Changing interpretations of emotional expressions in working memory with aging
Changing interpretations of emotional expressions in working memory with aging
Working memory (WM) shows significant decline with age. It is interesting to note that some research has suggestedage-related impairments can be reduced intasks that involve emotion-laden stimuli.However, only a few studies have exploredhowWMfor emotional material changes in aging.Here we developed a novel experimental task to compare and contrast how emotional material is represented in olderversus younger adults. The task enabled us to separate overallWM accuracyfrom emotionalbiasesin the content of affective representationsin WM.We found that, in addition to overall decline in WM performance,older adults showed a systematic positivity bias in representing information in WM relative to younger adults(positivity effect). They remembered fearful faces as being less fearful than younger adultsand interpreted ambiguous facial expressions more positively. The findings show that aging brings a type of positivity bias whenpicking upaffective information for guiding future behaviour.
Mok, Robert M
89665762-c626-4de9-90e3-4bc75b9bc833
van der Meulen, Jasper Emanuel Hajonides
d0f73dec-9b81-4a02-aadb-d452edf303ad
Holmes, Emily A
a6379ab3-b182-45f8-87c9-3e07e90fe469
Nobre, Anna C.
e5953489-4be4-4622-a126-9ae06c739d1e
8 November 2017
Mok, Robert M
89665762-c626-4de9-90e3-4bc75b9bc833
van der Meulen, Jasper Emanuel Hajonides
d0f73dec-9b81-4a02-aadb-d452edf303ad
Holmes, Emily A
a6379ab3-b182-45f8-87c9-3e07e90fe469
Nobre, Anna C.
e5953489-4be4-4622-a126-9ae06c739d1e
[Unknown type: UNSPECIFIED]
Abstract
Working memory (WM) shows significant decline with age. It is interesting to note that some research has suggestedage-related impairments can be reduced intasks that involve emotion-laden stimuli.However, only a few studies have exploredhowWMfor emotional material changes in aging.Here we developed a novel experimental task to compare and contrast how emotional material is represented in olderversus younger adults. The task enabled us to separate overallWM accuracyfrom emotionalbiasesin the content of affective representationsin WM.We found that, in addition to overall decline in WM performance,older adults showed a systematic positivity bias in representing information in WM relative to younger adults(positivity effect). They remembered fearful faces as being less fearful than younger adultsand interpreted ambiguous facial expressions more positively. The findings show that aging brings a type of positivity bias whenpicking upaffective information for guiding future behaviour.
Text
Mok_2017_Emo_Age_WM_preprint_v1 (3)
- Version of Record
More information
Published date: 8 November 2017
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 508511
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/508511
PURE UUID: 55774dd6-61ab-4504-b556-148aa9e05a71
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 23 Jan 2026 18:07
Last modified: 24 Jan 2026 03:26
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Robert M Mok
Author:
Jasper Emanuel Hajonides van der Meulen
Author:
Emily A Holmes
Author:
Anna C. Nobre
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics