Concurrent Validity of Performance-Based Measures of Daily Functioning with Cognitive Measures and Informant Reported Everyday Functioning.

Objective: Despite the substantial need for reliable and valid assessment of functional ability in older adults, there is currently limited research on the emergence of early functional declines during prodromal dementia stages, such as subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study uses novel performance-based assessments to characterize subtle, yet clinically meaningful, changes in functional ability.

Method: A sample of 93 older adults classified as cognitively unimpaired (CU; n = 30, Mage = 73.

Amygdala but not hippocampal damage associated with smaller social network size.

Social network size has been associated with complex socio-cognitive processes (e.g., memory, perspective taking).

A Narrative Review of Loneliness and Brain Health in Older Adults: Implications of COVID-19.

Purpose Of Review: This narrative review highlights important factors contributing to loneliness in older adults prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic and effects on brain health.

Recent Findings: We characterize risk factors for loneliness in older adulthood and the impact of COVID-19. Furthermore, we discuss the implications of loneliness for older adults' brain health.

Investigating the role of involuntary retrieval in music-evoked autobiographical memories.

Music is a particularly salient autobiographical memory cue. Prior work has indicated that autobiographical memories evoked by music are more episodically rich than those evoked by other sensory cues. One explanation for this effect could be that music evokes autobiographical memories in a more involuntary manner than other cues.

A Narrative Review Examining the Utility of Interpersonal Synchrony for the Caregiver-Care Recipient Relationship in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias.

The stressful nature of caring for an older adult with a chronic disease, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), can create barriers between the caregiver-care recipient, as they try to navigate their continuously changing social relationship. Interpersonal synchrony (i.e.

Feeling physical pain while depressed: The effect of alexithymia.

Background: In the literature, depression and alexithymia are associated with greater pain perception. It is unknown whether depression and alexithymia have additive effects on perceived pain.

Methods: The present study examined 152 participants (96 women, 56 men).

Health-related and sociodemographic factors associated with physical frailty among older cancer survivors.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with frailty in older cancer survivors.

Materials And Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using data from the National Social Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) Wave 2, and includes an in-home, nationally representative sample of community-dwelling adults ≥50 years and older from the United States. Frailty score was computed for each individual using a modified 4-point scale based on the phenotypic frailty.

Impact of Aging on Empathy: Review of Psychological and Neural Mechanisms.

Empathy in aging is a key capacity because it affects the quality of older adults' relationships and reduced levels are associated with greater loneliness. Many older adults also find themselves in the role of a caregiver to a loved one, and thus empathy is critical for the success of the caregiver-patient relationship. Furthermore, older adults are motivated to make strong emotional connections with others, as highlighted in the socioemotional selectivity theory.

Lonely But Not Alone: Neuroticism Mediates the Relationship Between Social Network Size and Loneliness in Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objectives: Although individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often report higher levels of social isolation, little is known about the factors influencing their self-perception of loneliness. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between loneliness, social network size, and personality variables (neuroticism and extraversion) after TBI, and in particular whether specific personality variables mediate the relationship between social network size and perception of loneliness. Methods: Here, we assessed self-reported loneliness, personality variables, and social network size of 24 individuals with moderate-to-severe TBI and 41 healthy comparison participants.

An Initial Study of Alexithymia and Its Relationship With Cognitive Abilities Among Mild Cognitive Impairment, Mild Alzheimer's Disease, and Healthy Volunteers.

The present study examined the degree to which alexithymia is greater in mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) relative to healthy volunteers (healthy comparison [HC]), and investigated relationships between alexithymia and cognition. Eighty-five participants (MCI = 30, AD = 21, HC = 34) underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological examination and completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Relative to HC, MCI and AD reported greater alexithymia total scores and higher scores on the TAS factor difficulty in identifying feelings (DIF).

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Is Critical for Helping Others Who Are Suffering.

Neurological patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are reported to display reduced empathy toward others in their daily lives in clinical case studies. However, the empathic behavior of patients with damage to the vmPFC has not been measured experimentally in response to an empathy-eliciting event. This is important because characterizing the degree to which patients with damage to the vmPFC have lower empathic behavior will allow for the development of targeted interventions to improve patients' social skills and in turn will help family members to better understand their impairments so they can provide appropriate supports.

Larger hippocampus size in women with anorexia nervosa who exercise excessively than healthy women.

Exercise has been shown to increase hippocampal volume in healthy older adults. Observations from animal models of diabetes and hypertension suggest that the combination of exercise and caloric restriction may exert greater neuroprotection in the hippocampus than either behavior alone. Yet, in humans, the effects of exercise and caloric restriction on the hippocampus are not known.

Aging, empathy, and prosociality.

Objectives: Although empathy is a well-established motivation in younger adults for helping others, it is not known whether this extends to aging. Prioritization of socioemotional goals with age may increase the salience of helping others (i.e.

Alexithymia, emotional empathy, and self-regulation in anorexia nervosa.

Background: Individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) who are starved have poor awareness (alexithymia), reduced understanding of others' mental states (cognitive empathy), and difficulty regulating personal emotions (self-regulation). Despite its important role in social interaction, sympathy for others (emotional empathy) has not been measured in AN. Furthermore, it is unknown how restoring weight affects the relationship among alexithymia, empathy, and self-regulation in AN.

Mirror neuron function, psychosis, and empathy in schizophrenia.

Processing of social and emotional information has been shown to be disturbed in schizophrenia. The biological underpinnings of these abnormalities may be explained by an abnormally functioning mirror neuron system. Yet the relationship between mirror neuron system activity in schizophrenia, as measured using an electroencephalography (EEG) paradigm, and socio-emotional functioning has not been assessed.

Trait empathy as a predictor of individual differences in perceived loneliness.

Loneliness has been shown to be inversely correlated with empathy in younger adults. The present study extends previous research by investigating the association between empathy and loneliness across the adult lifespan and examining the role of relevant demographic and personality factors. 110 community-dwelling adults (18 to 81 years old) completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Empathy Quotient.

Age-related neural differences in affiliation and isolation.

While previous aging studies have focused on particular components of social perception (e.g., theory of mind, self-referencing), little is known about age-related differences specifically for the neural basis of perception of affiliation and isolation.

Effects of age-related differences in empathy on social economic decision-making.

Background: The ways in which aging affects social economic decision-making is a central issue in the psychology of aging. To examine age-related differences in social economic decision-making as a function of empathy, 80 healthy volunteers participated in the Repeated Fixed Opponent Ultimatum Game (UG-R). Previous economic decision-making research has shown that in younger adults empathy is associated with prosocial behavior.