Ulus Gili, Aisenberg-Shafran Daniela
Department of Clinical Psychology of Adulthood and Aging, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer 4025000, Israel.
The Dror (Imri) Aloni Center for Health Informatics, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer 4025000, Israel.
Brain Sci. 2022 Oct 17;12(10):1398. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12101398.
Emotion regulation in old age was found to be more efficient; seniors seem to focus less on the negative aspects of experiences. Here, we ask, do older individuals regulate their emotions more efficiently or are they numb to the physiological changes that modulate these emotions? Interoception, the perception of physical feelings, influences a person's mood, emotions, and sense of well-being, and was hardly tested among older adults. We examined the awareness of physiological changes (physiological arousal-blood pressure and heart rate) of 47 older adults, compared to 18 young adults, and their subjective reports of emotional experiences while viewing emotional stimuli. Interoception was decreased in old age. Blood pressure medications had a partial role in this reduction. Moreover, interoception mediated emotional experience, such that low interoception led to lower experiences of changes in physiological arousal. These findings may account for the emotional changes in old age, suggesting a decline in sensitivity with age, which leads to a positive interpretation of information.
研究发现，老年人的情绪调节更为有效；老年人似乎较少关注经历的消极方面。在此，我们提出疑问，是老年人能更有效地调节情绪，还是他们对调节这些情绪的生理变化变得麻木了呢？内感受，即对身体感觉的感知，会影响一个人的情绪、情感和幸福感，而在老年人中几乎未对此进行过测试。我们研究了47名老年人与18名年轻人对生理变化（生理唤醒——血压和心率）的感知，以及他们在观看情绪刺激时对情绪体验的主观报告。老年人的内感受能力有所下降。血压药物在这种下降中起到了一定作用。此外，内感受介导了情绪体验，即低内感受会导致对生理唤醒变化的体验降低。这些发现可能解释了老年人的情绪变化，表明随着年龄增长敏感性下降，这导致了对信息的积极解读。
