Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information

Van Reekum, C. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1516-1101, Schaefer, S. M., Lapate, R. C., Norris, C. J., Greischar, L. L. and Davidson, R. J. (2011) Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6 (2). pp. 177-185. ISSN 1749-5024 doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq031

Abstract/Summary

Studies on aging and emotion suggest an increase in reported positive affect, a processing bias of positive over negative information, as well as increasingly adaptive regulation in response to negative events with advancing age. These findings imply that older individuals evaluate information differently, resulting in lowered reactivity to, and/or faster recovery from, negative information, while maintaining more positive responding to positive information. We examined this hypothesis in an ongoing study on Midlife in the US (MIDUS II) where emotional reactivity and recovery were assessed in a large number of respondents (N = 159) from a wide age range (36–84 years). We recorded eye-blink startle magnitudes and corrugator activity during and after the presentation of positive, neutral and negative pictures. The most robust age effect was found in response to neutral stimuli, where increasing age is associated with a decreased corrugator and eyeblink startle response to neutral stimuli. These data suggest that an age-related positivity effect does not essentially alter the response to emotion-laden information, but is reflected in a more positive interpretation of affectively ambiguous information. Furthermore, older women showed reduced corrugator recovery from negative pictures relative to the younger women and men, suggesting that an age-related prioritization of well-being is not necessarily reflected in adaptive regulation of negative affect.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/7666
Identification Number/DOI	10.1093/scan/nsq031
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords	aging; emotion reactivity; emotional recovery; positivity effect; psychophysiology
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publisher Statement	This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version: 'Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information', Carien M. van Reekum, Stacey M. Schaefer, Regina C. Lapate, Catherine J. Norris, Lawrence L. Greischar and Richard J. Davidson. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci (2010) doi: 10.1093/scan/nsq031 is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq031
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