Psychology and Aging最新文献

In a society that idealizes or stigmatizes women based on what they look like, body satisfaction may play an important role in how women feel about themselves overall. Although body satisfaction is thought to be relatively stable throughout adulthood, little is known about the relationship between body satisfaction and self-esteem across a woman's lifespan. Importantly, the self-concept is dynamic, changing as women grow and amass new responsibilities. Thus, there is reason to believe that body image should be less crucial to self-esteem later in life. In a cross-sectional survey of 806 women (half over age 65) and in secondary analyses of a large (n > 22,000 women) longitudinal data set, we explore this correlation, with an emphasis on including women over age 65, for whom this relationship has not been closely examined. In both studies, we find that the cross-sectional relationship between body satisfaction and self-esteem is weaker in older women than in younger women. Longitudinal analyses also show that the relationship slightly weakens across the 9 years the women were followed, regardless of their age at the start of the study. Survey results suggest this may be due to body image becoming less important to women as they age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

The fading affect bias (FAB) names the phenomenon that the affect intensity of negative autobiographical memories (AMs) fades more rapidly and to a greater extent from event occurrence to recall than the affect intensity of positive AMs. The goal of the present study was to examine whether and how the magnitude of the FAB varies with participant age, and whether these potential age effects could be explained by differences in the time elapsed since the events or their initial affect intensity. Analyses were based on 2,062 adults (aged 18-96 years; 60.67% women; 75.46% with a university entrance diploma; 95.68% with German as their mother tongue), who reported AMs of three positive and three negative events in a free recall procedure. Participants rated the affect intensity of each AM retrospectively from the perspective of event occurrence and from the momentary perspective of event recall. Latent change score models were used to operationalize and predict latent changes in AMs' positive and negative affect intensity as well as a latent overall FAB score. The magnitude of the FAB showed a U-shaped function across age, with a low point at age 40 and a maximum at the oldest age of the sample. After including the time since event and initial affect intensity, the FAB increased even more at older ages. The present findings, which extend previous research on age differences in the FAB, largely support predictions derived from the socioemotional selectivity theory and the strength and vulnerability integration model. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

History-graded increases in older adults' levels of cognitive performance across a number of different ability domains are well documented. Less is known, however, about whether such historical advances generalize to measures of verbal learning and whether rates of within-person change therein have also historically shifted. To examine these questions, we used up to 17+-years within-person longitudinal change data obtained in the Manchester Longitudinal Study of Cognition (MLSC). We matched cohorts and weighted analyses by age, number of measurement occasions, and education and compared up to four-wave longitudinal data from 1,279 participants born earlier in historical time (1903-1919, 2,668 observations) versus 1,049 participants born later (1920-1935, 2,239 observations). We applied growth models that orthogonalized between-person age and within-person aging effects, controlled for retest effects, and adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics. We found little to no evidence for historical improvements in verbal learning among older adults. It was only at the zero-order level when participants were in their 60s that later-born cohorts outperformed their matched earlier-born peers. We also found no evidence of historical improvements in the rate of within-person aging-related decline in verbal learning. If anything, the later-born cohort appeared to experience somewhat steeper declines, particularly at older ages. After statistically controlling for sex, occupational status, and city of residence, the only remaining cohort difference was the steeper quadratic (accelerated) rate of decline observed in the later-born cohort. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Accessing knowledge acquired across the lifespan differs from our ability to recall recent episodes or experiences, although the two processes are highly interrelated. Whereas episodic memory function typically declines with normal aging, semantic memory, including language and factual knowledge, are more robust to age-related decline. The structure and stability of acquired knowledge make it a potential asset in helping remember new information, even when it is completely unrelated. In the present study, we examined whether specialized knowledge about birds may help bird experts retain arbitrary episodic associations between (faces) paired with domain-relevant information (bird images) versus domain-irrelevant information (car images). After studying bird-face or car-face pairs, participants decided whether test pairs were either intact or recombined. Experts showed a large memory advantage for pairs in which faces had previously been paired with a bird versus a car, but no difference was found in novices. Although broad age-related declines in memory persisted, this benefit of prior knowledge was prevalent across the age range, such that relational memory performance in 75-year-old experts was roughly equivalent to corresponding performance in 20-year-old novices. These results show how expertise can offset age-related memory decline by allowing experts of all ages to efficiently link novel information to structured knowledge that has been accumulated across the lifetime. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Views on aging (VoA) have consequences for development across the lifespan affecting the aging process of individuals in important ways. Previous research has shown that how individuals perceive their own aging (i.e., personal VoA) predict how many years they live, with more positive self-views being associated with decreased risk of mortality. While views of older adults in general (i.e., generalized VoA), or age stereotypes, have been shown to predict worse physical, mental, and cognitive health, whether and how they are associated with mortality remains unclear. In this study, we thus aimed to use a multidimensional approach to examine the impact of both personal and generalized VoA on mortality risk. Data were drawn from the Ageing as Future longitudinal study and included participants who took part in the baseline assessment in 2009 (N = 768, 49.5% female, M_age = 55.17, age range = 30-80 years). Information on mortality was obtained 15 years later, in 2024. Replicating and extending previous findings, a survival analysis indicated that individuals with more positive future views of their own aging had a lower risk of mortality. However, when examining generalized VoA, a different pattern emerged. After accounting for the influence of internalization effects (captured by personal VoA), individuals with more negative views of older adults in general were found to have a lower risk of mortality. Both effects remained significant even after controlling for participants' age, gender, household income, education, self-rated health, and life satisfaction. The findings suggest that both personal and generalized VoA influence how long individuals live, although in opposing directions. We discuss these findings in terms of internalization and dissociation of VoA. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Adaptive cognitive control (ACC) involves behavioral adjustments to environmental changes and can be instantiated by implicit knowledge, including temporal predictability of task-relevant events. For example, our past driving experiences might inform us that yellow traffic signals generally last between 3 and 6 s. This information, gathered from a long-term history of similar situations, implicitly allows us to anticipate and decide whether to accelerate or brake based on the current context. Adaptability occurs by extracting local or global statistical contingencies in events' temporal structure, leading to faster responses for longer S1-S2 stimulus delays, known as the foreperiod effect, and longer reaction times in long- compared to short-biased contexts, respectively. This study aimed to examine age changes in local- and global-based ACC across the lifespan from 5 to 88 years of age (N = 608, 223 males, age: M = 34.8, SD = 22.1). The Dynamic Temporal Prediction task was used to assess behavioral adaptation to local/global temporal regularities manipulating list-wide the short-long percentage of S2 preparatory intervals. The results suggest distinct developmental trajectories for local- and global-based ACC. Both establish early (at 5-6 years) and progressively improve until adulthood (30-39 years). However, their efficiency declines with age, starting at different decades: from 40 years onward for local-based ACC and from 60 years onward for global-based ACC. These results support the idea that ACC relies on lower level abilities (e.g., associative learning), but it can be implicitly shaped by both local and global temporal prediction through domain-general processes implying inhibitory control and flexibility. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Cognition is a dynamic process and is subject to substantial variation across short and long timescales. It is becoming common to assess cognition repeatedly over short intervals to determine the correlates and consequences of such "cognitive variability." A high-frequency cognitive assessment approach is also an ideal method for measuring how cognition operates in daily life. Nevertheless, several fundamental questions regarding the nature of cognitive variability remain unanswered. We utilize data from the COGITO study, which administered nine separate cognitive tests to more than 200 participants for 100 days to answer the following questions: Do different tasks exhibit similarly reliable levels of variability, and does variability cluster into distinct cognitive domains? This rich data set was analyzed using Bayesian mixed-effects location scale models which simultaneously estimate individual means and variability. All nine tasks exhibited significant variability across the 100 days of testing. Tasks within the domains of episodic memory or processing speed were moderately correlated with each other suggesting some degree of domain specificity. Working memory tasks, on the other hand, did not correlate well with each other suggesting variability in these tasks is dominated by momentary or task-specific influences. These findings not only advance our theoretical understanding of what cognitive variability is but also provide insight into which cognitive tests are most suitable for high-frequency administration and thus may be most amenable to use for studying aging and cognitive processes as they occur in daily life. Appropriate limits on the generalizability of our results are noted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Advanced age has been associated with benefits in stress reactivity. However, previous research has not investigated this advantage for daily memory functioning, which is crucial for the quality of life in adulthood. Considering the possible detrimental effects of stressors on daily memory functioning, this study investigated the relationship between stressor occurrence and memory lapses in middle and late adulthood and whether positive affect acts as a stress buffer. The sample consisted of 1,071 community-dwelling adults aged 43-90 years (M = 62.71, SD = 10.13) from the National Study of Daily Experiences. Participants completed eight consecutive daily telephone interviews assessing stressor occurrence, memory lapses (retrospective and prospective), and positive affect. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to analyze the multilevel data (days nested within people). The findings showed that participants were more likely to report memory lapses on days with a stressor compared to days without a stressor. Positive affect did not buffer this relationship, regardless of the arousal level, although higher overall positive affect was associated with fewer memory lapses. Age did not moderate this relationship. Exploratory analyses suggested that the present effects were mostly driven by retrospective rather than prospective memory lapses. These findings highlight the impact of daily stressors on cognitive functioning and underscore the need to explore modifiable factors to protect against stress-related daily memory lapses throughout adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Inferential reasoning is an important cognitive ability that allows us to make connections across past experiences to make decisions in the face of novel information. Making an inference involves the ability to remember separate experiences with overlapping elements (direct memory) and the ability to make connections between those experiences (inference/indirect memory). While older adults are known to have a deficit for direct associative memory, less is known about potential age differences in inference. In the present study, we administered an associative inference task to healthy young (aged 18-30; n = 83) and older adults (aged 60+; n = 80). We tested whether there is an age difference in inference abilities above and beyond age deficits in direct associative memory. Results showed an age-related deficit in inference that was larger than for direct associative memory. This finding is consistent with inferences in both age groups being based largely on overlapping memories encoded individually and recalled simultaneously when inferences were required, with older adults having more difficulty with this process than young adults. We also found that older adults were more likely than young adults to show source confusion after having made a successful inference, which is consistent with older adults tending to integrate across related experiences to a greater degree than young adults. Thus, we find a clear age-related deficit in inference abilities above and beyond direct associative memory, with age-related declines in flexible retrieval only partially offset by age-related increases in integration. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Reports an error in "Effects of one-to-one music therapy in older adults with cognitive impairment: A randomized controlled trial" by Anthony M. A. Mangiacotti, Ming Hung Hsu, Clare Barone, Martine Van Puyvelde, Alessandro Zandonà, Gianfranco Gabai, Michele Biasutti and Fabia Franco (Psychology and Aging, 2024[Dec], Vol 39[8], 960-982; see record 2025-57325-007). In the article, multiple tables and figures have been moved closer to their callouts. Tables 1, 3, 4, and 5 and Figure 1 have each moved one page earlier in the article. Tables 6, 7, 8, and 9 and Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 have each moved two pages earlier in the article. The text has shifted accordingly. The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2025-57325-007.) This study investigated the effects of music therapy (MT), a nonpharmacological therapy, on cognitive, behavioral, and physiological outcomes in older adults with mild-to-moderate cognitive decline residing in care home settings. A randomized controlled trial design was employed, with 42 care home residents (Mage = 86.25 years) randomly assigned to either a one-to-one 16-week MT intervention or an active control group receiving storytelling. Experimental and control activities were matched on key aspects, and groups were equivalent at baseline concerning demographic factors, general health, cognitive-behavioral characteristics, and cognitive reserve levels. Pre/postintervention neuropsychological and behavioral measures were collected, alongside saliva samples for cortisol/dehydroepiandrosterone ratio and respiratory sinus arrhythmia analysis as indicators of overall stress and autonomic regulation. The MT group exhibited benefits in cognitive, behavioral, and physiological domains, suggesting potential advantages in maintaining cognitive functioning and reducing neuropsychiatric symptoms. Biomarkers indicated possible mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of MT. The 16 one-to-one interactive MT sessions-delivered over 5 months-had a positive impact on older adults with mild-to-moderate cognitive decline living in care home settings. The implications of these findings for healthy aging and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).