title: Attentional bias for emotional information in older adults: the role of emotion and future time perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research suggests that older adults display a positivity bias at the level of information processing. However, because studies investigating attentional bias for emotional information in older adults have produced mixed findings, research identifying inter-individual differences that may explain these inconsistent results is necessary. Therefore, we investigated whether mood, symptoms of depression, symptoms of anxiety and future time perspective are related to attentional bias in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-seven healthy older adults and 25 healthy middle-aged adults completed questionnaires to assess mood, symptoms of depression, symptoms of anxiety and future time perspective. Attentional bias towards happy, sad and neutral information was measured using a modified exogenous cueing paradigm with long cue presentations, to measure maintained attention versus avoidance of emotional stimuli.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Older adults showed attentional avoidance for all emotional faces, whereas no attentional biases were found in the middle-aged group. Moreover, in the older adult group, avoidance for negative information was related to anxiety. Future time perspective was unrelated to attentional bias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that anxiety may lead to inter-individual differences in attentional bias in older adults, and that avoidance from negative information may be an emotion regulation strategy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Ineke.Demeyer@UGent.be
authors.forename: Ineke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Demeyer
authors.forename: Rudi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Raedt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001288:Attention; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013998:Time Perception