Age-Related Differences in Mind Wandering: The Role of Emotional Valence.
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 bia...
| Publicado en: | Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences Vol. 79; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Jan2024
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=174880662&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 174880662 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10795014 JGB jtl: Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences issn: 10795014 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2024 vid: 79 iid: 1 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 174880662 10.1093/geronb/gbad151 ppf: 1 ppct: 11 formats: tig: atl: Age-Related Differences in Mind Wandering: The Role of Emotional Valence. aug: au: Welhaf, Matthew S Banks, Jonathan B Bugg, Julie M affil: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis , St. Louis, Missouri , USA Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Nova Southeastern University , Ft. Lauderdale, Florida , USA su: Age distribution Task performance Wandering behavior Descriptive statistics Research funding sug: subj: Age distribution Task performance Wandering behavior Descriptive statistics Research funding keyword: Attention lapses Positivity bias Sustained attention Task-unrelated thoughts Attention lapses Positivity bias Sustained attention Task-unrelated thoughts ab: 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. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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