Psychology and Aging

Age-related emotional advantages in encountering novel situation in daily life.
People encounter novel situations throughout their lives that contribute to the acquisition of knowledge and experience. However, novelty can be misaligned with goals and motivation in later adulthood according to socioemotional selectivity theory. This study investigated age differences in emotional reactions associated with novel experiences. Multilevel structural equation models were used to analyze experience-sampling data obtained from an adult sample of 375 participants aged 18–94 years who reported their current situation and momentary emotional experience five times per day for 7 days. On occasions where situations were rated as more novel, people reported reduced positive and increased negative emotion. Those who had more overall exposure to novel situations tended to have more negative emotional experiences in general. Contrary to our hypothesis, there were age differences in individuals’ negative emotional reactivity to situations that are perceived as more novel, such that novel situations were reported as less negative among older adults. By applying theoretical understanding of age differences in motivation and well-being in adulthood, our findings illuminate aspects of situations that elicit negative emotions. Findings highlight age-related benefits in emotional well-being, consistent with socioemotional selectivity theory postulates, and further implies that older adults may not be novelty averse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Emotional empathy across adulthood: A meta-analytic review.
Emotional empathy is a congruent emotional response stemming from another’s emotional state and has mixed evidence for its association with age. We sought to synthesize existing data to investigate cross-sectional changes in emotional empathy across adulthood using random-effects meta-analyses. Embase, APA PsycInfo, Medline, and Scopus databases were systematically searched until October 2022. Thirty-three studies assessed age categorically by comparing older (M = 68.42, SD = 4.95) with younger (M = 27.55, SD = 6.82) adults and demonstrated higher emotional empathy in older adults (g = 0.10, p = .039). Seven studies examined age continuously (18–100 years), resulting in a positive correlation with age (zr = .08, p = .033). Subgroup analyses identified age effects differed based on the emotional empathy measure but not on measure type (state vs. trait) or gender ratio (73% women and 27% men). Cross-sectional results indicate emotional empathy may increase across adulthood. These results clarify the previously mixed reports of typical emotional empathy functioning in later life. Age effects varying due to the emotional empathy measure examined indicate that these measures’ convergent validity should be reexamined. Further research should employ older, population-based, non-western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic samples and longitudinal designs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Age is positively associated with fading affect bias: A cross-sectional comparison.
Emotions elicited by personal event memories change over time such that negative affect fades more quickly than positive affect. This asymmetric fade is called the fading affect bias (FAB) and has been posited as a mechanism that helps promote a positive outlook on life. A similar bias toward positive information (i.e., the positivity effect) driven by greater emphasis on emotion regulation has been demonstrated in older adults. The current research uses two age-diverse community samples to examine the relationship between age and the strength of FAB. Participants recalled positive and negative event memories and rated the intensity of affect at the time of the event (i.e., retrospectively) and at the time of recollection. Participants of all ages exhibited a significant FAB, and crucially, the strength of the effect was positively associated with age. Age-based differences in psychological well-being and recalled event intensity had no influence on the relationship between age and FAB. The relationship was, however, related to greater personal importance placed on positive (but not negative) events. The findings are consistent with the socioemotional selectivity theory and suggest another mechanism through which emotion regulation is associated with aging to maintain a positive outlook on life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Dyadic profiles of couples’ self-perceptions of aging: Implications for mental health.
The way older adults perceive their own aging processes influences their mental health, but we know little about how this occurs in a dyadic context, where spouses’ perceptions and health are often intertwined. The present study sought to identify dyadic profiles of self-perceptions of aging (SPAs) in couples and examine how certain profiles are associated with each partner’s mental health over time. A pooled sample of 3,850 heterosexual couples aged 50+ in the Health and Retirement Study (2012/2014) rated positive and negative SPAs and provided data on demographic characteristics, couple relationships, and health. We tracked these couples’ depressive symptoms over 2 years (2014/2016). Latent profile analysis revealed five profiles of couples’ SPAs: similarly positive (20%), similarly negative (6%), similarly average (38%), husband negative (20%), and wife negative (17%). Physical health and marital quality consistently differentiated couples in profile membership. Couples with similarly positive and similarly average SPAs reported the smallest increases in depressive symptoms over time, and couples with similarly negative SPAs fared worst in mental health. We observed interesting gender differences across profiles; husbands in the husband negative profile reported significantly greater increases in depressive symptoms than those in the wife negative profile. Yet, wives in these two profiles did not differ in their depressive symptoms over time, and they reported worse mental health than wives in the similarly positive and similarly average profiles. This study adds to the emerging literature that advocates for an interpersonal approach to SPAs and reveals risk and resilience in couples as they age together. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
The effect of time constraints on value-directed long-term memory in younger and older adults.
We often encounter more information than we can remember, making it critical that we are selective in what we remember. Being selective about which information we consolidate into our long-term memory becomes even more important when there is insufficient time to encode and retrieve information. We investigated whether older and younger adults differ in how time constraints, whether at encoding (Experiment 1) or retrieval (Experiment 2), affect their ability to be selective when remembering important information that they need to recall later. In Experiment 1, we found that younger and older adults exhibited similar selectivity, and the participants remained selective when rushed at encoding. In Experiment 2, older adults maintained their selectivity when given insufficient time at retrieval, but younger adults’ selectivity was increased when given limited recall time. Altogether, the present experiments provide new support for negligible, and in some cases, even beneficial, effects of time constraints on older and younger adults’ ability to selectively encode and retrieve the most valuable information. These findings may provide insight into a mechanism that allows older adults to use their long-term memory efficiently, despite age-related cognitive declines, even when faced with constraining encoding and retrieval situations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Eye movements and event segmentation: Eye movements reveal age-related differences in event model updating.
People spontaneously segment continuous ongoing actions into sequences of events. Prior research found that gaze similarity and pupil dilation increase at event boundaries and that older adults segment more idiosyncratically than do young adults. We used eye tracking to explore age-related differences in gaze similarity (i.e., the extent to which individuals look at the same places at the same time as others) and pupil dilation at event boundaries. Older and young adults watched naturalistic videos of actors performing everyday activities while we tracked their eye movements. Afterward, they segmented the videos into subevents. Replicating prior work, we found that pupil size and gaze similarity increased at event boundaries. Thus, there were fewer individual differences in eye position at boundaries. We also found that young adults had higher gaze similarity than older adults throughout an entire video and at event boundaries. This study is the first to show that age-related differences in how people parse continuous everyday activities into events may be partially explained by individual differences in gaze patterns. Those who segment less normatively may do so because they fixate less normative regions. Results have implications for future interventions designed to improve encoding in older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Associations between personality and psychological characteristics and cognitive outcomes among older adults.
Prior research has shown that some personality traits are associated with cognitive outcomes and may confirm risk or protection against cognitive decline. The present study expands on previous work to examine the association between a more comprehensive set of psychological characteristics and cognitive performance in a diverse cohort of older adults. We also examine whether controlling for brain atrophy influences the association between psychological characteristics and cognitive function. A total of 157 older adults completed a battery of psychological questionnaires (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Neuroticism, Extraversion, positive affect, negative affect—sadness, negative affect—anger, sense of purpose, loneliness, grit, and self-efficacy). Cognitive outcomes were measured across multiple domains: episodic memory, semantic memory, executive function, and spatial ability. Baseline brain (MRI) variables included gray matter, hippocampus, and total white matter hyperintensity volume. Parallel process, multilevel models yielded intercept (individual cognitive domain scores) and linear slope (global cognitive change) random effects for the cognitive outcomes. Positive affect (β = 0.013, SE = 0.005, p = .004) and Openness (β = 0.018, SE = 0.007, p = .009) were associated with less cognitive change, independent of baseline brain variables and covariates. Greater sadness predicted more cognitive decline when controlling for covariates, but not brain atrophy. A variety of psychological characteristics were associated with the cross-sectional measures of cognition. This study highlights the important impact of positive and negative affect on reducing or enhancing the risk of longitudinal cognitive decline. Such findings are especially important, given the available efficacious interventions that can improve affect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Cognitive abilities and engagement in advance care planning among older adults: Results of a Swiss populational study.
Individuals often wait until the last moment to plan their end-of-life (EOL) care. Yet, decision-making capacity decreases with age, which could compromise engagement in and the effectiveness of advance care planning (ACP). Little is known about the association between cognitive abilities and the steps involved in the multifaceted process of ACP in older adults. The present study aims to better understand the association of global cognitive competence with engagement in ACP in a nationally representative sample of older adults in Switzerland. Global cognitive competence was measured via verbal fluency, immediate and delayed memory, basic calculation skills, and temporal orientation. Engagement in ACP included approving advance directives, having discussed EOL preferences, having a living will, and having a health care proxy. We analyzed data of 1,936 respondents aged 55+ from a paper-and-pencil questionnaire that was administered as part of Wave 6 (2015) of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe in Switzerland using logistic regression models. Respondents with reduced global cognitive competence are less likely to have discussed their EOL preferences with others and to have a living will. Our results also indicate an interaction between age and cognition with respect to having a living will. Individuals with lower global cognitive competence in the oldest age group—adults aged 75 and older—are less likely to have a living will. Our findings highlight that low global cognitive competence can be seen as a barrier to engagement in ACP, particularly among adults 75 years and older. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Psychology and Aging - Vol 39, Iss 2