Document Type
Article
Version
Author's Final Manuscript
Publication Title
Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience
Volume
11
Publication Date
2011
Abstract
This study examines whether differences in late-life well-being are linked to how older adults encode emotionally-valenced information. Using fMRI with 39 older adults varying in life satisfaction, we examined how viewing positive and negative images affected activation and connectivity of an emotion-processing network. Participants engaged most regions within this network more robustly for positive than for negative images, but within the PFC this effect was moderated by life satisfaction, with individuals higher in satisfaction showing lower levels of activity during the processing of positive images. Participants high in satisfaction showed stronger correlations among network regions – particularly between the amygdala and other emotion processing regions – when viewing positive as compared to negative images. Participants low in satisfaction showed no valence effect. Findings suggest that late-life satisfaction is linked with how emotion-processing regions are engaged and connected during processing of valenced information. This first demonstration of a link between neural recruitment and late-life well-being suggests that differences in neural network activation and connectivity may account for the preferential encoding of positive information seen in some older adults.
Publisher's Statement
This article was originally published in the journal Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience: http://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13415-011-0039-9
Citation
Waldinger, R.J., Kensinger, E.A., & Schulz, M.S. (2011). Neural activity, neural connectivity, and the processing of emotionally-valenced information in older adults: Links with life satisfaction. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience 11, 426-436.
DOI
10.3758/s13415-011-0039-9