4.5 Article

Age-Related Differences in Mind Wandering: The Role of Emotional Valence

出版社

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC
DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbad151

关键词

Attention lapses; Positivity bias; Sustained attention; Task-unrelated thoughts

向作者/读者索取更多资源

Older adults report fewer negatively and neutrally valenced mind wandering compared to younger adults, but there is no age difference in reports of positively valenced mind wandering. Overall mind wandering rates predict poorer task performance for both age groups, but this is not influenced by emotional valence. Both older adults and younger adults show similar performance deficits during mind wandering, with increased errors and faster reaction times, suggesting mindless responding.
Objectives Older adults consistently report fewer experiences of mind wandering compared to younger adults. Aging is also associated with a shift in the emotional focus of our thoughts, with older adults tending to experience an increase in attention toward positive information, or a positivity bias, relative to younger adults. Here, we tested if the positivity bias associated with aging can also predict age-related changes in the content of older adults' mind wandering.Method Older adults and younger adults completed a go/no-go task with periodic thought probes to assess rates of emotionally valenced mind wandering.Results Older adults reported significantly less negatively and neutrally valenced mind wandering compared to younger adults, but there was no age difference in reports of positively valenced mind wandering. Overall rates of mind wandering predicted poorer task performance for both age groups: Individuals who mind wandered more, performed worse, but this did not differ by the emotional valence. Both older adults and younger adults showed similar in-the-moment performance deficits, with mind wandering reports being associated with worse immediate no-go accuracy and faster reaction times, consistent with mindless responding.Discussion Focusing on different dimensions of thought content, such as emotional valence, can provide new insight into age-related differences in mind wandering. Older adults' mind wandering reports were less negative and neutral compared to younger adults' reports suggesting a positivity bias for older adults. However, this positivity bias does not seem to affect task performance. We discuss the implications of the findings for mind wandering theories and the positivity bias.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.5
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据