Psychology and AgingPub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-05-05DOI: 10.1037/pag0000889
Colleen C Frank, Thorsten Pachur
{"title":"The affect gap in risky choice is similar for younger and older adults.","authors":"Colleen C Frank, Thorsten Pachur","doi":"10.1037/pag0000889","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000889","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While risky decision making is often studied using decisions with relatively affect-poor outcomes (typically moderate amounts of money), many decisions in the real world elicit higher levels of affect (e.g., medical decisions). Research suggests that choices diverge between relatively affect-rich decisions and relatively affect-poor monetary decisions. However, it is unknown to what extent this \"affect gap\" holds in older adults, who make some of the most consequential medical and financial decisions among the population and have been shown to process affect differently than younger adults. In the present study, we compared decision quality and risk attitude in affect-rich choice problems (with medical side effects as possible outcomes) to that in structurally identical and economically matched affect-poor choice problems (with monetary losses as possible outcomes) in 100 older (aged 65-80 years, <i>M</i> = 69.7) and 100 younger (aged 18-29 years, <i>M</i> = 23.5) adults. Replicating previous findings on the affect gap, individuals were more risk averse (odds ratio [<i>OR</i>] = 1.52) and made worse quality decisions (<i>OR</i> = 2.13) for affect-rich than for affect-poor problems. Importantly, this pattern emerged very similarly for younger and older adults. Computational modeling with cumulative prospect theory indicated that participants tended to weight probability information less strongly for affect-rich than for affect-poor choices, regardless of age. Yet, while younger adults were more sensitive to differences in affect-rich than in affect-poor outcomes, older adults showed similar sensitivity to differences in affect-rich and affect-poor outcomes. These findings demonstrate the robustness of the affect gap across age groups and have implications for risk communication. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"575-582"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144041557","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":"Rule-based learning among older adults: Overcoming prior beliefs for better trust-related decisions.","authors":"Shuyao Liao, Jianbo Chen, Linlin Chen, Chao Chen, Hang Zhang, Xin Zhang","doi":"10.1037/pag0000897","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000897","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Older adults are known to prioritize unreliable facial cues (facial trustworthiness) over relevant behavioral information (behavioral evaluation) when judging trustworthiness, increasing their risk of falling victim to fraud. This study examines age-related difference in the initial preference for facial over behavioral cues, and whether older adults could overcome such biased preference through learning. An associative memory-free, rule-based one-shot trust game was used, where 104 younger adults (aged 18-28, <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 21.38, <i>SD</i><sub>age</sub> = 2.41; 31 males) and 105 older adults (aged 60-77, <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 65.55, <i>SD</i><sub>age</sub> = 4.15; 32 males) each completed 96 trials, deciding whether to invest in trustees based on their face and behavioral evaluation of trustworthiness. Computational modeling revealed that compared to younger participants, older adults relied more on perceived facial trustworthiness, rather than using the diagnostic cue of behavioral evaluation at the beginning. Nevertheless, older adults were able to learn to increase their decision weight for the diagnostic cue progressively, as younger adults did, with the feedback provided during the task. Such results showcased older adults' capability to learn the implicit rules and adjust their decisions from feedback. These findings contribute to the development of interventions aimed at preventing fraud victimization and promoting decision-making quality among older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"449-461"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144034750","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 : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-04-28DOI: 10.1037/pag0000888
Daphne J Wootton, Julie D Henry, Sarah P Coundouris, Olivia P Demichelis, Sarah A Grainger
{"title":"Age differences in social affective forecasting.","authors":"Daphne J Wootton, Julie D Henry, Sarah P Coundouris, Olivia P Demichelis, Sarah A Grainger","doi":"10.1037/pag0000888","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000888","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Almost all prior literature on affective forecasting in older age has focused exclusively on discrete outcomes in nonsocial contexts (such as winning monetary rewards) and not a single study to date has examined age-related differences in affective forecasting in social contexts. Because close social relationships are prioritized as people age, the present study was designed to provide the first test of how younger and older adults forecast their emotions when anticipating an interaction with a real social partner. We recruited younger and older adults and asked them to forecast their positive and negative emotions in response to a brief face-to-face interaction with a social partner (female confederate) before reporting their actual experienced emotions after the interaction. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which they were either primed to perceive closeness with their conversation partner or not. Overall, older adults predicted and experienced more positive and less negative emotions relative to their younger counterparts. However, no other age effects emerged. Both age groups overestimated their negative and underanticipated their positive future emotions to a similar degree (although this latter effect was stronger in the perceived closeness vs. control condition). These findings offer support for the hypothesis that normative shifts in goal orientation and affective experience associated with aging may influence the valence of forecasted and experienced emotion and, importantly, demonstrate that affective forecasting accuracy is not negatively impacted by age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"479-489"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144022933","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 : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-04-21DOI: 10.1037/pag0000896
Adam J Barnas, Jeffrey T Kunath, Eliany Perez, Zachary Boogaart, Dawn Bowers, Natalie C Ebner, Steven M Weisberg
{"title":"Spatial navigation strategy in older adults: Preference or ability?","authors":"Adam J Barnas, Jeffrey T Kunath, Eliany Perez, Zachary Boogaart, Dawn Bowers, Natalie C Ebner, Steven M Weisberg","doi":"10.1037/pag0000896","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000896","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Spatial navigation strategies change in aging. Whereas younger adults use more shortcuts (place-based strategies), older adults use more familiar routes (response-based strategies). Does this bias in older adults reflect a preference for familiar routes or deficits in the ability to take shortcuts? We tested this question by providing an instructions-based intervention in which participants were told to take shortcuts rather than follow a learned route. We predicted that when instructed to do so, participants would increase shortcut taking overall, but older adults to a lesser extent than younger adults, supporting the notion that preference, rather than an inability to use place-based strategies, underlies the predilection for response-based strategies in older age. Younger (<i>n</i> = 64) and older (<i>n</i> = 65) adults completed two sessions of a desktop virtual navigation strategy task in which they could navigate to goal locations following a familiar route or taking a novel shortcut. In the first session, all participants received the instruction to navigate to goal locations. In the second session, half received the same instruction as before and the other half was instructed to take shortcuts. We computed participants' tendency toward place- or response-based strategies in each session. We replicated the finding that younger adults took more shortcuts when instructed; however, counter to our prediction, the instruction manipulation had no effect in older adults. These findings suggest that navigation strategy in younger adults is flexible and may reflect preference, whereas older adults more rigidly adhere to familiar routes, implying impaired or degraded survey knowledge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"462-478"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12289431/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144039297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychology and AgingPub Date : 2025-08-01Epub Date: 2025-05-05DOI: 10.1037/pag0000901
Jun Zheng, Baike Li, Ningxin Su, Wenbo Zhao, Dahua Wang, Xiao Hu, Zhaomin Liu, Chunliang Yang, Liang Luo
{"title":"Age differences in the reactivity effect of judgments of learning on recognition memory.","authors":"Jun Zheng, Baike Li, Ningxin Su, Wenbo Zhao, Dahua Wang, Xiao Hu, Zhaomin Liu, Chunliang Yang, Liang Luo","doi":"10.1037/pag0000901","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000901","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent studies established that engaging metacognitive monitoring via making judgments of learning (JOLs) can directly enhance young adults' recognition memory, a phenomenon termed the <i>reactivity effect</i> of JOLs. The present study explored the reactive influence of making JOLs on older adults' recognition memory and probed the potential age-related differences in this effect. In three experiments, participants were instructed to study four lists of words, with two lists studied with concurrent JOLs and the other two without, followed by a recognition test. The results provided strong evidence that making JOLs improves older adults' recognition performance (Experiments 1-3) through enhancing both recollection- and familiarity-based recognition (Experiment 3). But the positive reactivity effect on recognition memory for older adults was weaker than that for young adults (Experiments 2 and 3). To elucidate potential mechanisms underlying age-related differences in the reactivity effect, the present study also measured participants' learning engagement and cognitive abilities. The model results substantiated the mediating role of learning engagement, supporting the enhanced learning engagement theory, rather than the dual-task hypothesis, as an account for the reactivity effect on recognition memory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":"558-574"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144039521","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}
Weiyi Ma, Timothy S Killian, Xinya Liang, Diankun Gong, William Forde Thompson
{"title":"Beyond baby talk: Unique vocal dynamics directed at older adults.","authors":"Weiyi Ma, Timothy S Killian, Xinya Liang, Diankun Gong, William Forde Thompson","doi":"10.1037/pag0000924","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000924","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans instinctively adapt their speech dynamics based on their communication partner. Despite the significant developmental differences between infants and older adults, research on vocal communication directed toward older adults has primarily documented broad adjustments that enhance comprehension, often interpreted as mirroring baby talk. This study examined spoken, sung, and whispered vocalizations produced by young native English-speaking female adults directed at infants, older adults, and young adults. Three separate groups of speakers produced either spoken (19 speakers), sung (21 speakers), or whispered (19 speakers) vocalizations. Results showed distinct acoustic patterns in vocalizations directed toward older adults across all three vocal modes. Then, three separate groups of young native English-speaking listeners evaluated either the spoken (185 listeners), sung (194 listeners), or whispered (171 listeners) vocalizations and accurately identified the intended audience. These findings challenged the assumption of uniform communication strategies for infants and older adults. Furthermore, older adult-directed vocalizations were associated more with infants than with young adults. We propose that an assessment of the cognitive, hearing, emotional, and attentional needs and abilities of the audience is crucial in shaping communication dynamics, leading to distinct vocal dynamics for infants and older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144761844","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":"Making guesses during learning can be beneficial for older adults' memory.","authors":"Oliver Kliegl, Johannes Bartl, Karl-Heinz T Bäuml","doi":"10.1037/pag0000929","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000929","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>When young adults complete a pretest (e.g., star-?) before to-be-learned material is studied (e.g., star-<i>night</i>), their recall of the material is typically enhanced on a subsequent final test compared to material studied without initial pretesting. The present two experiments investigated whether this pretesting effect arises also in older adults and is modulated in size when repeated guessing attempts are made during pretesting. Sixty young adults (mean age = 24.5 years) and 60 older adults (mean age = 68.6 years) took part in Experiment 1, while 54 young adults (mean age = 21.8 years) and 54 older adults (mean age = 66.6 years) took part in Experiment 2. Results showed that, like young adults, older adults can benefit from a single guessing attempt made during pretesting, both when weakly associated word pairs (Experiment 1) and prose passages (Experiment 2) were used as study material. However, multiple guessing attempts during pretesting led to an additional recall benefit when word pairs but not when prose passages had been studied. Experiment 2 also examined possible transfer effects of pretesting and showed a lack of transfer to previously studied but untested information, for both young and older adults. The results are discussed with respect to prominent accounts of the pretesting effect. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144761845","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":"Gender disparities in the development of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy across adulthood: A two-wave study.","authors":"Timo Gnambs, Mariann Schwaß","doi":"10.1037/pag0000923","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000923","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite the increasing importance of digital skills in modern society, the development of information and communication technology (ICT) literacy in adulthood has received limited attention, particularly regarding gender differences over the course of life. Therefore, this study investigated between-person differences and within-person changes in ICT literacy over approximately 9 years in a sample of <i>N</i> = 2,266 adults from Germany. The result showed that younger adults exhibited higher ICT literacy than older adults, but within-person changes did not differ by age. On average, ICT literacy declined over time (Cohen's <i>d</i> = -0.30). Men consistently demonstrated higher ICT literacy than women (Cohen's <i>d</i> = 0.39), though gender did not influence changes in ICT literacy. Socioeconomic status did not robustly moderate these effects. These findings suggest that ICT literacy tends to decline across adulthood, while preexisting gender differences, likely rooted in earlier socialization processes, persist without substantial change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144676201","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":"Age simulation effects on full-body motor sequence learning.","authors":"Anna Heggenberger, Janine Vieweg, Sabine Schaefer","doi":"10.1037/pag0000921","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000921","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Gross-motor sequence learning is fundamental for performing daily activities and maintaining independence across the lifespan. This study investigated how age and age simulation affect gross-motor sequence learning, focusing on acquisition, execution performance, explicit recall, and retention performance. We tested 74 participants belonging to five groups: young adults aged 18-27 years without (<i>n</i> = 14) or with (<i>n</i> = 15) an age simulation suit, middle-aged adults aged 30-59 years without (<i>n</i> = 15) or with (<i>n</i> = 15) the suit, and older adults aged 60-86 years without the suit (<i>n</i> = 15). Participants in the suit condition wore the GERonTologic Simulator age suit (Moll, 2021), which simulates age-related physical impairments by reducing sensory perception, flexibility, and strength. Participants performed a fixed 10-element gross-motor sequence task requiring full-body movements over 28 practice trials. Explicit sequence recall was assessed after acquisition, and a retention test was conducted on the following day. All groups demonstrated implicit sequence learning and maintained their performance levels from the end of acquisition to the retention test. However, young adults without the suit exhibited the fastest execution times and highest explicit recall scores. Notably, the suit significantly impaired execution performance and explicit recall in both younger and middle-aged adults, indicating that peripheral impairments can hinder explicit memory formation even when implicit learning remains intact. These findings highlight the significant impact of peripheral sensorimotor declines on gross-motor sequence learning and memory formation across the adult lifespan. The results underscore the importance of considering both cognitive and sensorimotor factors in motor learning research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144676200","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}
Samira Vafa, Min Hooi Yong, Aleya A Marzuki, Alvin Lai Oon Ng, Alexandre Schaefer
{"title":"Online cognitive stimulation intervention (CSI): A novel approach to improve cognitive functions in healthy older adults.","authors":"Samira Vafa, Min Hooi Yong, Aleya A Marzuki, Alvin Lai Oon Ng, Alexandre Schaefer","doi":"10.1037/pag0000911","DOIUrl":"10.1037/pag0000911","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cognitive interventions demonstrate promising evidence for minimizing cognitive decline in older adults yet are often criticized for their lack of ecological validity. We designed a real-life intervention using mobile-based shopping applications over 22 weeks and examined its effects on cognitive function. We recruited 102 healthy Malaysian older adults (<i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 66.18, <i>SD</i> = 4.95) who were randomly assigned to three conditions: experimental, active control, and passive control. The first two groups had weekly sessions but not the latter. The experimental group completed tasks designed to assess inhibition and working memory-updating using online shopping applications (trained applications) with varying difficulty levels, whereas active control participants freely interacted with the same applications without any training instructions. All groups completed assessment sessions in the baseline, posttest, and a 1-month follow-up, including noncomputerized versions of Stroop, Digit Span, and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test, and an untrained application (Tripadvisor) measuring inhibition and working memory-updating. Data were analyzed using Bayesian analysis of variance and multivariate multiple regression. Results showed that the experimental group performed better in the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test-3 s compared to the passive control, suggesting training gains in working memory-updating. The experimental group performed better in inhibition and working memory-updating in the untrained application compared to both control groups, indicating a near transfer effect. In summary, our findings provide evidence that cognitive stimulation by tasks using online shopping activities on mobile phones is beneficial for older adults' cognitive function. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48426,"journal":{"name":"Psychology and Aging","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144650916","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}