Age-related physiological responses to emotion anticipation and exposure

Although there is accumulating evidence for physiological and behavioral changes in response to emotion with age, little is known about developmental changes in response to emotion anticipation. Here, we investigated brain activations related to emotion anticipation and exposure, in participants aged between 19 and 54 years. During the anticipation of negative stimuli, a linear decrease of activation with age was detected in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and brainstem; whereas exposure to negative stimuli revealed decreasing activation in a network of regions implicated in emotion processing and salience detection. The observed results might reflect reduced focusing on negative future events with age, and are in line with an age-related shift of motivational priorities for the pursuit of emotional satisfaction and well being.