Preferences for emotional information in older and younger adults: a meta-analysis of memory and attention tasks.
The authors conducted a meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of older and younger adults' preferences for emotional stimuli in studies of attention and memory. Analyses involved 1,085 older adults from 37 independent samples and 3,150 younger adults from 86 independent samples. Both age groups exhibited small to medium emotion salience effects (i.e., preference for emotionally valenced stimuli over neutral stimuli) as well as positivity preferences (i.e., preference for positively valenced stimuli over neutral stimuli) and negativity preferences (i.e., preference for negatively valenced stimuli to neutral stimuli). There were few age differences overall. Type of measurement appeared to influence the magnitude of effects; recognition studies indicated significant age effects, where older adults showed smaller effects for emotion salience and negativity preferences than younger adults.
Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Los Angeles, CA 90045, USA. nmurphy@lmu.edu
Nora A
NA
Murphy
Derek M
DM
Isaacowitz
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D012660:Semantics; D014706:Verbal Learning