title: Aging and attentional bias for death related and general threat-related information: less avoidance in older as compared with middle-aged adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aging literature suggests that life satisfaction and affective well being stabilizes or even increases during the aging process, and that death anxiety would decrease with aging. Experimental psychology literature shows that emotions play a critical role in information processing. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether death related versus nondeath-related threat words would lead to differential attentional processing in middle aged versus older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-seven older adults between 74 and 90 year and 31 middle-aged adults between 40 and 50 years participated in the study. We used questionnaires to asses death anxiety and an exogenous cueing task to measure attention toward death related versus general threat words.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results showed no age-related differences in self-reported death anxiety, but less attentional avoidance of threat in older adults. We failed to demonstrate differences between general and death-related threat.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study investigating attentional processing of both death- and threat-related information in older versus younger adults. Less avoidance from threat suggests that with aging, death becomes less of a concern, which might be indicative of acceptance of the own finiteness at old age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. rudi.DeRaedt@UGent.be
authors.forename: Rudi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Raedt
authors.forename: Ernst H W
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Koster
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ryckewaert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires