Nasrollahi Neda, Jowett Tim, Machado Liana
Department of Psychology and Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, William James Building, 275 Leith Walk, Dunedin, 9016 New Zealand.
Brain Research New Zealand, Auckland, New Zealand.
Eur J Ageing. 2022 Jan 8;19(3):369-379. doi: 10.1007/s10433-021-00676-w. eCollection 2022 Sep.
Although a number of empirical studies have found support for distinct emotional information processing biases in young versus older adults, it remains unclear whether these biases are driven by differential processing of positive or negative emotional information (or both) and whether they are moderated by stimulus type, in particular face versus non-face, the former of which is known to be subject to distinct processing. To address these gaps in the literature, our analyses included 2237 younger (mean age = 21.61 years) and 2136 older (mean age = 70.58 years) adults from 73 data sets, 19 involving face stimuli and 54 involving non-face stimuli (objects or scenes). Our findings indicated a significant overall age-related positivity effect (Hedge's = 0.35) when comparing positive and negative stimuli, but consideration of emotionally neutral stimuli revealed significant age differences in emotional processing for negative stimuli only, with younger adults showing a stronger negativity bias. Furthermore, compared to emotionally neutral stimuli, both younger and older adults showed evidence of biases toward non-face positive and negative stimuli and toward positive but not negative face stimuli. Thus, although the present meta-analysis found evidence of an overall age-related positivity effect consistent with a shift toward positivity with aging, a different picture emerged when comparing emotional against neutral stimuli, and consideration of stimulus type revealed a distinct pattern for face stimuli, which may reflect the biological and social significance of facial expressions.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00676-w.
尽管许多实证研究发现年轻人和老年人在情绪信息处理偏差上存在差异，但尚不清楚这些偏差是由对积极或消极情绪信息（或两者）的不同处理驱动的，以及它们是否受到刺激类型的调节，特别是面部与非面部刺激，其中前者已知会受到不同的处理。为了填补文献中的这些空白，我们的分析纳入了来自73个数据集的2237名年轻人（平均年龄 = 21.61岁）和2136名老年人（平均年龄 = 70.58岁），其中19个涉及面部刺激，54个涉及非面部刺激（物体或场景）。我们的研究结果表明，在比较积极和消极刺激时，总体上存在显著的与年龄相关的积极效应（Hedge's = 0.35），但考虑到情绪中性刺激后发现，仅在消极刺激的情绪处理上存在显著的年龄差异，年轻人表现出更强的消极偏差。此外，与情绪中性刺激相比，年轻人和老年人都表现出对非面部积极和消极刺激以及对积极但非消极面部刺激存在偏差的证据。因此，尽管本荟萃分析发现了与随着年龄增长向积极转变一致的总体与年龄相关的积极效应的证据，但在比较情绪刺激与中性刺激时出现了不同的情况，并且考虑刺激类型后发现面部刺激呈现出独特的模式，这可能反映了面部表情的生物学和社会意义。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s10433-021-00676-w获取的补充材料。
