Processing Distracting Non-face Emotional Images: No Evidence of an Age-Related Positivity Effect.

ABSTRACT: Cognitive aging may be accompanied by increased prioritization of social and emotional goals that enhance positive experiences and emotional states. The socioemotional selectivity theory suggests this may be achieved by giving preference to positive information and avoiding or suppressing negative information. Although there is some evidence of a positivity bias in controlled attention tasks, it remains unclear whether a positivity bias extends to the processing of affective stimuli presented outside focused attention. In two experiments, we investigated age-related differences in the effects of to-be-ignored non-face affective images on target processing. In Experiment 1, 27 older (64-90 years) and 25 young adults (19-29 years) made speeded valence judgments about centrally presented posi

SUBMITTER: Madill M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5389978 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature