Age-Related Effects on Memory for Social Stimuli: The Role of Valence, Arousal, and Emotional Responses

Abstract

Background/Study Context: Previous research (Hess et al., 2013, Psychology and Aging, 28, 853–863) suggested that age-based positivity effects in memory were attenuated with social stimuli. This research examined the degree to which this generalized across arousal levels associated with social images. Variations in approach and avoidance responses to individual images were also examined, along with age differences in their relationship to memory performance.

Methods: In Experiment 1, young (22–43 years) and older (65–85 years) adults recalled positive and negative social scenes that were high or low in arousal. In Experiment 2, young (20–40 years) and older (65–83 years) adults viewed and recalled the same scenes under instructions designed to alter arousal, and approach and avoidance ratings for each image were recorded.

Results: In Experiment 1, age differences in recall were confined to high-arousal, negative images, with young adults exhibiting superior memory relative to older adults. There was no evidence of an age-related positivity effect for low-arousal social scenes. This result was replicated in Experiment 2, but distancing instructions minimized the age difference in recall for high-arousal, negative images. Approach and avoidance ratings differentially predicted recall across age groups, with stronger associations in the young.

Conclusion: The results are consistent with emerging evidence demonstrating that valence-based biases associated with aging (e.g., positivity effect) are specific to the context and stimulus characteristics. Differences in prediction of recall responses from approach and avoidance ratings across age groups suggested that the observed effects in memory reflected differences in responses to the characteristics of stimuli.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Logan Collins, Chelsea Burrell, Mystimarie Geiger, Chelsey Hartzler, Erica Lee, Kristi Phillips, and Qiao Chou for their assistance with participant recruitment and data collection.

FUNDING

Support for this study was provided by National Institute on Aging grants AG05552 and AG020153 awarded to Thomas M. Hess.

Notes

¹ The meta-analysis included studies examining both memory and attention. Unfortunately, no information is provided as to whether the strength of the positivity effect is moderated by task type.

² IAPS pictures used in each category—Negative/high-arousal: 2691, 6212, 6244, 6312, 6550, 6840, 9810; Negative/low-arousal: 2053, 2205, 2276, 2312, 2700, 2900, 3181; Neutral: 2272, 2394, 2410, 2518, 2850, 2890, 7550; Positive/low-arousal: 2165, 2216, 2360, 2395, 2530, 2560, 8497; and Positive/high-arousal: 8116, 8185, 8220, 8370, 8380, 8461, 8490.

³ We included the words to examine the possibility that avoidance responses would be associated with greater attention away from the target stimuli and thus greater memory for words in this case. The recognition memory test for these words revealed no effects due to instructions or picture type (ps > .19); thus, the results are not discussed further.

⁴ For exploratory purposes, we also examined memory in terms of descriptive information produced (i.e., number of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in each correct description). The pattern of results did not differ from that reported.

⁵ Given the smaller sample size in this experiment, some concern might be raised regarding power. A priori calculations suggest that the ANOVAs had power of .53 to detect medium effect sizes.

⁶ Valence and instructions were not included given that effects associated with these variables are captured by the three types of ratings.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this study was provided by National Institute on Aging grants AG05552 and AG020153 awarded to Thomas M. Hess.