Effect of Cognitive Control on Attentional Processing of Emotional Information Among Older Adults: Evidence From an Eye-Tracking Study

Background: Although numerous studies have suggested that the gradually increasing selective preference for positive information over negative information in older adults depends on cognitive control processes, few have reported the characteristics of different attention stages in the emotional proc...

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Published in:Frontiers in aging neuroscience Vol. 13; p. 644379
Main Authors: Liu, Haining, Liu, Haihong, Li, Feng, Han, Buxin, Wang, Cuili
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Research Foundation 29.04.2021
Frontiers Media S.A
Subjects:
Age
Aging
attention
Cognitive ability
cognitive control
Cognitive load
emotion
Emotions
Eye movements
eye-tracking
Information processing
Neuroscience
Older people
Pattern recognition
positivity effect
attention
cognitive control
eye-tracking
emotion
positivity effect
ISSN:1663-4365, 1663-4365
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Background: Although numerous studies have suggested that the gradually increasing selective preference for positive information over negative information in older adults depends on cognitive control processes, few have reported the characteristics of different attention stages in the emotional processing of older individuals. The present study used a real-time eye-tracking technique to disentangle the attentional engagement and disengagement processes involved in age-related positivity effect (PE). Methods: Eye movement data from a spatial-cueing task were obtained for 32 older and 32 younger healthy participants. The spatial-cueing task with varied cognitive loads appeared to be an effective way to explore the role of cognitive control during the attention engagement and disengagement stages of emotion processing. Results: Compared with younger adults, older participants showed more positive gaze preferences when cognitive resources were sufficient for face processing at the attention engagement stage. However, the age-related PE was not observed at the attention disengagement stage because older adults had more difficulty disengaging from fearful faces than did the younger adults due to the consumption of attention by the explicit target judgment. Conclusion: The present study highlights how cognitive control moderates positive gaze preferences at different attention processing stages. These findings may have far-reaching implications for understanding, preventing, and intervening in unsuccessful aging and, thus, in promoting active and healthy aging.
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Edited by: Rubem C. A. Guedes, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil
Reviewed by: Kathryn Ossenfort, Tufts University, United States; Eeva-Leena Kataja, University of Turku, Finland
ISSN:1663-4365
1663-4365
DOI:10.3389/fnagi.2021.644379