Advancing with age: Older adults excel in comprehension of novel metaphors.

Older adults may experience certain forms of cognitive decline, but some forms of semantic memory remain intact in older age. To address how metaphor comprehension changes with age and whether metaphor comprehension relies more heavily on analogical reasoning (supported by fluid intelligence) or on conceptual combination (supported by crystalized intelligence), we compared performance of younger and older adults. In two experiments, healthy older adults (54-88 years) scored lower on a measure of fluid intelligence (Ravens Progressive Matrices) but higher on a measure of crystalized intelligence (Mill Hill Vocabulary Test) relative to younger adults (18-34 years). Groups were equally successful in comprehending relatively easy metaphors (Study 1), but older adults showed a striking advantage over younger adults for novel literary metaphors (Study 2). Mixed-effects modeling showed that measures of fluid and crystalized intelligence each made separable contributions to metaphor comprehension for both groups, but older adults relied more on crystalized intelligence than did younger adults. These age-related dissociations clarify cognitive effects of aging and highlight the importance of crystalized intelligence for metaphor comprehension in both younger and older adults. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Influence of Emotional Framing and Graph Complexity on Biases in Graphical Memory for COVID-19 Data in a Lifespan Sample.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of the biggest recent threats to public health. People rely on news for up-to-date information during such major events, but news is often emotional in nature, which can affect how we learn and remember information. Additionally, graphs are widely used in news, but comprehension and memory for graphical information can be influenced by various factors, including emotions. We tested how the emotional framing of news would affect graphical memory across the lifespan. Participants studied a graph showing the number of weekly or daily new COVID-19 deaths after reading COVID-19 news framed as more positive or negative. Participants also reported their attitudes toward the pandemic, political leaning, news consumption habits, mood, and need for cognition. There was no overall difference in memory across conditions or age, but memory was more biased by the emotional framing of the news when the graphs were less visually complex. A number of exploratory correlations are also discussed. The findings indicate that framing news with a more positive or negative lens can bias understanding of and memory for related graphical information in some cases and can have implications for improving media literacy and public health compliance.

The role of metacognition and schematic support in younger and older adults' episodic memory.

Older adults experience deficits in associative memory. However, age-related differences are reduced when information is consistent with prior knowledge (i.e., schematic support), suggesting that episodic and semantic memory are interrelated. It is unclear what role metacognitive processes play in schematic support. Prior knowledge may reduce encoding demands, but older adults may allocate cognitive resources to schema-consistent information because it is more meaningful. We examined metacognitive awareness of and control over associative information that was consistent or inconsistent with prior knowledge. In Experiment 1, participants self-paced their study of grocery items paired with either market prices or unusually high prices and were tested on the exact price of each item over four study-test lists with new items on each list. In Experiment 2, participants studied items for a fixed time but made judgments of learning (JOLs) at encoding. Older adults better remembered the prices of market-value items than overpriced items. In Experiment 1, younger and older adults studied overpriced items longer than market-priced items, consistent with a discrepancy reduction model of self-regulated learning, but study time did not relate to later recall accuracy, suggesting a labor-in-vain effect. In Experiment 2, participants gave higher JOLs to market-priced items than overpriced items and were generally metacognitively aware of the benefits of schematic support. Together, these results suggest that the benefits of schematic support may not be dependent on or influenced by metacognitive control processes, supporting the hypothesis that episodic memory may be less distinct from semantic memory in younger and older adults.

Younger and Older Adults' Mood and Expectations Regarding Aging During COVID-19.

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has broadly impacted our daily lives. Here, we used a longitudinal approach to investigate older adults' mood and expectations regarding aging before and during the global pandemic (Study 1). We also examined age differences in mood, expectations regarding aging, COVID-19 attitudes, and loneliness using a cross-sectional approach (Study 2). In Study 1, older adults completed a mood and expectations regarding aging survey up to 2 years prior to the pandemic and again in April, 2020 (during the pandemic). Participants also completed surveys regarding COVID-19 attitudes and loneliness. In Study 2, a United States sample of younger and older adults completed these surveys during the pandemic. Older adults' mood and expectations regarding aging remained fairly constant, and younger adults showed lower mood and expectations regarding aging than did older adults, despite older adults showing greater concern about COVID-19. Overall, we find that some older adults seem to be resilient with respect to their mood and expectations regarding aging. These findings reveal important preliminary implications for how older adults may be impacted as a result of lifestyle changes necessary for well-being and the well-being of society.

Remembering proper names as a potential exception to the better-than-average effect in younger and older adults.

People see themselves as better than average in many domains, from leadership skills to driving ability. However, many people-especially older adults-struggle to remember others' names, and many of us are aware of this struggle. Our beliefs about our memory for names may be different from other information; perhaps forgetting names is particularly salient. We asked younger and older adults to rate themselves compared with others their age on several socially desirable traits (e.g., honesty); their overall memory ability; and their specific ability to remember scientific terms, locations, and people's names. Participants demonstrated a better-than-average (BTA) effect in their ratings of most items except their ability to remember names, which both groups rated as approximately the same as others their age. Older adults' ratings of this ability were related to a measure of the social consequences of forgetting another's name, but younger adults' ratings were not. The BTA effect is present in many judgments for both younger and older adults, but people may be more attuned to memory failures when those failures involve social consequences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Improving Expectations Regarding Aging in Younger Adults: A Classroom Study.

Younger adults generally hold negative attitudes and stereotypes about aging, which can affect the success with which they age as well as how they interact with older generations in everyday settings. The current study sought to improve expectations about aging in a largely first-year undergraduate student population through a small, discussion-based course on successful aging. Students in the successful aging course and a control course completed the 12-item expectations regarding aging (ERA) scale at the beginning and the end of the 10-week academic quarter. Students in the aging class also provided adjectives that came to mind when thinking about older adults. Students in the successful aging course had higher ERA scores at the end of the quarter than at the beginning of the quarter, but scores in the control class did not change. Further analyses indicated students' expectations about cognitive functioning and physical health improved, but not expectations about mental health. In addition, self-generated adjectives were more positive at the end than the beginning of the quarter, but some negative adjectives persisted. Thus, a smaller, discussion-based class about aging led to a more positive view of aging, suggesting that negative attitudes about aging may be modifiable by a short intervention in early adulthood. These results can have implications for how younger adults interact with older adults and how they may prepare for, hold future expectations about, and ultimately experience older age.