Age Differences in Motivated Cognition: A Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: The goal of this preregistered study was to synthesize empirical findings on age differences in motivated cognition using a meta-analytic approach, with a focus on the domains of cognitive control and episodic memory.

Methods: A systematic search of articles published before July 2022 yielded 27 studies of cognitive control (N = 1,908) and 73 studies of memory (N = 5,837). Studies had to include healthy younger and older adults, a within-subjects or between-subjects comparison of motivation (high vs low), and a measure of cognitive control or memory.

Adult Age Differences in the Temporal Dynamics of Motivated Attention.

Reward-based motivation modulates attention and cognitive control across the life span, but little is known about age differences in the temporal dynamics of motivated attention. The current study examined the effects of financial incentives on visual attention using ERPs. Participants (26 younger, aged 18-33 years; 24 older, aged 65-95 years) completed an incentivized flanker task in which trial-level incentive cues signaled the availability of performance-contingent reward, and subsequent alerting cues signaled the onset of the flanker target.

Associations between phasic arousal and decisions under risk in younger and older adults.

Higher arousal is linked to simple decision strategies and an increased preference for immediate rewards in younger adults, but little is known about the influence of arousal on decision making in older adults. In light of age-related locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system declines, we predicted a reduced association between arousal and decision behavior in older adults. Younger and older participants made a series of choices between smaller, higher-probability and larger, lower-probability financial gains.

Using the DRM paradigm to assess language processing in monolinguals and bilinguals.

Both languages are jointly activated in the bilingual brain, requiring bilinguals to select the target language while avoiding interference from the unwanted language. This cross-language interference is similar to the within-language interference created by the Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory paradigm (DRM; Roediger & McDermott, 1995, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21[4], 803-814). Although the mechanisms mediating false memory in the DRM paradigm remain an area of investigation, two of the more prominent theories-implicit associative response (IAR) and fuzzy trace-provide frameworks for using the DRM paradigm to advance our understanding of bilingual language processing.

Intrinsic neurocognitive network connectivity differences between normal aging and mild cognitive impairment are associated with cognitive status and age.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) of the amnestic type is considered to be a transitionary stage between healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previous studies have demonstrated that intrinsic functional connectivity of the default network (DN) is altered in normal aging and AD and impacts both within- and between-network connectivity. Although changes within the DN have been reported in MCI, it remains uncertain how interactions with other large-scale brain networks are altered in this prodromal stage of AD.

Why is Lexical Retrieval Slower for Bilinguals? Evidence from Picture Naming.

Proficient bilinguals demonstrate slower lexical retrieval than comparable monolinguals. The present study tested predictions from two main accounts of this effect, the frequency-lag and competition hypotheses. Both make the same prediction for bilinguals but differ for trilinguals and for age differences.

Early stage second-language learning improves executive control: evidence from ERP.

A growing body of research has reported a bilingual advantage in performance on executive control tasks, but it is not known at what point in emerging bilingualism these advantages first appear. The present study investigated the effect of early stage second-language training on executive control. Monolingual English-speaking students were tested on a go-nogo task, sentence judgment task, and verbal fluency, before and after 6 months of Spanish instruction.

Comparing live and remote models in eating conformity research.

Research demonstrates that people conform to how much other people eat. This conformity occurs in the presence of other people (live model) and when people view information about how much food prior participants ate (remote models). The assumption in the literature has been that remote models produce a similar effect to live models, but this has never been tested.