Social and general cognition are uniquely associated with social connectedness in later life.

The mechanisms by which older adults maintain large, complex social networks are not well understood. Prior work has primarily focused on general cognitive ability (e.g., executive function, episodic memory), largely overlooking social cognition-the ability to process, store, and remember social information. Because social cognition plays a key role in navigating social interactions and is distinct from general cognition, we examined whether general and social cognition uniquely predicted the nature of older adults' personal social networks. Our study leveraged comprehensive measures of general cognition (executive function, episodic memory), social cognition (face memory and dynamic measures of cognitive and affective theory of mind), and a rigorous measure of personal social networks from 143 community-dwelling older adults. We found that, when modeled together and controlling for sociodemographic variables, only executive function and dynamic cognitive theory of mind positively predicted having social networks with relatively unfamiliar, loosely connected others, accounting for 17% of the unique variance in older adults' social connectedness. Interestingly, having a social network comprised primarily of close, tightly knit relationships was negatively associated with affective theory of mind performance. Findings are discussed in the context of the social-cognitive resource framework-which suggests that social cognition may be more engaged in relatively unfamiliar, versus close, interactions. Specifically, our results show that social-cognitive processes may be relatively automatic for individuals whose primary social relationships are very close but may be more strongly engaged for individuals whose interactions include at least some relatively less close relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence for the role of affective theory of mind in face-name associative memory.

Poor face-name recall has been associated with age-related impairments in cognitive functioning, namely declines in episodic memory and executive control. However, the role of social cognitive function - the ability to remember, process, and store information about others - has been largely overlooked in this work. Extensive work has shown that social and nonsocial cognitive processes rely on unique, albeit overlapping, mechanisms. In the current study, we explored whether social cognitive functioning - specifically the ability to infer other people's mental states (i.e., theory of mind) - facilitates better face-name learning. To do this, a sample of 289 older and young adults completed a face-name learning paradigm along with standard assessments of episodic memory and executive control alongside two theory of mind measures, one static and one dynamic. In addition to expected age differences, several key effects emerged. Age-related differences in recognition were explained by episodic memory, not social cognition. However, age effects in recall were explained by both episodic memory and social cognition, specifically affective theory of mind in the dynamic task. Altogether, we contend that face-name recall can be supported by social cognitive functioning, namely understanding emotions. While acknowledging the influence of task characteristics (i.e., lures, target ages), we interpret these findings in light of existing accounts of age differences in face-name associative memory.

Contact reduces substance use stigma through bad character attributions, especially for U.S. health care professionals.

OBJECTIVE: People with substance use disorders (SUDs) are faced with pervasive stigma. Education-based interventions tend to emphasize biological causes of dependency; however, health care professionals still stigmatize people who use substances despite being more knowledgeable about biological causes. There may be an important moderating role of personal contact since health care professionals may treat people in the throes of dependency. METHOD: We tested how substance use stigma may be explained by causal attributions, working in health care, and personal contact. A nationally representative sample of the U.S. general population (N = 6,812) was collected with targeted oversampling of health care professionals (N = 788). Using a vignette paradigm, desire for social distance was measured along with causal attributions and contact. RESULTS: Health care professionals were no less stigmatizing than the general population. However, attributing substance dependency to bad character was robustly associated with stigma, but these beliefs were moderated by the interaction between working in health care and contact. Mediation decomposition confirmed that contact transmitted its effect by lowering bad character attributions, and this mediation was significantly stronger for health care professionals. CONCLUSIONS: Health care professionals and the general population may hold similar levels of stigma when accounting for attributions, and personal contact plays an important role. We discuss the implications of these results for stigma-reduction campaigns and emphasize deconstructing personal culpability narratives surrounding substance use disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigating mixed emotion elicitation across the life span via intensity and networks.

Although a relatively common concept in nonacademic spheres, mixed emotions are poorly understood in research. The literature suggests that, despite methodological difficulties, positive and negative states can be experienced together and have health-related implications. Yet, there is a need for additional work including investigations of in-the-moment manifestations and individual factors that lead to more or fewer mixed emotions. In this light, the present study seeks to clarify discord in the literature regarding age differences in mixed emotions using in-the-moment elicitation to evaluate the manifestation and dissipation of mixed emotions via assessments of intensity and emotion networks. We used a reactivity paradigm with a recovery period where participants watched a 4-minute clip from the film Life Is Beautiful (1997). Importantly, all participants experienced more mixed emotions after elicitation, which dissipated after a period of natural affect recovery, but older adults had a higher magnitude of changes in emotions overall. Moreover, emotion networks changed in a consistent manner for all age groups with more significant positive connections between positive and negative items after elicitation. Thus, mixed emotions can be effectively elicited across the life span, perhaps related to age. While additional work is needed to refine elicitation and mixed emotion network modeling, this evidence pushes mixed emotion research forward by extending theory and techniques for examining this underexplored phenomenon. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

They Cannot, They Will Not, or We Are Asking the Wrong Questions: Re-examining Age-Related Decline in Social Cognition.

Social cognition is critical for successfully navigating social relationships. Current evidence suggests that older adults exhibit poorer performance in several core social-cognitive domains compared to younger adults. Neurocognitive decline is commonly discussed as one of the key arbiters of age-related decline in social-cognitive abilities. While evidence supports this notion, age effects are likely attributable to multiple factors. This paper aims to recontextualize past evidence by focusing issues of motivation, task design, and representative samples. In light of these issues, we identify directions for future research to aide our understanding of social-cognitive aging.

Age Differences in Reappraisal of Negative Autobiographical Memories.

Background: Past studies have been equivocal regarding age differences in reappraisal efficacy. Moreover, the use of laboratory-generated stimuli (e.g., images, film clips) may overestimate age differences. Instead, the use of self-relevant stimuli (e.g., autobiographical memory) may better represent the day-to-day implementation of reappraisal. Method: Younger and older adults generated 50 negative memories and provided negativity, positivity, and vividness ratings. One to two weeks later, participants underwent a reappraisal task during which physiological data were collected. Participants implemented one of the three instructions for 30 seconds: remember naturally, increase negative reactions, or decrease negative reactions via a "positivizing" tactic. Results: Prior to the regulation session, older adults rated all memories more positively than younger adults. No age differences in negativity or vividness ratings emerged. After regulation, older adults rated memories more positively, negatively, and vividly than younger adults. Physiological data suggest that reappraisal demands may have been more cognitively demanding for older adults. However, older adults reported higher negativity and positivity than younger adults. Conclusion: This challenges the existing theory regarding age and emotion regulation. We contend that reappraisal was achieved by younger and older adults; however, achievement may have emerged in slightly different ways.

Words matter: age-related positivity in episodic memory for abstract but not concrete words.

Research continues to assess potential boundary conditions for the age-related positivity effect in emotional information processing. Beyond the valence and arousal characteristics of a stimulus, other features may play a role in the manifestation of positivity effects. Differences between abstract and concrete words (i.e., the level of imageability, presence of affective content) may lead to differences in downstream processing outcomes. The present study examined whether additional features of word stimuli, beyond valence and arousal, could influence the emergence of age-related positivity in episodic memory. Fifty-two younger adults and 51 older adults completed a categorization task where they separated a series of positive, negative, and neutral words into "abstract" or "concrete" categories. A surprise recognition task followed after a short delay. Results revealed a three-way Age × Valence × Word Type interaction. No age differences in overall recognition was observed for concrete words, regardless of emotion; however, for abstract words, an Age × Valence interaction emerged whereby older adults recognized more positive than negative words, while valence differences were less pronounced among younger adults. Concrete words were remembered better than abstract words by both age groups, regardless of valence. Conversely, preferential processing appeared to occur for positive abstract words, especially for older adults. We contend that these results provide further evidence of the top-down and controlled nature of age-related positivity effects in episodic memory.

A Discrete Emotions Perspective to Negative Autobiographical Recall among Younger and Older Adults.

Background: The discrete emotions approach predicts differential relevance of anger and sadness experiences to well-being between younger and older adults (anger more relevant in young adulthood, sadness more relevant in old age). Methods: We tested these assumptions within a semi-guided autobiographical recall task among a sample of younger and older adults. Participants recalled a series of 50 negative past life events that were categorized as to the primary emotion elicited. Phenomenological ratings included assessments of event negativity, positivity, vividness, and age at which the event occurred. Results: Contrary to expectations, there were no age differences in the ratio of anger and sadness experiences, as well as perceived negativity and vividness. However, perceived positivity of sadness events was higher among older relative to younger adults. Conclusion: We discuss the present results in terms of how various emotional events maintain their representational nature in old age, while certain events could be particularly unique to divergent age-related well-being outcomes.