Psychology and AgingPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-06-27DOI: 10.1037/pag0000828
Yi Lin, Fei Xu, Xiaoqing Ye, Huaiyi Zhang, Hongwei Ding, Yang Zhang
{"title":"Age and sex differences in emotion perception are influenced by emotional category and communication channel.","authors":"Yi Lin, Fei Xu, Xiaoqing Ye, Huaiyi Zhang, Hongwei Ding, Yang Zhang","doi":"10.1037/pag0000828","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000828","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sex differences in verbal and nonverbal emotion processing in older individuals are underexplored despite declining emotional performance with age. This study aimed to investigate the nature of sex differences in age-related decline in emotion perception, exploring modulatory effects on communication channels and emotion categories. Seventy-three older adults (43 female participants, aged 60-89 years) and 74 younger adults (37 female participants, aged 18-30 years) completed a task to recognize basic emotions (i.e., anger, happiness, neutrality, sadness) expressed by female or male encoders through verbal (i.e., semantic) and nonverbal (i.e., facial and prosodic) channels. Female participants consistently demonstrated an overall advantage in emotion perception and expression across both age cohorts. In older adults, this superiority was heightened in decoding angry and sad faces, as well as angry prosody and happy and sad semantics. However, older individuals exhibited decreased sensitivities to angry semantics, sad prosody, and neutral prosody from female encoders, whereas they showed heightened sensitivities to happy faces from female encoders and angry faces from male encoders. Both older and younger adults displayed age-related changes in sex interactions specific to emotional categories and channels. But neither own-sex nor opposite-sex bias was systematically observed across the two age groups. These results suggest that explicit emotion processing involves an intricate integration of individual and contextual differences, with significant age and sex interplay linked to specific emotions and channels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"17-31"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141459994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychology and AgingPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-09-05DOI: 10.1037/pag0000846
Valgeir Thorvaldsson, Ingmar Skoog, Boo Johansson
{"title":"Delayed onset of cognitive terminal decline in later born cohorts: Evidence from a longitudinal study of two cohorts born 29-years apart.","authors":"Valgeir Thorvaldsson, Ingmar Skoog, Boo Johansson","doi":"10.1037/pag0000846","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000846","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this study, we evaluated birth cohort (i.e., generational) differences in the onset and rate of acceleration in cognitive decline prior to death (i.e., terminal decline [TD]). We obtained data from two cohorts, born in 1901-1902 (<i>n</i> = 755, 64% females) and 1930 (<i>n</i> = 347, 48% females), identified and sampled at age 70 from the same city population and assessed on the same cognitive tests at ages 70, 75, 79, 85, and 88. The 1901-1902 cohort was additionally assessed at ages 90, 92, 95, 97, 99, and 100. The outcome was defined at each measurement occasion by a composite score of three cognitive tests assessing spatial ability, perceptual and motor speed, and reasoning. Date of death was obtained from population register, with the last update in April 2023, covering over 99% and 38% of the cohort members, respectively. We fitted a random TD change point model to the data while accounting for sex and education. Findings revealed expected TD onset (as conditioned on male with formal education) 5.17 (95% highest density interval [2.54, 8.05]) years prior to death in the 1901-1902 cohort, with an acceleration in rate of decline by a factor of 4.43 within the TD phase. This estimate was delayed by 2.53 (95% highest density interval [5.68, 0.10]) years in the 1930 cohort, with an acceleration by a factor of 5.16 within the TD phase. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to present evidence indicating that today's birth cohort experience, on average, a shorter TD phase in comparison to earlier born cohorts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"109-116"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142141375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychology and AgingPub Date : 2025-02-01Epub Date: 2024-06-24DOI: 10.1037/pag0000836
Nicholas Ichien, Dušan Stamenković, Mary C Whatley, Alan D Castel, Keith J Holyoak
{"title":"Advancing with age: Older adults excel in comprehension of novel metaphors.","authors":"Nicholas Ichien, Dušan Stamenković, Mary C Whatley, Alan D Castel, Keith J Holyoak","doi":"10.1037/pag0000836","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000836","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Older adults may experience certain forms of cognitive decline, but some forms of semantic memory remain intact in older age. To address how metaphor comprehension changes with age and whether metaphor comprehension relies more heavily on analogical reasoning (supported by fluid intelligence) or on conceptual combination (supported by crystalized intelligence), we compared performance of younger and older adults. In two experiments, healthy older adults (54-88 years) scored lower on a measure of fluid intelligence (Ravens Progressive Matrices) but higher on a measure of crystalized intelligence (Mill Hill Vocabulary Test) relative to younger adults (18-34 years). Groups were equally successful in comprehending relatively easy metaphors (Study 1), but older adults showed a striking advantage over younger adults for novel literary metaphors (Study 2). Mixed-effects modeling showed that measures of fluid and crystalized intelligence each made separable contributions to metaphor comprehension for both groups, but older adults relied more on crystalized intelligence than did younger adults. These age-related dissociations clarify cognitive effects of aging and highlight the importance of crystalized intelligence for metaphor comprehension in both younger and older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"6-16"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141447380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Suzana Ignjatović, Zoran Pavlović, Bojan Todosijević
{"title":"Outliving oneself through the next generations: (grand)parenthood and values in later life.","authors":"Suzana Ignjatović, Zoran Pavlović, Bojan Todosijević","doi":"10.1037/pag0000879","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000879","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The article explores personal values among older adults in relation to their \"offspring status.\" Erikson's theory of psychosocial development and Schwartz's theory of human values suggest a positive relationship between having offspring and prosocial values. We tested this hypothesis by comparing older adults who have none, one, or two generations of descendants: childless (with no descendants), grandchildless (with adult children and no grandchildren), and grandparents. We conducted a hierarchical multilevel regression analysis using data from Round 9 of the European Social Survey on a subsample of 12,713 respondents older than 65 from 29 European countries. Our model predicted preferences for four of the Schwartz higher order value types (Self-Transcendence, Self-Enhancement, Openness to Change, and Conservation) among the three categories of older adults based on their offspring status, controlling for individual-level (gender, education level, general health) and macro-level variables (Human Development Index). All but Openness to Change values are significantly predicted by older adults' offspring status. Having grandchildren is positively associated with Self-Transcendence and Conservation values (socially oriented values) and negatively with Self-Enhancement (values with self-oriented focus). The article discusses the theoretical implications of the obtained findings, focusing on plausible mechanisms connecting the offspring status and value orientations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143025338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christina Ristl, Selma Korlat, Fiona S Rupprecht, Alexandra Burgstaller, Jana Nikitin
{"title":"Self-perceptions of aging and social goals.","authors":"Christina Ristl, Selma Korlat, Fiona S Rupprecht, Alexandra Burgstaller, Jana Nikitin","doi":"10.1037/pag0000881","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000881","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Existing research shows a clear link between the way people experience the aging process (i.e., self-perceptions of aging) and their health, cognitive abilities, and well-being. In contrast, there is little research on the association between self-perceptions of aging and social functioning. This study examines the relationship between awareness of age-related gains and losses as two facets of self-perceptions of aging and social approach and avoidance goals. Social approach goals (i.e., goals that focus on positive, desirable social outcomes) and social avoidance goals (i.e., goals that focus on negative, undesirable social outcomes) play a fundamental role in shaping individuals' social experiences and behaviors. We hypothesize that awareness of age-related gains is associated with social approach goals, whereas awareness of age-related losses is associated with social avoidance goals. In an experience sampling study with <i>N</i> = 117 participants aged 18-85 years (<i>M</i> = 40.4, <i>SD</i> = 17.1), we examined interindividual differences in participants' awareness of age-related gains and losses and how these relate to social goals. We focused on social goals in everyday social situations (aggregated state) and as individual dispositions (trait). As hypothesized, awareness of age-related gains was positively associated with social approach (but not avoidance) goals, while awareness of age-related losses was positively associated with social avoidance (but not approach) goals. These associations largely persisted even after controlling for age. These findings suggest that perceptions of age-related gains and losses are important factors in how people navigate their social lives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143025252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Younger adults may be faster at making semantic predictions, but older adults are more efficient.","authors":"Leigh B Fernandez, Muzna Shehzad, Lauren V Hadley","doi":"10.1037/pag0000872","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000872","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While there is strong evidence that younger adults use contextual information to generate semantic predictions, findings from older adults are less clear. Age affects cognition in a variety of different ways that may impact prediction mechanisms; while the efficiency of memory systems and processing speed decrease, life experience leads to complementary increases in vocabulary size, real-world knowledge, and even inhibitory control. Using the visual world paradigm, we tested prediction in younger (<i>n</i> = 30, between 18 and 35 years of age) and older adults (<i>n</i> = 30, between 53 and 78 years of age). Importantly, we differentiated early stage predictions based on simple spreading activation from the more resource-intensive tailoring of predictions when additional constraining information is provided. We found that older adults were slower than younger adults in generating early stage predictions but then quicker than younger adults to tailor those predictions given additional information. This suggests that while age may lead to delays in first activating relevant lexical items when listening to speech, increased linguistic experience nonetheless increases the efficiency with which contextual information is used. These findings are consistent with reports of age having positive as well as negative impacts on cognition and suggest conflation of different stages of prediction as a basis for the inconsistency in the aging-related literature to date. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143014041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Exploring semantic expression disparities in intragenerational and intergenerational communication: A novel perspective on socioemotional selectivity theory.","authors":"Peng-Yu Zeng, Su-Ling Yeh","doi":"10.1037/pag0000877","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000877","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Socioemotional Selectivity Theory (SST) posits that older and younger adults have different life goals due to differences in perceived remaining lifetime. Younger adults focus more on future-oriented knowledge exploration and forming new friendships, while older adults prioritize present-focused emotional regulation and maintaining close relationships. While previous research has found these age differences manifest in autobiographical textual expressions, their presence in verbal communication remains unexplored. We recruited 36 older adults and 36 younger adults to form 12 younger adults-younger adults dyads, 12 older adults-older adults dyads, and 12 younger adults-older adults dyads engaging in three conversational scenarios. Analysis of communication transcripts using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count revealed that in intragenerational communication, older adults used more present-focused and family-related words, and fewer future-focused, negative emotion, and knowledge acquisition words compared to younger adults, aligning with SST predictions. However, in intergenerational communication, younger and older adults showed similar patterns in future-focused, cognitive, and family-related language use. This suggests that participants adjusted their goal orientations to accommodate each other, mitigating the age differences proposed by SST and partially supporting the Interpersonal Cognitive Consistency Model. These findings indicate that while SST explains semantic expressions in intragenerational communication, group dynamics toward verbal consistency play a more vital role in intergenerational communication. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142972784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Moritz Breit, Martin Brunner, Julian Preuß, Monika Daseking, Franz Pauls, Franziska Walter, Franzis Preckel
{"title":"The contribution of general intelligence to cognitive performance across the lifespan: A differentiation analysis of the wechsler tests.","authors":"Moritz Breit, Martin Brunner, Julian Preuß, Monika Daseking, Franz Pauls, Franziska Walter, Franzis Preckel","doi":"10.1037/pag0000875","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000875","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human cognitive abilities exhibit positive interrelationships that can be represented by a latent general intelligence factor (g). Differentiation hypotheses propose that there are systematic interindividual differences in the strength of g, specifically along the dimensions of ability level (ability differentiation) and age (age differentiation). Despite the potential implications for cognitive theory and assessment, the available evidence on the matter is inconclusive. We present comprehensive analyses of differentiation effects across the lifespan, drawing on the meta-analytic integration of nonlinear factor analyses with German standardization samples (<i>N</i> = 4,129) of the most widely used intelligence tests worldwide (i.e., the Wechsler tests). Results support ability differentiation at all ages, with particularly large effect sizes in young adults, and suggest a complex pattern of age differentiation and dedifferentiation across the lifespan. These findings challenge the uniformity of g, highlighting the need to account for differentiation effects in cognitive theories and assessment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142972786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hongmei Lin, Yi-Long Lu, Li Li, Jian Li, Xin Zhang, Helene H Fung
{"title":"Selectivity in prosociality among older adults: The moderation effect of self- and other-oriented motivation.","authors":"Hongmei Lin, Yi-Long Lu, Li Li, Jian Li, Xin Zhang, Helene H Fung","doi":"10.1037/pag0000873","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000873","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Prosociality tends to increase with age, but whether older adults (OA) are more willing than younger adults (YA) to extend their prosocial behaviors beyond close social circles remains a topic of debate. This study aimed to address this controversy and explore the underlying mechanisms of age-related differences in prosociality through the lens of social discounting and gain-and-loss framing. One hundred twenty-three younger adults and 135 older adults participated in a social discounting task (measuring prosocial tendencies toward various social relationships) with various framings (self-oriented framing, other-oriented framing, and control condition). Compared to younger adults, older adults exhibited higher overall prosociality and treated socially close and distant others more evenly, indicating lower levels of selectivity in prosociality. Notably, the interaction effect between age and framing revealed that other-oriented framing amplified the prosocial tendencies of older adults, particularly toward socially distant others but not younger adults. These findings suggest other-oriented framing specifically reduced older adults' selectivity in prosociality, highlighting their prioritization of others' welfare and aversion to others' losses. This supports the notion that older adults' prosociality may be driven by other-oriented motivation rather than self-interest. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142933138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Experiential diversity theory of adult development and aging in daily life.","authors":"Rachel E Koffer, Soomi Lee, Johanna Drewelies","doi":"10.1037/pag0000858","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000858","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Present theories on adult development and aging offer insights into how aging is characterized by gains and losses across different domains (e.g., social, emotional, physical, and cognitive). Such gains and losses are related to changes in behaviors and experiences across various facets of daily life. However, much of the literature has focused on overall quantity of experiences rather than how such experiences are spread across different types. In this article, we propose that experiential diversity, conceptualized as rich and balanced experiences, is an important component of healthy and resilient aging. A conceptual framework demonstrates the theoretical underpinnings associating person-environment interactions with differences in experiential diversity and linking experiential diversity with aging-related outcomes. Experiential diversity is also discussed in the context of ontogenetic and sociohistorical change processes. Advances in empirical studies of experiential diversity across three representative domains of daily experiences (activities, stressors, and emotions) demonstrate how diversity of experiences declines with age. We further provide methodological (e.g., quantification, measurement, and timescales) and theoretical (e.g., moderators and cross-domain considerations) considerations for future studies on experiential diversity beyond the daily domains. Experiential diversity theory provides a theoretical leap, taking advantage of rich categorical data measured in studies of psychology and aging, and allowing for more nuanced consideration of the role of diverse experiences for healthy aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":"39 8","pages":"854-870"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142819850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}