When making choices, people often try to directly compare the features of different options rathe... more When making choices, people often try to directly compare the features of different options rather than evaluating each option separately. Not every feature has an analogous (or alignable) feature in the other option, however. In this study, both younger and older adults filled in such gaps when remembering, creating features in the other option to contrast with existing features. Thus, participants had a tendency to remember choice options as more comparable than they originally were. High performance on tasks tapping strategic processing was associated with a pattern of mostly feature-based comparisons during choice for older adults but with a pattern of mostly option-based comparisons for younger adults. This pattern suggests that younger and older adults' comparison processes are influenced by different goals.
The present study revealed that older adults recruit cognitive control processes to strengthen po... more The present study revealed that older adults recruit cognitive control processes to strengthen positive and diminish negative information in memory. In Experiment 1, older adults engaged in more elaborative processing when retrieving positive memories than they did when retrieving negative memories. In Experiment 2, older adults who did well on tasks involving cognitive control were more likely than those doing poorly to favor positive pictures in memory. In Experiment 3, older adults who were distracted during memory encoding no longer favored positive over negative pictures in their later recall, revealing that older adults use cognitive resources to implement emotional goals during encoding. In contrast, younger adults showed no signs of using cognitive control to make their memories more positive, indicating that, for them, emotion regulation goals are not chronically activated.
BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Older adults' peak performance on memor... more BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Older adults' peak performance on memory and cognitive inhibition tasks tends to be in the morning, whereas younger adults' peak performance tends to be in the afternoon. Although these tasks require efficient attentional processes for optimal performance, previous research examining age differences in the effects of time of day has not measured the distinct aspects of attention quantified by the Attention Network Test (ANT; Fan, McCandliss, Sommer, Raz, & Posner, 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 340-347). The authors examined the relationship between time of testing and the efficiency of alerting, orienting, and executive attention networks by randomly assigning younger (18-28 years; n = 27, M = 21.37 years, SD = 2.39) and older (65-85 years; n = 32, M = 73.34 years, SD = 5.18) adults to morning (AM) or afternoon (PM) testing of alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Mean reaction times for each network were analyzed with a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) with age (younger, older) and time of day (AM, PM) as between-subjects factors. Consistent with the authors' hypotheses, although time of day had little effect on orienting or executive attention, it affected alerting in opposite ways for younger and older adults, with alerting cues benefiting performance most at participants' off-peak times of day. A larger benefit from alerting cues was observed when participants were tested at their off-peak (M = 30.11 ± 15.66) relative to their peak (M = 2.18 ± 15.97) time. These findings show that age-related circadian patterns influence the alerting component of attention, with both age groups showing the largest benefit from alerting cues when testing occurs at nonoptimal times of day. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of controlling for time of day in investigations of attention and add to our understanding of how age differences in circadian patterns impact attention.
Although previous work has shown that emotion regulation strategies can influence memory, the mec... more Although previous work has shown that emotion regulation strategies can influence memory, the mechanisms through which different strategies produce different memory outcomes are not well understood. We examined how two cognitive reappraisal strategies with similar elaboration demands but diverging effects on visual attention and emotional arousal influenced explicit memory for emotional stimuli and for the strategies used to evaluate the stimuli. At encoding, participants used reappraisal to increase and decrease the personal relevance of neutral and emotional pictures. In two experiments, recall accuracy was highest for emotional pictures featured on increase trials, intermediate for emotional pictures featured on look (respond naturally) trials, and lowest for emotional pictures featured on decrease trials. This recall pattern emerged after a short delay (15 min) and persisted over a longer delay (48 hr). Memory accuracy for the strategies used to evaluate the pictures showed a different pattern: Strategy memory was better for emotional pictures featured on decrease and increase trials than for pictures featured on look trials. Our findings show that the effects of emotion regulation on memory depend both on the particular strategy engaged and the particular aspect of memory being tested.
A large body of work reveals that people remember emotionally arousing information better than ne... more A large body of work reveals that people remember emotionally arousing information better than neutral information. However, previous research reveals contradictory effects of emotional events on memory for neutral events that precede or follow them: in some studies emotionally arousing items impair memory for immediately preceding or following items and in others arousing items enhance memory for preceding items. By demonstrating both emotion-induced enhancement and impairment, Experiments 1 and 2 clarified the conditions under which these effects are likely to occur. The results suggest that emotion-induced enhancement is most likely to occur for neutral items that: (1) precede (and so are poised to predict the onset of) emotionally arousing items, (2) have high attentional weights at encoding, and (3) are tested after a delay period of a week rather than within the same experiment session. In contrast, emotion-induced impairment is most likely to occur for neutral items near the onset of emotional arousal that are overshadowed by highly activated competing items during encoding.
When making choices, people often try to directly compare the features of different options rathe... more When making choices, people often try to directly compare the features of different options rather than evaluating each option separately. Not every feature has an analogous (or alignable) feature in the other option, however. In this study, both younger and older adults filled in such gaps when remembering, creating features in the other option to contrast with existing features. Thus, participants had a tendency to remember choice options as more comparable than they originally were. High performance on tasks tapping strategic processing was associated with a pattern of mostly feature-based comparisons during choice for older adults but with a pattern of mostly option-based comparisons for younger adults. This pattern suggests that younger and older adults' comparison processes are influenced by different goals.
The present study revealed that older adults recruit cognitive control processes to strengthen po... more The present study revealed that older adults recruit cognitive control processes to strengthen positive and diminish negative information in memory. In Experiment 1, older adults engaged in more elaborative processing when retrieving positive memories than they did when retrieving negative memories. In Experiment 2, older adults who did well on tasks involving cognitive control were more likely than those doing poorly to favor positive pictures in memory. In Experiment 3, older adults who were distracted during memory encoding no longer favored positive over negative pictures in their later recall, revealing that older adults use cognitive resources to implement emotional goals during encoding. In contrast, younger adults showed no signs of using cognitive control to make their memories more positive, indicating that, for them, emotion regulation goals are not chronically activated.
BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Older adults' peak performance on memor... more BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Older adults' peak performance on memory and cognitive inhibition tasks tends to be in the morning, whereas younger adults' peak performance tends to be in the afternoon. Although these tasks require efficient attentional processes for optimal performance, previous research examining age differences in the effects of time of day has not measured the distinct aspects of attention quantified by the Attention Network Test (ANT; Fan, McCandliss, Sommer, Raz, & Posner, 2002, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 340-347). The authors examined the relationship between time of testing and the efficiency of alerting, orienting, and executive attention networks by randomly assigning younger (18-28 years; n = 27, M = 21.37 years, SD = 2.39) and older (65-85 years; n = 32, M = 73.34 years, SD = 5.18) adults to morning (AM) or afternoon (PM) testing of alerting, orienting, and executive attention. Mean reaction times for each network were analyzed with a univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) with age (younger, older) and time of day (AM, PM) as between-subjects factors. Consistent with the authors' hypotheses, although time of day had little effect on orienting or executive attention, it affected alerting in opposite ways for younger and older adults, with alerting cues benefiting performance most at participants' off-peak times of day. A larger benefit from alerting cues was observed when participants were tested at their off-peak (M = 30.11 ± 15.66) relative to their peak (M = 2.18 ± 15.97) time. These findings show that age-related circadian patterns influence the alerting component of attention, with both age groups showing the largest benefit from alerting cues when testing occurs at nonoptimal times of day. Overall, these findings underscore the importance of controlling for time of day in investigations of attention and add to our understanding of how age differences in circadian patterns impact attention.
Although previous work has shown that emotion regulation strategies can influence memory, the mec... more Although previous work has shown that emotion regulation strategies can influence memory, the mechanisms through which different strategies produce different memory outcomes are not well understood. We examined how two cognitive reappraisal strategies with similar elaboration demands but diverging effects on visual attention and emotional arousal influenced explicit memory for emotional stimuli and for the strategies used to evaluate the stimuli. At encoding, participants used reappraisal to increase and decrease the personal relevance of neutral and emotional pictures. In two experiments, recall accuracy was highest for emotional pictures featured on increase trials, intermediate for emotional pictures featured on look (respond naturally) trials, and lowest for emotional pictures featured on decrease trials. This recall pattern emerged after a short delay (15 min) and persisted over a longer delay (48 hr). Memory accuracy for the strategies used to evaluate the pictures showed a different pattern: Strategy memory was better for emotional pictures featured on decrease and increase trials than for pictures featured on look trials. Our findings show that the effects of emotion regulation on memory depend both on the particular strategy engaged and the particular aspect of memory being tested.
A large body of work reveals that people remember emotionally arousing information better than ne... more A large body of work reveals that people remember emotionally arousing information better than neutral information. However, previous research reveals contradictory effects of emotional events on memory for neutral events that precede or follow them: in some studies emotionally arousing items impair memory for immediately preceding or following items and in others arousing items enhance memory for preceding items. By demonstrating both emotion-induced enhancement and impairment, Experiments 1 and 2 clarified the conditions under which these effects are likely to occur. The results suggest that emotion-induced enhancement is most likely to occur for neutral items that: (1) precede (and so are poised to predict the onset of) emotionally arousing items, (2) have high attentional weights at encoding, and (3) are tested after a delay period of a week rather than within the same experiment session. In contrast, emotion-induced impairment is most likely to occur for neutral items near the onset of emotional arousal that are overshadowed by highly activated competing items during encoding.
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