Dataset Information

Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information.

ABSTRACT: Studies on aging and emotion suggest an increase in reported positive affect, a processing bias of positive over negative information, as well as increasingly adaptive regulation in response to negative events with advancing age. These findings imply that older individuals evaluate information differently, resulting in lowered reactivity to, and/or faster recovery from, negative information, while maintaining more positive responding to positive information. We examined this hypothesis in an ongoing study on Midlife in the US (MIDUS II) where emotional reactivity and recovery were assessed in a large number of respondents (N = 159) from a wide age range (36-84 years). We recorded eye-blink startle magnitudes and corrugator activity during and after the presentation of positive, neutral and negative pictures. The most robust age effect was found in response to neutral stimuli, where increasing age is associated with a decreased corrugator and eyeblink startle response to neutral stimuli. These data suggest that an age-related positivity effect does not essentially alter the response to emotion-laden information, but is reflected in a more positive interpretation of affectively ambiguous information. Furthermore, older women showed reduced corrugator recovery from negative pictures relative to the younger women and men, suggesting that an age-related prioritization of well-being is not necessarily reflected in adaptive regulation of negative affect.

SUBMITTER: van Reekum CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3073385 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information.

van Reekum Carien M CM Schaefer Stacey M SM Lapate Regina C RC Norris Catherine J CJ Greischar Lawrence L LL Davidson Richard J RJ

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 20100412 2

Studies on aging and emotion suggest an increase in reported positive affect, a processing bias of positive over negative information, as well as increasingly adaptive regulation in response to negative events with advancing age. These findings imply that older individuals evaluate information differently, resulting in lowered reactivity to, and/or faster recovery from, negative information, while maintaining more positive responding to positive information. We examined this hypothesis in an ong ...[more]

PMID: 20385664

Similar Datasets

Project description:IntroductionWhile antidepressants are one of the first-line treatments for depression, the mechanisms underlying antidepressant action are unclear. Furthermore, the extent to which antidepressants impact emotional and cognitive dysfunction in depression requires more fine-grained approaches toward measuring these impacts in humans. Depression is associated with emotion and mood dysregulation in addition to cognitive deficits. Depressed individuals experience general memory impairment as well as a negativity bias in episodic memory, where negative events are better remembered than positive or neutral events. One potential mechanism hypothesized to underlie the negativity bias in memory is dysfunctional hippocampal pattern separation, in which depressed individuals tend to show impaired general pattern separation but enhanced negative pattern separation. Mnemonic discrimination tasks have been designed to tax hippocampal pattern separation in humans and provide a powerful approach to develop a mechanistic account for cognitive dysfunction in depression. While antidepressants have been examined primarily in rodent models in the context of hippocampal pattern separation, this has yet to be examined in humans.MethodsHere, we investigated how antidepressant usage and their perceived efficacy was associated with emotional mnemonic discrimination, given our prior work indicating a negativity bias for mnemonic discrimination in individuals with greater depressive symptoms.ResultsWe found that individuals who reported a greater improvement in their depressive symptoms after taking antidepressants (responders) showed reduced negative and enhanced neutral mnemonic discrimination compared to those with little to no improvement (non-responders). Perceived antidepressant efficacy was the strongest predictor of a reduction in the negativity bias for mnemonic discrimination, even when controlling for current depressive symptoms, antidepressant type, and other relevant factors.DiscussionThese results suggest that antidepressants, when effective, can shift memory dynamics toward healthy function.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:Among critically ill patients with acute kidney injury, exposure to positive fluid balance, compared with negative fluid balance, has been associated with mortality and impaired renal recovery. However, it is unclear whether positive and negative fluid balances are associated with poor outcome compared to patients with even fluid balance (euvolemia). In this study, we examined the association between exposure to positive or negative fluid balance, compared with even fluid balance, on 1-year mortality and renal recovery. DESIGN:Retrospective cohort study. SETTING:Eight medical-surgical ICUs at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA. PATIENTS:Critically ill patients admitted between July 2000 and October 2008. INTERVENTIONS:None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:Among 18,084 patients, fluid balance was categorized as negative (< 0%), even (0% to < 5%), or positive (? 5%). Following propensity matching, positive fluid balance, compared with even or negative fluid balance, was associated with increased mortality (30.3% vs 21.1% vs 22%, respectively; p < 0.001). Using Gray's model, negative fluid balance, compared with even fluid balance, was associated with lower short-term mortality (adjusted hazard ratio range, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68-0.96) but higher long-term mortality (adjusted hazard ratio range, 1.16-1.22; p = 0.004). Conversely, positive fluid balance was associated with higher mortality throughout 1-year (adjusted hazard ratio range, 1.30-1.92; p < 0.001), which was attenuated in those who received renal replacement therapy (positive fluid balance × renal replacement therapy interaction (adjusted hazard ratio range, 0.43-0.89; p < 0.001). Of patients receiving renal replacement therapy, neither positive (adjusted odds ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.68-1.4) nor negative (adjusted odds ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.43-1.55) fluid balance was associated with renal recovery. CONCLUSIONS:Among critically ill patients, exposure to positive or negative fluid balance, compared with even fluid balance, was associated with higher 1-year mortality. This mortality risk associated with positive fluid balance, however, was attenuated by use of renal replacement therapy. We found no association between fluid balance and renal recovery.

Dataset Information

Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information.

Publications

Aging is associated with positive responding to neutral information but reduced recovery from negative information.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets