Derek M. Isaacowitz

Older adults tend to report high emotional well-being and more recent research has investigated possible age differences in emotion regulation tactics, including Valence × Direction tactics and acceptance. Previous studies have found that older adults prefer positive-approaching tactics and acceptance more than younger adults. However, it remains unclear what drives this age difference. The current study tested cognitive demand as a potential mechanism. We measured younger (N = 77) and older adults' (N = 62) self-reported cognitive effort and pupil dilation during an instructed emotion regulation task where participants viewed negative images and regulated their emotions. Participants also selected their preferred tactic for a final 'free-regulate' block. Results indicated that acceptance was perceived as less cognitive-demanding than other tactics across age groups, though pupillometry data did not reflect this difference. There were no significant age differences in emotion regulation behaviors at the tactic level. Overall, results suggested that perceived demand, rather than cognitive ability or actual demand, may play a more central role in regulatory decision-making.

Older adults report higher levels of emotional well-being in cross-sectional studies. Despite assertions that older adults are better at regulating emotions, studies investigating emotion regulation (ER) strategies have not found consistent age differences. Instead, we propose a new framework on ER in aging focusing instead on ER tactics (how ER behavior is implemented in specific situations): the age-related Adaptive Positive Tactic (APT) shift hypothesis. Older adults report relatively greater use of positive-approaching tactics, consistent with this hypothesis. Positive-approaching tactics also appear more effective in regulating emotions than negative-receding tactics and thus may be more adaptive. We consider how context influences tactic use and discuss open questions about the hypothesis. With recent longitudinal evidence showing mixed patterns of emotional well-being in aging, the APT shift hypothesis can guide future investigation of within-person changes in ER behavior.

Adults aged 65 and older are the fastest growing population demographic. Standard, stationary eye tracking has been used to test for age differences in attention and cognition toward understanding decline trajectories and identifying ways to enhance functioning into late life. More recently, advanced methods of at-home eye tracking, mobile eye tracking, and simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) eye tracking have suggested promise for insight into more dynamic and naturalistic processes of visual attentional and cognitive processing as well as their brain correlates in aging. Here, we outline challenges, best practices, and novel frontiers in the use of eye-tracking methodology among older adults. We cover considerations pertaining to optimized age-tailored study designs and procedures, eye-tracker setup as well as data quality and analysis. Throughout, we reflect on our experiences conducting novel experiments via at-home and mobile eye tracking as well as simultaneous MRI-eye tracking in aging populations. We also present empirical data comparing the quality of eye tracking in the behavioral lab vs. the MRI environment among both young and older adults, in support of simultaneous MRI-eye tracking informing brain-behavior links in aging, while acknowledging trade-offs in data quality of this combined methodology. We propose for future research to leverage these novel, advanced eye-tracking applications for a more comprehensive and real-life capture of attentional and cognitive changes with age.

Older adults report high emotional well-being, but age-comparative studies of emotion regulation strategies have not identified systematic age differences. We propose that emotion regulation tactics may be more promising. Emotion regulation tactics involve strategy implementation in a specific situation, and have features shared across strategies involving positive or negative elements (objects/thoughts) in the environment that may be approached or receded from in the regulation attempt (i.e., a valence dimension about the environmental element, and a direction dimension indicating movement toward or away from it). Across several studies, older adults used more positive-approaching than negative-receding tactics. Positive-approaching tactics may also be more effective at regulating mood. We consider implications for aging, as well as group differences in emotion regulation behavior generally.

Aging ushers in numerous disruptions to autonomic nervous system (ANS) function. Although the effects of aging on ANS function at rest are well characterized, there is surprising variation in reports of age‐related differences in ANS reactivity to psychosocial stressors, with some reports of decreases and other reports of increases in reactivity with age. The sources of variation in age‐related differences are largely unknown. Nonhuman primate models of socioaffective aging may help to uncover sources of this variation as nonhuman primates share key features of human ANS structure and function and researchers have precise control over the environments in which they age. In this report, we assess how response patterns to dynamic socioaffective stimuli in the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) ANS differ in aged compared to middle‐aged monkeys. We find that respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a cardiac indicator of activity in the parasympathetic branch of the ANS, exhibits age‐related disruptions in responding while monkeys view videos of conspecifics. This suggests that there are evolutionarily conserved mechanisms responsible for the patterns of affective aging observed in humans and that aged rhesus monkeys are a robust translational model for human affective aging.

This special issue idea emerged during a GSA meeting; I attended a session in which the presenters described really interesting, well-designed studies, and then proceeded to interpret their findings as being consistent with every relevant theory. This was the case even though the findings were wide-ranging. How is it possible, I wondered, that no finding presented in this entire session was considered to be inconsistent with any theories?

Older adults report surprisingly positive affective experience. The idea that older adults are better at emotion regulation has emerged as an intuitively appealing explanation for why they report such high levels of affective well-being despite other age-related declines. In this article, I review key theories and current evidence on age differences in the use and effectiveness of emotion-regulation strategies from a range of studies, including laboratory-based and experience sampling. These studies do not yet provide consistent evidence for age differences in emotion regulation and thus do not clearly support the assertion that older adults are better at emotion regulation. However, current approaches may be limited in describing and testing possible age-related changes in emotion regulation. Future work will need to more directly investigate individual trajectories of stability and change in emotion-regulation strategy use and effectiveness over time and also consider the possible roles of context, physiological reactivity, neural changes, acceptance, and personality.

Prior research suggests individuals can reappraise autonomic arousal under stress to improve performance. However, it is unclear whether arousal reappraisal effects are apparent at all ages. Seventy-three younger and 47 older adults received guided instruction to be in a state of challenge or threat while completing a mental arithmetic task. In addition to reporting on coping appraisals during the task, participants' physiological reactivity was assessed; changes in cardiac output (CO) and tonic skin conductance are reported. Participants in the challenge condition (compared to those in the threat condition) perceived greater coping resources, fewer perceived demands, and greater task performance; this pattern was similar for both age groups. Younger adults showed greater CO and tonic skin conductance changes than older adults, yet condition effects on physiological reactivity were only observed within the older sample. These findings suggest that despite physiological differences in aging, older adults may still benefit behaviorally from reappraising arousal to be a sign of a challenge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).