Emotion regulation becomes more cognitively challenging with age, yet older adults report greater well-being than younger adults. Cognitive reappraisal- or reinterpreting the meaning of a stressful situation to reduce its emotional impact- shows mixed findings in terms of efficacy and effort across age. Limited research has investigated which preserved functions may promote success for demanding strategies such as reappraisal in aging populations. We hypothesize that given an increased repertoire of emotional experiences across the lifespan, access to rich and salient autobiographical memories may promote resilience and successful reappraisal in late-life. The long-term goal of this research is to identify the mechanism by which healthy older adults regulate their emotions to maintain well-being, in spite of cognitive decline. This will inform clinical interventions for mood disorders and emotion dysregulation in aging. Our objective for this proposal is to better track the role of autobiographical memory, a self-referential memory skill that is well preserved with age, in reappraisal among older adults. We hypothesize that older adults will naturalistically reference autobiographical memories with higher frequency than younger adults during reappraisal use, and that autobiographical reappraisal will be less cognitive demanding than non-autobiographical reappraisal for this age group. To investigate these questions, we aim (1) to determine the naturalistic use of autobiographical memory in emotion regulation among younger and older adults (2) to assess the relative effort and efficacy associated with autobiographical versus non-autobiographical reappraisal and (3) to determine the role of cognitive control in autobiographical reappraisal. Under the first aim, we will qualitatively determine the naturalistic frequency with which older and younger adults use self-referential language and autobiographical memories in their reports of emotion regulation to negative images. Under the second aim we will investigate the relative efficacy and cognitive effort associated with autobiographical reappraisal via eyetracking.
Our third aim will build on these findings by exploring the role of cognitive control in autobiographical and non- autobiographical reappraisal. The proposed research seeks to develop clinical interventions that align and build upon cognitive strengths and goals of elderly individuals, rather than utilizing interventions cognitively optimized for younger and mid-life adults, promoting translational significance with novel emotion regulation approaches. Specifically, utilizing self-referential autobiographical memory in traditional practices of cognitive therapy may bolster intervention efficacy. The proposed study would build on theoretical significance by taking an initial step in elucidating the underlying processes regarding preserved emotion regulation with age.
Healthy older adults report greater emotional well-being and experience lower rates of mood disorders than younger people, but the mechanisms underlying late-life emotional resiliency remain unknown. The proposed research seeks to clarify the role of autobiographical memory, a skill that is well preserved with age, in promoting reappraisal, a particularly effortful and challenging emotion regulation strategy in older adulthood. The current ?one-shoe-fits-all? approach to cognitive behavioral therapy overlooks the unique socioemotional goals and abilities of older adults, and identifying a mechanism by which this population maintains emotional well-being may advance the NIH's mission in improving emotional health, functional independence, and well- being of older adults via targeted and enhanced cognitive-behavioral intervention.
