26124852 PMCID: PMC4466385 DOI: 10.1155/2015/212368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2014] [Revised: 04/22/2015] [Accepted: 05/03/2015] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
This study explored the relationship of mindfulness trait with the early and late stages of affective processing, by examining the two corresponding ERP components, P2 and LPP, collected from twenty-two male Chinese participants with a wide range of meditation experiences. Multiple regression analyses was performed on the mindfulness scores, as measured by CAMS-R, with the subjective affective ratings and ERP data collected during an emotion processing task. The results showed that increased mindfulness scores predicted increased valence ratings of negative stimuli (less negative), as well as increased P2 amplitudes at the frontocentral location for positive compared to negative stimuli. Based on these findings, a plausible mechanism of mindfulness in reducing negativity bias was discussed. Moreover, our results replicated previous findings on the age-related increase of P2 amplitudes at the frontal sites for positive compared to neutral stimuli. Since the locations at which P2 amplitudes were found as associated with age and mindfulness differed, as did the emotional contents of the stimuli being compared, indicating that the effect of age did not confound our findings on mindfulness and the two factors might operate on early affective processing from distinct sources and mechanisms.
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DeCicco JM, O'Toole LJ, Dennis TA. The late positive potential as a neural signature for cognitive reappraisal in children. Dev Neuropsychol 2015; 39:497-515. [PMID: 25350756 DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2014.959171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The late positive potential (LPP), which is reduced following the use of reappraisal, is a potential neurosignature for emotion regulation capacity. This sensitivity of the LPP to reappraisal is rarely studied in children. We tested whether, in 26 typically developing seven- to nine-year-olds, LPP amplitudes were reduced following reappraisal and whether this effect varied with age and anxiety. For the full sample, LPPs were not significantly reduced following reappraisal. As predicted, reductions in the LPP following reappraisal were greater for older children and those showing less anxiety. The utility of the LPP as a neurosignature for emotion regulatory capacity is discussed.
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Li T, Fung HH, Isaacowitz DM, Lang FR. Attention to negative emotion is related to longitudinal social network change: The moderating effect of interdependent self-construal. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 15:1079-86. [PMID: 25345604 DOI: 10.1111/ggi.12401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
AIM Many previous studies have investigated older adults' attentional preference toward different emotions. Interdependent self-construal is identified to be an important moderator of this phenomenon. However, despite the important social functions of emotions, the social consequence of older adults' emotional preferences in attention have not yet been examined. The current study tested how older adults' attentional preferences assessed in the laboratory influenced changes in their real-life social network, and how interdependent self-construal moderated this effect. METHODS A total of 45 older adults aged 60-84 years participated in an eye-tracking session that measured their attentional preference to emotional faces versus neutral faces. After that, participants completed the Self-Construal Scale. Participants' social network was then assessed by the Social Convoy Questionnaire twice over a 2-year period. RESULTS Interdependent self-construal significantly moderated the effect of attention to angry and sad faces on older adults' real-life social network changes. For older adults with a higher level of interdependent self-construal, more attention toward negative emotions was related to longitudinal decreases in the number of their emotionally close social partners. CONCLUSIONS The present study shows the important role of attentional preferences in older adults' social network maintenance. It identified a real-life macro level social outcome of a micro level laboratory phenomenon, which can be an important direction for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tianyuan Li
- Department of Psychological Studies and Center for Psychosocial Health and Aging, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China
| | - Helene H Fung
- Department of Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Derek M Isaacowitz
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Frieder R Lang
- Institute of Psychogerontology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
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Cheng Y, Chen C, Decety J. An EEG/ERP investigation of the development of empathy in early and middle childhood. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2014; 10:160-9. [PMID: 25261920 PMCID: PMC6987874 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2014.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2013] [Revised: 08/22/2014] [Accepted: 08/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Empathic arousal is the first ontogenetic building block of empathy to appear during infancy and early childhood. As development progresses, empathic arousal becomes associated with an increasing ability to differentiate between self and other, which is a critical aspect of mature empathetic ability (Decety and Jackson, 2004). This allows for better regulation of contagious distress and understanding others mental states. In the current study, we recorded electroencephalographic event-related potentials and mu suppression induced by short visual animations that depicted painful situations in 57 typically developing children aged between 3 and 9 years as well as 15 young adults. Results indicate that the difference wave of an early automatic component (N200), indexing empathic arousal, showed an age-related decrease in amplitude. In contrast, the difference wave of late-positive potentials (LPP), associated with cognitive appraisal, showed an age-related gain. Only early LPP was detected in children, whereas both early and late LPP were observed in adults. Furthermore, as compared with adults, children showed stronger mu suppression when viewing both painful and non-painful stimuli. These findings provide neurophysiological support for the development of empathy during childhood, as indicated by a gradual decrease in emotional arousal and an increase in cognitive appraisal with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yawei Cheng
- Institute of Neuroscience and Brain Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Rehabilitation, National Yang-Ming University Hospital, Yilan, Taiwan, ROC.
| | - Chenyi Chen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Brain Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
| | - Jean Decety
- Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, IL, USA
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Allard ES, Kensinger EA. Age-related differences in functional connectivity during cognitive emotion regulation. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2014; 69:852-60. [PMID: 25209373 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbu108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Successful emotion regulation partly depends on our capacity to modulate emotional responses through the use of cognitive strategies. Age may affect the strategies employed most often; thus, we examined younger and older adults' neural network connectivity when employing two different strategies: cognitive reappraisal and selective attention. METHOD The current study used psychophysiological interaction analyses to examine functional connectivity with a region of anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) because it is a core part of an emotion regulation network showing relative structural preservation with age. RESULTS Functional connectivity between ACC and prefrontal cortex (PFC) was greater for reappraisal relative to selective attention and passive viewing conditions for both age groups. For younger adults, ACC was more strongly connected with lateral dorsolateral PFC, ventrolateral PFC, dorsomedial PFC, and posterior cingulate regions during reappraisal. For older adults, stronger connectivity during reappraisal was observed primarily in ventromedial PFC and orbitofrontal cortex. DISCUSSION Our results suggest that although young and older adults engage PFC networks during regulation, and particularly during reappraisal, the regions within these networks might differ. Additionally, these results clarify that, despite prior evidence for age-related declines in the structure and function of those regions, older adults are able to recruit ACC and PFC regions as part of coherent network during emotion regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric S Allard
- Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
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Isaacowitz DM, Harris JA. Middle-aged adults facing skin cancer information: fixation, mood, and behavior. Psychol Aging 2014; 29:342-50. [PMID: 24956002 DOI: 10.1037/a0036399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Older adults fixate less on negative parts of skin cancer videos than younger adults, leading them to feel better (Isaacowitz & Choi, 2012). We extended this paradigm to middle-aged adults (ages 35-59, n = 63), whose fixation patterns were measured as they viewed skin cancer videos; mood and behavior were also assessed. Middle-aged adults looked even less at the videos than the other age groups, especially at the negative clips. They also reported the best moods but relatively low levels of learning and positive skin cancer behavior. In some cases, middle-aged adults may show larger "age-related positivity effects" than older adults.
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Mathieu NG, Gentaz E, Harquel S, Vercueil L, Chauvin A, Bonnet S, Campagne A. Brain processing of emotional scenes in aging: effect of arousal and affective context. PLoS One 2014; 9:e99523. [PMID: 24932857 PMCID: PMC4059675 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2014] [Accepted: 05/15/2014] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on emotion showed an increase, with age, in prevalence of positive information relative to negative ones. This effect is called positivity effect. From the cerebral analysis of the Late Positive Potential (LPP), sensitive to attention, our study investigated to which extent the arousal level of negative scenes is differently processed between young and older adults and, to which extent the arousal level of negative scenes, depending on its value, may contextually modulate the cerebral processing of positive (and neutral) scenes and favor the observation of a positivity effect with age. With this aim, two negative scene groups characterized by two distinct arousal levels (high and low) were displayed into two separate experimental blocks in which were included positive and neutral pictures. The two blocks only differed by their negative pictures across participants, as to create two negative global contexts for the processing of the positive and neutral pictures. The results show that the relative processing of different arousal levels of negative stimuli, reflected by LPP, appears similar between the two age groups. However, a lower activity for negative stimuli is observed with the older group for both tested arousal levels. The processing of positive information seems to be preserved with age and is also not contextually impacted by negative stimuli in both younger and older adults. For neutral stimuli, a significantly reduced activity is observed for older adults in the contextual block of low-arousal negative stimuli. Globally, our study reveals that the positivity effect is mainly due to a modulation, with age, in processing of negative stimuli, regardless of their arousal level. It also suggests that processing of neutral stimuli may be modulated with age, depending on negative context in which they are presented to. These age-related effects could contribute to justify the differences in emotional preference with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Gilles Mathieu
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (LPNC), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- LPNC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France
| | - Edouard Gentaz
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (LPNC), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- LPNC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Université de Genève, Switzerland
| | - Sylvain Harquel
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (LPNC), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- LPNC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France
- IRMaGe, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- Unité Mixte de Recherche 3552 (UMR3552), Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France
- Unité de Service 17 (US17), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Grenoble, France
- IRMaGe, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
| | - Laurent Vercueil
- Service Exploration Fonctionnelle du Système Nerveux (SEFSN), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
- Grenoble Institut of Neurosciences (GIN), Univ.Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- GIN, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Grenoble, France
- GIN, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, Grenoble, France
| | - Alan Chauvin
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (LPNC), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- LPNC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France
| | - Stéphane Bonnet
- Laboratoire d'Électronique de Technologie de l'Information (Leti), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- Leti, Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, MINATEC Campus, Grenoble, France
| | - Aurélie Campagne
- Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition (LPNC), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
- LPNC, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France
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Lakens D, Fockenberg DA, Lemmens KPH, Ham J, Midden CJH. Brightness differences influence the evaluation of affective pictures. Cogn Emot 2013; 27:1225-46. [DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2013.781501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Scheibe S, Zacher H. A Lifespan Perspective on Emotion Regulation, Stress, and Well-being in the Workplace. RESEARCH IN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND WELL-BEING 2013. [DOI: 10.1108/s1479-3555(2013)0000011010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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Effects of speaker emotional facial expression and listener age on incremental sentence processing. PLoS One 2013; 8:e72559. [PMID: 24039781 PMCID: PMC3765193 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2013] [Accepted: 07/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We report two visual-world eye-tracking experiments that investigated how and with which time course emotional information from a speaker's face affects younger (N = 32, Mean age = 23) and older (N = 32, Mean age = 64) listeners’ visual attention and language comprehension as they processed emotional sentences in a visual context. The age manipulation tested predictions by socio-emotional selectivity theory of a positivity effect in older adults. After viewing the emotional face of a speaker (happy or sad) on a computer display, participants were presented simultaneously with two pictures depicting opposite-valence events (positive and negative; IAPS database) while they listened to a sentence referring to one of the events. Participants' eye fixations on the pictures while processing the sentence were increased when the speaker's face was (vs. wasn't) emotionally congruent with the sentence. The enhancement occurred from the early stages of referential disambiguation and was modulated by age. For the older adults it was more pronounced with positive faces, and for the younger ones with negative faces. These findings demonstrate for the first time that emotional facial expressions, similarly to previously-studied speaker cues such as eye gaze and gestures, are rapidly integrated into sentence processing. They also provide new evidence for positivity effects in older adults during situated sentence processing.
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Early affective processing in patients with acute posttraumatic stress disorder: magnetoencephalographic correlates. PLoS One 2013; 8:e71289. [PMID: 23977010 PMCID: PMC3747150 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2012] [Accepted: 07/01/2013] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Background In chronic PTSD, a preattentive neural alarm system responds rapidly to emotional information, leading to increased prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation at early processing stages (<100 ms). Enhanced PFC responses are followed by a reduction in occipito-temporal activity during later processing stages. However, it remains unknown if this neuronal pattern is a result of a long lasting mental disorder or if it represents changes in brain function as direct consequences of severe trauma. Methodology The present study investigates early fear network activity in acutely traumatized patients with PTSD. It focuses on the question whether dysfunctions previously observed in chronic PTSD patients are already present shortly after trauma exposure. We recorded neuromagnetic activity towards emotional pictures in seven acutely traumatized PTSD patients between one and seven weeks after trauma exposure and compared brain responses to a balanced healthy control sample. Inverse modelling served for mapping sources of differential activation in the brain. Principal Findings Compared to the control group, acutely traumatized PTSD patients showed an enhanced PFC response to high-arousing pictures between 60 to 80 ms. This rapid prefrontal hypervigilance towards arousing pictorial stimuli was sustained during 120–300 ms, where it was accompanied by a reduced affective modulation of occipito-temporal neural processing. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the hypervigilance-avoidance pattern seen in chronic PTSD is not necessarily a product of an endured mental disorder, but arises as an almost immediate result of severe traumatisation. Thus, traumatic experiences can influence emotion processing strongly, leading to long-lasting changes in trauma network activation and expediting a chronic manifestation of maladaptive cognitive and behavioral symptoms.
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Rehmert AE, Kisley MA. Can older adults resist the positivity effect in neural responding? The impact of verbal framing on event-related brain potentials elicited by emotional images. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013; 13:949-59. [PMID: 23731435 DOI: 10.1037/a0032771] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Older adults have demonstrated an avoidance of negative information, presumably with a goal of greater emotional satisfaction. Understanding whether avoidance of negative information is a voluntary, motivated choice or an involuntary, automatic response will be important to differentiate, as decision making often involves emotional factors. With the use of an emotional framing event-related potential (ERP) paradigm, the present study investigated whether older adults could alter neural responses to negative stimuli through verbal reframing of evaluative response options. The late positive potential (LPP) response of 50 older adults and 50 younger adults was recorded while participants categorized emotional images in one of two framing conditions: positive ("more or less positive") or negative ("more or less negative"). It was hypothesized that older adults would be able to overcome a presumed tendency to down-regulate neural responding to negative stimuli in the negative framing condition, thus leading to larger LPP wave amplitudes to negative images. A similar effect was predicted for younger adults, but for positively valenced images, such that LPP responses would be increased in the positive framing condition compared with the negative framing condition. Overall, younger adults' LPP wave amplitudes were modulated by framing condition, including a reduction in the negativity bias in the positive frame. Older adults' neural responses were not significantly modulated, even though task-related behavior supported the notion that older adults were able to successfully adopt the negative framing condition.
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Hilimire MR, Mienaltowski A, Blanchard-Fields F, Corballis PM. Age-related differences in event-related potentials for early visual processing of emotional faces. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2013; 9:969-76. [PMID: 23677489 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nst071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
With advancing age, processing resources are shifted away from negative emotional stimuli and toward positive ones. Here, we explored this 'positivity effect' using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants identified the presence or absence of a visual probe that appeared over photographs of emotional faces. The ERPs elicited by the onsets of angry, sad, happy and neutral faces were recorded. We examined the frontocentral emotional positivity (FcEP), which is defined as a positive deflection in the waveforms elicited by emotional expressions relative to neutral faces early on in the time course of the ERP. The FcEP is thought to reflect enhanced early processing of emotional expressions. The results show that within the first 130 ms young adults show an FcEP to negative emotional expressions, whereas older adults show an FcEP to positive emotional expressions. These findings provide additional evidence that the age-related positivity effect in emotion processing can be traced to automatic processes that are evident very early in the processing of emotional facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew R Hilimire
- Psychology Department, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, 23187 VA, USA, Department of Psychology and Center for the Study of Lifespan Development, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, 42101 KY, USA, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332 GA, USA, and School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1142 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Andrew Mienaltowski
- Psychology Department, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, 23187 VA, USA, Department of Psychology and Center for the Study of Lifespan Development, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, 42101 KY, USA, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332 GA, USA, and School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1142 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Fredda Blanchard-Fields
- Psychology Department, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, 23187 VA, USA, Department of Psychology and Center for the Study of Lifespan Development, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, 42101 KY, USA, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332 GA, USA, and School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1142 Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Paul M Corballis
- Psychology Department, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, 23187 VA, USA, Department of Psychology and Center for the Study of Lifespan Development, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, 42101 KY, USA, School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, 30332 GA, USA, and School of Psychology, University of Auckland, 1142 Auckland, New Zealand
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Foster SM, Davis HP, Kisley MA. Brain responses to emotional images related to cognitive ability in older adults. Psychol Aging 2012; 28:179-190. [PMID: 23276213 DOI: 10.1037/a0030928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Older adults have been shown to exhibit a positivity effect in processing of emotional stimuli, seemingly focusing more on positive than negative information. Whether this reflects purposeful changes or an unintended side effect of declining cognitive abilities is unclear. For the present study, older adults displaying a wide range of cognitive abilities completed measures of attention, visual, and verbal memory; executive functioning and processing speed; as well as a socioemotional measure of time perspective. Regression analyses examined the ability of these variables to predict neural responsivity to select emotional stimuli as measured with the late positive potential (LPP), an event-related brain potential (ERP). Stronger cognitive functioning was associated with higher LPP amplitude in response to negative images (i.e., greater processing). This does not support a voluntary avoidance of negative information processing in older adults for this particular measure of attentional allocation. A model is proposed to reconcile this finding with the extant literature that has demonstrated positivity effects in measures of later, controlled attentional allocation.
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Newsome RN, Dulas MR, Duarte A. The effects of aging on emotion-induced modulations of source retrieval ERPs: evidence for valence biases. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:3370-84. [PMID: 23017596 PMCID: PMC11212073 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.09.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2012] [Revised: 07/31/2012] [Accepted: 09/13/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Many behavioral studies have shown that memory is enhanced for emotionally salient events across the lifespan. It has been suggested that this mnemonic boost may be observed for both age groups, particularly the old, in part because emotional information is retrieved with less effort than neutral information. Neuroimaging evidence suggests that inefficient retrieval processing (temporally delayed and attenuated) may contribute to age-related impairments in episodic memory for neutral events. It is not entirely clear whether emotional salience may reduce these age-related changes in neural activity associated with episodic retrieval for neutral events. Here, we investigated these ideas using event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess the neural correlates of successful source memory retrieval ("old-new effects") for neutral and emotional (negative and positive) images. Behavioral results showed that older adults demonstrated source memory impairments compared to the young but that both groups showed reduced source memory accuracy for negative compared to positive and neutral images; most likely due to an arousal-induced memory tradeoff for the negative images, which were subjectively more arousing than both positive and neutral images. ERP results showed that early onsetting old-new effects, between 100 and 300 ms, were observed for emotional but not neutral images in both age groups. Interestingly, these early effects were observed for negative items in the young and for positive items in the old. These ERP findings offer support for the idea that emotional events may be retrieved more automatically than neutral events across the lifespan. Furthermore, we suggest that very early retrieval mechanisms, possibly perceptual priming or familiarity, may underlie the negativity and positivity effects sometimes observed in the young and old, respectively, for various behavioral measures of attention and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel N Newsome
- School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
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68
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Reed AE, Carstensen LL. The theory behind the age-related positivity effect. Front Psychol 2012; 3:339. [PMID: 23060825 PMCID: PMC3459016 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 355] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2012] [Accepted: 08/23/2012] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The "positivity effect" refers to an age-related trend that favors positive over negative stimuli in cognitive processing. Relative to their younger counterparts, older people attend to and remember more positive than negative information. Since the effect was initially identified and the conceptual basis articulated (Mather and Carstensen, 2005) scores of independent replications and related findings have appeared in the literature. Over the same period, a number of investigations have failed to observe age differences in the cognitive processing of emotional material. When findings are considered in theoretical context, a reliable pattern of evidence emerges that helps to refine conceptual tenets. In this article we articulate the operational definition and theoretical foundations of the positivity effect and review the empirical evidence based on studies of visual attention, memory, decision making, and neural activation. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions with emphasis on the conditions where a focus on positive information may benefit and/or impair cognitive performance in older people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew E. Reed
- Department of Psychology, Stanford UniversityStanford, CA, USA
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69
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70
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Hilbig BE. Good things don't come easy (to mind): explaining framing effects in judgments of truth. Exp Psychol 2012; 59:38-46. [PMID: 21768064 DOI: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Recently, the general phenomenon of a positive-negative-asymmetry was extended to judgments of truth. That is, negatively framed statements were shown to receive substantially higher truth ratings than formally equivalent statements framed positively. However, the cognitive mechanisms underlying this effect are unknown, so far. In the current work, two potential accounts are introduced and tested against each other in three experiments: On the one hand, negative framing may induce increased elaboration and thereby persuasion. Alternatively, negative framing could yield faster retrieval or generation of evidence and thus influence subjective veracity via experiential fluency. Two experiments drawing on response latencies and one manipulating the delay between information acquisition and judgment provide support for the fluency-based account. Overall, results replicate and extend the negatively-biased framing effect in truth judgments and show that processing fluency may account for it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin E Hilbig
- School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
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71
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Kisley MA, Campbell AM, Larson JM, Naftz AE, Regnier JT, Davalos DB. The impact of verbal framing on brain activity evoked by emotional images. J Integr Neurosci 2012; 10:513-24. [PMID: 22262538 DOI: 10.1142/s0219635211002816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2011] [Accepted: 09/12/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Emotional stimuli generally command more brain processing resources than non-emotional stimuli, but the magnitude of this effect is subject to voluntary control. Cognitive reappraisal represents one type of emotion regulation that can be voluntarily employed to modulate responses to emotional stimuli. Here, the late positive potential (LPP), a specific event-related brain potential (ERP) component, was measured in response to neutral, positive and negative images while participants performed an evaluative categorization task. One experimental group adopted a "negative frame" in which images were categorized as negative or not. The other adopted a "positive frame" in which the exact same images were categorized as positive or not. Behavioral performance confirmed compliance with random group assignment, and peak LPP amplitude to negative images was affected by group membership: brain responses to negative images were significantly reduced in the "positive frame" group. This suggests that adopting a more positive appraisal frame can modulate brain activity elicited by negative stimuli in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A Kisley
- Department of Psychology, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, 1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, USA.
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72
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Abstract
This paper reviews age differences in emotion processing and how they may relate to age-related changes in the brain. Compared with younger adults, older adults react less to negative situations, ignore irrelevant negative stimuli better, and remember relatively more positive than negative information. Older adults' ability to insulate their thoughts and emotional reactions from negative situations is likely due to a number of factors, such as being less influenced by interoceptive cues, selecting different emotion regulation strategies, having less age-related decline in prefrontal regions associated with emotional control than in other prefrontal regions, and engaging in emotion regulation strategies as a default mode in their everyday lives. Healthy older adults' avoidance of processing negative stimuli may contribute to their well-maintained emotional well-being. However, when cardiovascular disease leads to additional prefrontal white matter damage, older adults have fewer cognitive control mechanisms available to regulate their emotions, making them more vulnerable to depression. In general, although age-related changes in the brain help shape emotional experience, shifts in preferred strategies and goal priorities are also important influences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mara Mather
- The USC Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA.
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73
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Chavis JM, Kisley MA. Adult Attachment and Motivated Attention to Social Images: Attachment-Based Differences in Event-Related Brain Potentials to Emotional Images. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2012; 46:55-62. [PMID: 22639475 PMCID: PMC3359649 DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2011.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Differences in adult attachment may concord with differences in social perception. The present study aimed to measure neural activity associated with the presentation of visual social stimuli. In an affective oddball paradigm, event-related brain potentials were recorded while participants viewed negative, positive, and neutral images of people and categorized them according to valence. Brain response amplitudes were examined across valence categories and across attachment groups. Results revealed differences between anxious and avoidant groups in "emotion bias." The avoidant group displayed a bias towards more neural activation in response to negative compared to positive images. The anxious group trended in the opposite direction. Results are discussed in terms of possible attachment-based differences in motivated attention to social stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- J M Chavis
- University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
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74
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Abstract
The "positivity effect" refers to an age-related trend that favors positive over negative stimuli in cognitive processing. Relative to their younger counterparts, older people attend to and remember more positive than negative information. Since the effect was initially identified and the conceptual basis articulated (Mather and Carstensen, 2005) scores of independent replications and related findings have appeared in the literature. Over the same period, a number of investigations have failed to observe age differences in the cognitive processing of emotional material. When findings are considered in theoretical context, a reliable pattern of evidence emerges that helps to refine conceptual tenets. In this article we articulate the operational definition and theoretical foundations of the positivity effect and review the empirical evidence based on studies of visual attention, memory, decision making, and neural activation. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions with emphasis on the conditions where a focus on positive information may benefit and/or impair cognitive performance in older people.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew E Reed
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University Stanford, CA, USA
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75
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Mienaltowski A, Corballis PM, Blanchard-Fields F, Parks NA, Hilimire MR. Anger management: age differences in emotional modulation of visual processing. Psychol Aging 2011; 26:224-31. [PMID: 21058866 DOI: 10.1037/a0021032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Although positive and negative images enhance the visual processing of young adults, recent work suggests that a life-span shift in emotion processing goals may lead older adults to avoid negative images. To examine this tendency for older adults to regulate their intake of negative emotional information, the current study investigated age-related differences in the perceptual boost received by probes appearing over facial expressions of emotion. Visually-evoked event-related potentials were recorded from the scalp over cortical regions associated with visual processing as a probe appeared over facial expressions depicting anger, sadness, happiness, or no emotion. The activity of the visual system in response to each probe was operationalized in terms of the P1 component of the event-related potentials evoked by the probe. For young adults, the visual system was more active (i.e., greater P1 amplitude) when the probes appeared over any of the emotional facial expressions. However, for older adults, the visual system displayed reduced activity when the probe appeared over angry facial expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Mienaltowski
- Department of Psychology, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101-1030, USA.
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76
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Isaacowitz DM, Riediger M. When age matters: Developmental perspectives on "cognition and emotion". Cogn Emot 2011; 25:957-67. [PMID: 21614703 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2011.561575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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78
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Dong G, Zhou H, Zhao X, Lu Q. Early Negativity Bias Occurring Prior to Experiencing of Emotion. J PSYCHOPHYSIOL 2011. [DOI: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
The present study analyzed event-related potentials (ERPs) in different valence conditions to investigate whether negativity bias can occur prior to the experiencing of negative emotion. There were two tasks: One was challenging and participants were asked to react as quickly as possible; the other was easy and participants were asked to react after the stimuli disappeared. ERPs were compared to determine if negativity bias had occurred. Anterior hemispheric asymmetries tests (AHAT) were conducted to test emotion-evoking effects. The ERP results showed that negativity bias occurred in both tasks. However, AHAT showed that emotion was not effectively evoked in the challenging task. These results suggested that negativity bias could occur even without effective experiencing of emotion. This prompted a new viewpoint regarding the properties of negativity bias: Early negativity bias was caused by the features of negative stimuli but not by negative emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangheng Dong
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, P. R. China
| | - Hui Zhou
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, P. R. China
| | - Xuan Zhao
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, P. R. China
| | - Qilin Lu
- Institute of Neuroinformatics, Dalian University of Technology, P. R. China
- University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA
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79
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Wiens S, Sand A, Olofsson JK. Nonemotional features suppress early and enhance late emotional electrocortical responses to negative pictures. Biol Psychol 2011; 86:83-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2010] [Revised: 11/10/2010] [Accepted: 11/10/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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80
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Hajcak G, MacNamara A, Olvet DM. Event-Related Potentials, Emotion, and Emotion Regulation: An Integrative Review. Dev Neuropsychol 2010; 35:129-55. [DOI: 10.1080/87565640903526504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 718] [Impact Index Per Article: 51.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
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81
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Scheibe S, Carstensen LL. Emotional aging: recent findings and future trends. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2010; 65B:135-44. [PMID: 20054013 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbp132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 308] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Contrasting cognitive and physical decline, research in emotional aging suggests that most older adults enjoy high levels of affective well-being and emotional stability into their 70s and 80s. We investigate the contributions of age-related changes in emotional motivation and competence to positive affect trajectories. We give an overview on the recent literature on emotional processing and emotional regulation, combining evidence from correlational and experimental, as well as behavioral and neuroscience studies. In particular, we focus on emotion-cognition interactions, including the positivity effect. Looking forward, we argue that efforts to link levels of emotional functioning with long-term outcomes, combining space- and time-sensitive measures of brain function, and developing interventions to improve life quality for older adults may further refine life-span theories and open promising avenues of empirical investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Susanne Scheibe
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-2130.
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82
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Langeslag SJE, Van Strien JW. Comparable Modulation of the Late Positive Potential by Emotion Regulation in Younger and Older Adults. J PSYCHOPHYSIOL 2010. [DOI: 10.1027/0269-8803/a000009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
It has been suggested that emotion regulation improves with aging. Here, we investigated age differences in emotion regulation by studying modulation of the late positive potential (LPP) by emotion regulation instructions. The electroencephalogram of younger (18–26 years) and older (60–77 years) adults was recorded while they viewed neutral, unpleasant, and pleasant pictures and while they were instructed to increase or decrease the feelings that the emotional pictures elicited. The LPP was enhanced when participants were instructed to increase their emotions. No age differences were observed in this emotion regulation effect, suggesting that emotion regulation abilities are unaffected by aging. This contradicts studies that measured emotion regulation by self-report, yet accords with studies that measured emotion regulation by means of facial expressions or psychophysiological responses. More research is needed to resolve the apparent discrepancy between subjective self-report and objective psychophysiological measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra J. E. Langeslag
- Erasmus Affective Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Jan W. Van Strien
- Erasmus Affective Neuroscience Lab, Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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83
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Abstract
How does the brain respond to statements that clash with a person's value system? We recorded event-related brain potentials while respondents from contrasting political-ethical backgrounds completed an attitude survey on drugs, medical ethics, social conduct, and other issues. Our results show that value-based disagreement is unlocked by language extremely rapidly, within 200 to 250 ms after the first word that indicates a clash with the reader's value system (e.g., “I think euthanasia is an acceptable/unacceptable…”). Furthermore, strong disagreement rapidly influences the ongoing analysis of meaning, which indicates that even very early processes in language comprehension are sensitive to a person's value system. Our results testify to rapid reciprocal links between neural systems for language and for valuation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jos J.A. Van Berkum
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen
| | | | - Mante Nieuwland
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam
- Department of Psychology, Tufts University
| | - Marte Otten
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University
| | - Jaap Murre
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam
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84
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Ashley V, Swick D. Consequences of emotional stimuli: age differences on pure and mixed blocks of the emotional Stroop. Behav Brain Funct 2009; 5:14. [PMID: 19254381 PMCID: PMC2661089 DOI: 10.1186/1744-9081-5-14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2008] [Accepted: 03/02/2009] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Studies of aging and emotion suggest that older adults show diminished responsiveness to negative information, possibly resulting from increased emotion regulation, but the mechanisms accounting for this effect are uncertain. Methods To examine whether aging affects the allocation of attention to negative stimuli, we compared 20 younger and 20 older adults on 2 versions of the emotional Stroop task: "pure blocks," in which all words in each block were either emotional or neutral, and "mixed blocks," a pseudorandomized design in which either a negative emotional or a neutral category word was always followed by six neutral words. The emotional Stroop task typically elicits slower reaction times for naming the font color of negative emotional words compared to neutral, but no studies have examined the effects of aging on the immediate and sustained components of the emotional Stroop effect. Results Both groups showed an emotional Stroop effect on pure blocks manifest as slower RTs on the emotional, relative to the neutral, block. However, only younger adults showed persistent slowing that carried over from emotional words onto subsequent neutral words in mixed blocks. Conclusion These results suggest that the consequences of emotional stimuli may differ with age. Younger and older adults showed equivalent interference from the emotional words themselves, but older adults did not show a sustained effect of negative information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria Ashley
- Research Service, Veterans Affairs Northern California Health Care System, Martinez, California, USA.
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85
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Kensinger EA, Leclerc CM. Age-related changes in the neural mechanisms supporting emotion processing and emotional memory. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009. [DOI: 10.1080/09541440801937116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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86
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Age differences in the emotional modulation of ERP old/new effects. Int J Psychophysiol 2008; 70:105-14. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2008.07.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2008] [Revised: 06/19/2008] [Accepted: 07/30/2008] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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87
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Hanoch Y, Wood S, Rice T. Bounded Rationality, Emotions and Older Adult Decision Making: Not So Fast and Yet So Frugal. Hum Dev 2007. [DOI: 10.1159/000109835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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88
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Samanez-Larkin GR, Gibbs SEB, Khanna K, Nielsen L, Carstensen LL, Knutson B. Anticipation of monetary gain but not loss in healthy older adults. Nat Neurosci 2007; 10:787-91. [PMID: 17468751 PMCID: PMC2268869 DOI: 10.1038/nn1894] [Citation(s) in RCA: 266] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2007] [Accepted: 03/19/2007] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Although global declines in structure have been documented in the aging human brain, little is known about the functional integrity of the striatum and prefrontal cortex in older adults during incentive processing. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine whether younger and older adults differed in both self-reported and neural responsiveness to anticipated monetary gains and losses. The present study provides evidence for intact striatal and insular activation during gain anticipation with age, but shows a relative reduction in activation during loss anticipation. These findings suggest that there is an asymmetry in the processing of gains and losses in older adults that may have implications for decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory R Samanez-Larkin
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Jordan Hall, Building 420, Stanford, California 94305-2130, USA.
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