Are Elderly Less Responsive to Emotional Stimuli? An EEG-based Study across Pleasant, Unpleasant and Neutral Greek Words

A plethora of studies has shown that working memory, processing speed and fluid intelligence are diminished with aging. However, emotional processing remains relatively stable even though emotional processing alters through aging. Neurophysiological studies have employed emotional stimuli to investigate age differences through Event Related Potentials (ERPs). The present approach used affective visual word stimuli derived from the Greek language. Healthy young and elderly volunteers passively viewed the stimuli which were divided into pleasant, unpleasant and neutral. The study shows differential processing of emotional stimuli in comparison to the neutral in terms of temporal resolution (latency) and activation of neuronal assembles (amplitude). The age factor interacts with emotional dimension through a complex pattern while laterality differences also occur. Our results suggest a difference in the way emotional stimuli are processed during aging through functional compensation.