title: Interdependent self-construal moderates the age-related negativity reduction effect in memory and visual attention.
abstract: There is some debate concerning whether people selectively attend to and remember less negative relative to positive or neutral information with age. We argue that such an age-related negativity reduction effect may be attenuated among individuals who are more interdependent, as they are likely to perceive negative information as equally useful and important as positive information. In 2 studies, we tested this hypothesis by examining memory for (Study 1) and visual attention to (Study 2) emotional (positive vs. negative) stimuli among younger, middle-aged, and older Chinese participants. Findings revealed that the age-related negativity reduction effect was found to a lesser extent among older Chinese individuals who were more interdependent than among those who were less interdependent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Room 328 Sino Building, Chung Chi College, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China. hhlfung@psy.cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: Helene H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Fung
authors.forename: Derek M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Isaacowitz
authors.forename: Alice Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Tianyuan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D055815:Young Adult