Emotional experience improves with age: evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling.

Recent evidence suggests that emotional well-being improves from early adulthood to old age. This study used experience-sampling to examine the developmental course of emotional experience in a representative sample of adults spanning early to very late adulthood. Participants (N = 184, Wave 1; N = 191, Wave 2; N = 178, Wave 3) reported their emotional states at five randomly selected times each day for a one week period. Using a measurement burst design, the one-week sampling procedure was repeated five and then ten years later. Cross-sectional and growth curve analyses indicate that aging is associated with more positive overall emotional well-being, with greater emotional stability and with more complexity (as evidenced by greater co-occurrence of positive and negative emotions). These findings remained robust after accounting for other variables that may be related to emotional experience (personality, verbal fluency, physical health, and demographic variables). Finally, emotional experience predicted mortality; controlling for age, sex, and ethnicity, individuals who experienced relatively more positive than negative emotions in everyday life were more likely to have survived over a 13 year period. Findings are discussed in the theoretical context of socioemotional selectivity theory.

A diffusion tensor imaging study of the anterior limb of the internal capsule in schizophrenia.

Frontal-subcortical cognitive and limbic feedback loops modulate higher cognitive functioning. The final step in these feedback loops is the thalamo-cortical projection through the anterior limb of the internal capsule (AL-IC). Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we evaluated abnormalities in the AL-IC fiber tract in schizophrenia. Participants comprised 16 chronic schizophrenia patients and 19 male, normal controls, who were group matched for handedness, age, and parental socioeconomic status, and underwent DTI on a 1.5 Tesla GE system. We measured the diffusion indices, fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD), and manually segmented, based on FA maps, AL-IC volume, normalized for intracranial contents (ICC). The results showed a significant reduction in the ICC-corrected volume of the AL-IC in schizophrenia, but did not show diffusion measure group differences in the AL-IC in FA, MD, RD or AD. In addition, in the schizophrenia patients, AL-IC FA correlated positively with performance on measures of spatial and verbal declarative/episodic memory, and right AL-IC ICC-corrected volume correlated positively with more perseverative responses on the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST). We found a reduction in AL-IC ICC-corrected volume in schizophrenia, without FA, MD, RD or AD group differences, implicating the presence of a structural abnormality in schizophrenia in this subcortical white matter region which contains important cognitive, and limbic feedback pathways that modulate prefrontal cortical function. Despite not demonstrating a group difference in FA, we found that AL-IC FA was a good predictor of spatial and verbal declarative/episodic memory performance in schizophrenia.

Company, country, connections: counterfactual origins increase organizational commitment, patriotism, and social investment.

Four studies examined the relationship between counterfactual origins--thoughts about how the beginning of organizations, countries, and social connections might have turned out differently--and increased feelings of commitment to those institutions and connections. Study 1 found that counterfactually reflecting on the origins of one's country increases patriotism. Study 2 extended this finding to organizational commitment and examined the mediating role of poignancy. Study 3 found that counterfactual reflection boosts organizational commitment even beyond the effects of other commitment-enhancing appeals and that perceptions of fate mediate the positive effect of counterfactual origins on commitment. Finally, Study 4 temporally separated the counterfactual manipulation from a behavioral measure of commitment and found that counterfactual reflection predicted whether participants e-mailed social contacts 2 weeks later. The robust relationship between counterfactual origins and commitment was found across a wide range of companies and countries, with undergraduates and M.B.A. students, and for attitudes and behaviors.

Age differences in poignancy: Cognitive reappraisal as a moderator.

Poignancy is defined as a mixed emotional experience that arises when one faces meaningful endings. According to socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 2006), when people are aware of the finitude of time, they tend to experience more poignancy. In Study 1, we found that Chinese younger, but not older, participants experienced more poignancy under time limitations. In Study 2, we found that an emotion regulation strategy-namely, cognitive reappraisal-moderated the relationship between limited time and poignancy, such that the increases in poignancy under time limitations were found only among older Chinese participants with lower levels of cognitive reappraisal but not among those with higher levels of cognitive reappraisal. These findings contribute to the existing literature on poignancy by showing that not every older adult exhibits poignancy in the face of an ending: The poignancy phenomenon may occur among only older adults who are less likely to use an emotion regulation strategy, such as cognitive reappraisal, to reinterpret the anticipated ending. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow: Individual differences in future self-continuity account for saving.

Some people find it more difficult to delay rewards than others. In three experiments, we tested a "future self-continuity" hypothesis that individual differences in the perception of one's present self as continuous with a future self would be associated with measures of saving in the laboratory and everyday life. Higher future self-continuity (assessed by a novel index) predicted reduced discounting of future rewards in a laboratory task, more matches in adjectival descriptions of present and future selves, and greater lifetime accumulation of financial assets (even after controlling for age and education). In addition to demonstrating the reliability and validity of the future self-continuity index, these findings are consistent with the notion that increased future self-continuity might promote saving for the future.

Saving for the future self: neural measures of future self-continuity predict temporal discounting.

Despite increases in the human life span, people have not increased their rate of saving. In a phenomenon known as 'temporal discounting', people value immediate gains over future gains. According to a future self-continuity hypothesis, individuals perceive and treat the future self differently from the present self, and so might fail to save for their future. Neuroimaging offers a novel means of testing this hypothesis, since previous research indicates that self- vs other-judgments elicit activation in the rostral anterior cingulate (rACC). Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we predicted and found not only individual differences in rACC activation while rating the current vs future self, but also that individual differences in current vs future self activation predicted temporal discounting assessed behaviorally a week after scanning. In addition to supporting the future self-continuity hypothesis, these findings hold implications for significant financial decisions, such as choosing whether to save for the future or spend in the present.

Poignancy: mixed emotional experience in the face of meaningful endings.

The experience of mixed emotions increases with age. Socioemotional selectivity theory suggests that mixed emotions are associated with shifting time horizons. Theoretically, perceived constraints on future time increase appreciation for life, which, in turn, elicits positive emotions such as happiness. Yet, the very same temporal constraints heighten awareness that these positive experiences come to an end, thus yielding mixed emotional states. In 2 studies, the authors examined the link between the awareness of anticipated endings and mixed emotional experience. In Study 1, participants repeatedly imagined being in a meaningful location. Participants in the experimental condition imagined being in the meaningful location for the final time. Only participants who imagined "last times" at meaningful locations experienced more mixed emotions. In Study 2, college seniors reported their emotions on graduation day. Mixed emotions were higher when participants were reminded of the ending that they were experiencing. Findings suggest that poignancy is an emotional experience associated with meaningful endings.

Middle and inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volume abnormalities in first-episode schizophrenia: an MRI study.

OBJECTIVE: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of schizophrenia reveal temporal lobe structural brain abnormalities in the superior temporal gyrus and the amygdala-hippocampal complex. However, the middle and inferior temporal gyri have received little investigation, especially in first-episode schizophrenia. METHOD: High-spatial-resolution MRI was used to measure gray matter volume in the inferior, middle, and superior temporal gyri in 20 patients with first-episode schizophrenia, 20 patients with first-episode affective psychosis, and 23 healthy comparison subjects. RESULTS: Gray matter volume in the middle temporal gyrus was smaller bilaterally in patients with first-episode schizophrenia than in comparison subjects and in patients with first-episode affective psychosis. Posterior gray matter volume in the inferior temporal gyrus was smaller bilaterally in both patient groups than in comparison subjects. Among the superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri, the left posterior superior temporal gyrus gray matter in the schizophrenia group had the smallest volume, the greatest percentage difference, and the largest effect size in comparisons with healthy comparison subjects and with affective psychosis patients. CONCLUSIONS: Smaller gray matter volumes in the left and right middle temporal gyri and left posterior superior temporal gyrus were present in schizophrenia but not in affective psychosis at first hospitalization. In contrast, smaller bilateral posterior inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volume is present in both schizophrenia and affective psychosis at first hospitalization. These findings suggest that smaller gray matter volumes in the dorsal temporal lobe (superior and middle temporal gyri) may be specific to schizophrenia, whereas smaller posterior inferior temporal gyrus gray matter volumes may be related to pathology common to both schizophrenia and affective psychosis.

Comparison of single-shot echo-planar and line scan protocols for diffusion tensor imaging.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Both single-shot diffusion-weighted echo-planar imaging (EPI) and line scan diffusion imaging (LSDI) can be used to obtain magnetic resonance diffusion tensor data and to calculate directionally invariant diffusion anisotropy indices, ie, indirect measures of the organization and coherence of white matter fibers in the brain. To date, there has been no comparison of EPI and LSDI. Because EPI is the most commonly used technique for acquiring diffusion tensor data, it is important to understand the limitations and advantages of LSDI relative to EPI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five healthy volunteers underwent EPI and LSDI diffusion on a 1.5 Tesla magnet (General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI). Four-mm thick coronal sections, covering the entire brain, were obtained. In addition, one subject was tested with both sequences over four sessions. For each image voxel, eigenvectors and eigenvalues of the diffusion tensor were calculated, and fractional anisotropy (FA) was derived. Several regions of interest were delineated, and for each, mean FA and estimated mean standard deviation were calculated and compared. RESULTS: Results showed no significant differences between EPI and LSDI for mean FA for the five subjects. When intersession reproducibility for one subject was evaluated, there was a significant difference between EPI and LSDI in FA for the corpus callosum and the right uncinate fasciculus. Moreover, errors associated with each FA measure were larger for EPI than for LSDI. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that both EPI- and LSDI-derived FA measures are sufficiently robust. However, when higher accuracy is needed, LSDI provides smaller error and smaller inter-subject and inter-session variability than EPI.

Diffusion tensor imaging and its application to neuropsychiatric disorders.

Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a new technique that can be used to visualize and measure the diffusion of water in brain tissue; it is particularly useful for evaluating white matter abnormalities. In this paper, we review research studies that have applied DTI for the purpose of understanding neuropsychiatric disorders. We begin with a discussion of the principles involved in DTI, followed by a historical overview of magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging and DTI and a brief description of several different methods of image acquisition and quantitative analysis. We then review the application of this technique to clinical populations. We include all studies published in English from January 1996 through March 2002 on this topic, located by searching PubMed and Medline on the key words "diffusion tensor imaging" and "MRI." Finally, we consider potential future uses of DTI, including fiber tracking and surgical planning and follow-up.