Effects of valence and divided attention on cognitive reappraisal processes.

Numerous studies have investigated the neural substrates supporting cognitive reappraisal, identifying the importance of cognitive control processes implemented by prefrontal cortex (PFC). This study examined how valence and attention affect the processes used for cognitive reappraisal by asking participants to passively view or to cognitively reappraise positive and negative images with full or divided attention. When participants simply viewed these images, results revealed few effects of valence or attention.

Neural processing of emotional pictures and words: a comparison of young and older adults.

Recent findings have revealed age-related changes in neural recruitment during the processing of emotional information. The present study examined whether these age-related changes would be more pronounced for words, thought to be processed in a controlled manner versus relatively automatically processed pictures. Compared to young adults, older adults showed less amygdala activation, and more medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation, for negative than positive pictures.

Age-related valence-based reversal in recruitment of medial prefrontal cortex on a visual search task.

Previous behavioral research has revealed a positivity effect that occurs with aging, with older adults focusing more on positive information and less on negative emotional stimuli as compared to young adults. Questions have been raised as to whether this effect exists in the rapid detection of information or whether it operates only at later stages of processing. In the present study, we used eye-tracking and neuroimaging methodologies to examine whether the two age groups accomplished the detection of emotional information on a visual search task using the same mechanisms.

Aging and everyday judgments: the impact of motivational and processing resource factors.

It has been hypothesized that reductions in cognitive resources might result in older adults engaging in less systematic processing than young adults when making everyday judgments. In 2 experiments, the authors tested individuals aged from 24 to 89 years to examine the degree to which task-related information associated with more superficial versus complex processing differentially influenced performance. They also examined the hypothesis that motivational factors would moderate age differences in processing complexity.

There are age-related changes in neural connectivity during the encoding of positive, but not negative, information.

Introduction: Older adults often show sustained attention toward positive information and an improved memory for positive events. Little is known about the neural changes that may underlie these effects, although recent research has suggested that older adults may show differential recruitment of prefrontal regions during the successful encoding of emotional information. In the present study, effective connectivity analyses examined the network of regions that college-age and older adults recruited during the encoding of positive and negative images.

Age-related differences in medial prefrontal activation in response to emotional images.

Research has suggested that aging results in a "positivity effect," with young adults dwelling on negative information, and older adults attending to positive information. In order to understand age-related changes in emotional processing underlying this effect, the present fMRI study compared neural activity in young and older adults as they viewed positive, negative, and neutral images. Results indicated a striking age-related reversal in the valence of information eliciting activity within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC).

Effects of age on detection of emotional information.

Age differences were examined in affective processing, in the context of a visual search task. Young and older adults were faster to detect high arousal images compared with low arousal and neutral items. Younger adults were faster to detect positive high arousal targets compared with other categories.

Age differences in the bases for social judgments: tests of a social expertise perspective.

Research indicates that increasing age is associated with greater use of trait-diagnostic behavioral information in making social judgments. These effects may reflect an aging-related increase in social expertise, indicative of more powerful and accessible knowledge structures. The current work is an attempt to provide further evidence in support of the social expertise view and a test of an alternative hypothesis.

Age and experience influences on the complexity of social inferences.

Age differences in social-cognitive functioning were assessed by examining sensitivity to the trait implications of behavioral cues when making social inferences. Adults (age range = 23-86 years) read target descriptions containing positive and negative behaviors relating to either morality or competence. Consistent with past research, middle-aged and older adults were more likely than younger adults to make inferences consistent with the trait-diagnostic implications of the behaviors.