TY - JOUR
T1 - Positivity effect in aging
T2 - evidence for the primacy of positive responses to emotional ambiguity
AU - Petro, Nathan M.
AU - Basyouni, Ruby
AU - Neta, Maital
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Older compared to younger adults show greater amygdala activity to positive emotions, and are more likely to interpret emotionally ambiguous stimuli (e.g., surprised faces) as positive. While some evidence suggests this positivity effect results from a top-down, effortful mechanism, others suggest it may emerge as the default or initial response. The amygdala is a key node in rapid, bottom-up processing and patterns of amygdala activity over time (e.g., habituation) can shed light on the mechanisms underlying the positivity effect. Younger and older adults passively viewed neutral and surprised faces in an MRI. Only in older adults, amygdala habituation was associated with the tendency to interpret surprised faces as positive or negative (valence bias), where a more positive bias was associated with greater habituation. Interestingly, although a positive bias in younger adults was associated with slower responses, consistent with an initial negativity hypothesis in younger adults, older adults showed faster categorizations of positivity. Together, we propose that there may be a switch to a primacy of positivity in aging.
AB - Older compared to younger adults show greater amygdala activity to positive emotions, and are more likely to interpret emotionally ambiguous stimuli (e.g., surprised faces) as positive. While some evidence suggests this positivity effect results from a top-down, effortful mechanism, others suggest it may emerge as the default or initial response. The amygdala is a key node in rapid, bottom-up processing and patterns of amygdala activity over time (e.g., habituation) can shed light on the mechanisms underlying the positivity effect. Younger and older adults passively viewed neutral and surprised faces in an MRI. Only in older adults, amygdala habituation was associated with the tendency to interpret surprised faces as positive or negative (valence bias), where a more positive bias was associated with greater habituation. Interestingly, although a positive bias in younger adults was associated with slower responses, consistent with an initial negativity hypothesis in younger adults, older adults showed faster categorizations of positivity. Together, we propose that there may be a switch to a primacy of positivity in aging.
KW - Aging
KW - Amygdala
KW - Emotion
KW - Positivity Effect
KW - Valence Bias
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111014341&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85111014341&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.06.015
DO - 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.06.015
M3 - Article
C2 - 34311432
AN - SCOPUS:85111014341
SN - 0197-4580
VL - 106
SP - 232
EP - 240
JO - Neurobiology of Aging
JF - Neurobiology of Aging
ER -