Age-related differences in valence and arousal ratings of pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Do ratings become more extreme with age?

The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) has been widely used in aging-oriented research on emotion. However, no ratings for older adults are available. The aim of the present study was to close this gap by providing ratings of valence and arousal for 504 IAPS pictures by 53 young and 53 older adults. Both age groups rated positive pictures as less arousing, resulting in a stronger linear association between valence and arousal, than has been found in previous studies. This association was even stronger in older than in young adults. Older adults perceived negative pictures as more negative and more arousing and positive pictures as more positive and less arousing than young adults did. This might indicate a dedifferentiation of emotional processing in old age. On the basis of a picture recognition task, we also report memorability scores for individual pictures and how they relate to valence and arousal ratings. Data for all the pictures are archived at www.psychonomic.org/archiv

Characteristics for 200 words rated by young and older adults: Age-dependent evaluations of German adjectives (AGE)

We describe the Age-Dependent Evaluations of German Adjectives (AGE). This database contains ratings for 200 German adjectives by young and older adults (general word-rating study) and graduate students (self-other relevance study). Words were rated on emotion-relevant (valence, arousal, and control) and memory-relevant (imagery) characteristics. In addition, adjectives were evaluated for self-relevance (Does this attribute describe you?), age relevance (Is this attribute typical for young or for older adults?), and self-other relevance (Is this attribute more relevant for the possessor or for other persons?). These ratings are included in the AGE database as a resource tool for experiments on word material. Our comparisons of young and older adults' evaluations revealed similarities but also significant mean-level differences for a large number of adjectives, especially on the valence dimension. This highlights the importance of age in the perception of emotional words. Data for all the words are archived at www.psychonomic.org/archiv

Transmitting and decoding facial expressions of emotion during healthy aging: more similarities than differences

Older adults tend to perform more poorly than younger adults on emotional expression identification tasks. The goal of the present study was to test a processing mechanism that might explain these differences in emotion recognition – specifically, age-related variation in the utilization of specific visual cues. Seventeen younger and 17 older adults completed a reverse correlation emotion categorization task (Bubbles paradigm), consisting of a large number of trials in each of which only part of the visual information used to convey an emotional facial expression was revealed to participants. The task allowed us to pinpoint the visual features each group used systematically to correctly recognize the emotional expressions shown. To address the possibility that faces of different age groups are differently processed by younger and older adults, we included younger, middle-aged, and older adult face models displaying happy, fearful, angry, disgusted, and sad facial expressions. Our results reveal strong similarity in the utilization of visual information by younger and older adult participants in decoding the emotional expressions from faces across ages – particularly for happy and fear emotions. These findings suggest that age-related differences in strategic information use are unlikely to contribute to the decline of facial expression recognition skills observed in later life

Transitions dans le parcours de vie et construction des inégalités

Tout au long de leur existence, les individus suivent des chemins singuliers dont les trajectoires ne sont pas le simple fait de la seule volonté ou du hasard. Ces cheminements se révèlent souvent générateurs d'inégalités entre individus, notamment au cours des transitions des âges de la vie (enfance, adolescence, âge adulte, grand âge), ou lors de différentes étapes (mariage, divorce, deuil, etc). C'est afin de mieux comprendre les modalités et les combinaisons d'influence à l'origine des inégalités dans les parcours de vie, que les éditeurs de cet ouvrage ont réuni des chercheurs issus des sciences psychologiques, sociales et économiques, afin de croiser leurs regards sur la manière dont ces inégalités se creusent ou se réduisent au fil des trajectoires. Cet ouvrage interdisciplinaire met en relief la richesse d'une approche des inégalités dans la perspective dynamique du parcours de vie.Peer reviewe

English Word Database of Emotional Terms (EMOTE)

The database of EMOtional TErms (EMOTE) is a set of English words intended for the use in experimental settings for social, emotional, or cognitive tasks. The norms contain 1287 nouns and 985 adjectives rated on valence, arousal, emotionality, concreteness, imagery, familiarity, and clarity of meaning. Adjectives were also rated on control, desirability, and likeableness. For nouns, the database contains memorability scores from a recognition task. The article to the EMOTE database is: Grühn, D. (2016). An English Word Database of EMOtional TErms (EMOTE). Psychological Reports, 119, 290-308. doi: 10.1177/003329411665847

French version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)

French translation of the empathy scale "Interpersonal Reactivity Index" as used in Gilet, A.-L., Mella, N., Studer, J., Grühn, D., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (2013). Assessing dispositional empathy in adults: A French validation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 45(1), 42–48. https://doi.org/10.1037/a003042

Befunde eines Heterogenitäts-Homogenitäts-Paradigmas mit emotionalen Wörtern

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS X ABSTRACT XI ZUSAMMENFASSUNG XIV 1\. Introduction 1 2\. Theoretical Considerations 22 3\. The Present Studies 67 4\. Word Rating Study 80 5\. Central Study 112 6\. Discussion 168 7\. References 190 8\. AppendicesRecent work in the social cognitive aging literature, encounters a domain of functioning that might reveal a positive trajectory into old age, namely emotional memory. Some authors argue that older adults prioritize positive over negative information in memory and more so than young adults do. In order to investigate age-related differences in an emotion-based processing prioritization (i.e. preference for positive information), I used the heterogeneity-homogeneity list paradigm. If processing prioritization contributes to the proposed positivity effect in older adults memory, a positivity effect is expected in an emotion-heterogeneous but not in an emotion-homogeneous list context. Based on a preparatory word rating study, in which 24 young and 24 older adults were asked to rate 200 adjectives on six dimensions (valence, arousal, control, imagery, self-relevance, age- relevance), 30 negative, 30 positive, and 30 neutral words were selected. Words were combined to form three emotion-homogeneous (lists of 30 negative, 30 positive, and 30 neutral words) and three emotion-heterogeneous lists (three mixed lists of 10 positive, 10 negative, and 10 neutral words). In a between-subjects design, 72 young (aged 18 to 31 years) and 72 older adults (aged 64 to 75 years) were presented emotion-heterogeneous or emotion- homogeneous word lists and were asked to do a free recall across five learning trials and two long-term retention intervals (1-hour, 1-week). Regarding the effects of valence, both age groups recalled more negative than positive and neutral words in an emotion-heterogeneous list condition. In an emotion- homogeneous list condition, however, both age groups showed no recall differences between positive and negative words. In both list conditions, there was no evidence for the proposed positivity effect in older adults memory (i.e., no Age x Valence interaction). Follow-up analyses showed that the obtained findings were robust. The effects of valence were not moderated by (a) interindividual differences in person characteristics, (b) differences in word characteristics, or (c) the subjective evaluation of the to-be- remembered words by the participants. The findings in the two long-term retention intervals supported the pattern of findings in the learning phase. Contrary to recent proposals in the lifespan literature, the present dissertation did not support the idea that age differently modulates memory for positive and negative material. However, across the two contexts, a differential pattern of recalling positive and negative words was found. This finding is consistent with the idea that negative information receives processing priority in some contexts.Während Gedächtnisfunktionen kontinuierlich über das Erwachsenenalter abnehmen, scheinen emotionale Funktionen eher positive Entwicklungsverläufe zu zeigen, was auf eine Veränderung in der Allokation von Ressourcen (auf Emotionen und auf den emotionalen Gehalt von Informationen) hindeuten könnte. In diesem Zusammenhang wurde die Vermutung geäußert, dass ältere Personen im Vergleich zu jungen Personen positive Inhalte besser erinnern können als negative Inhalte. Um der Frage nachzugehen, ob potentielle Unterschiede zwischen jungen und alten Erwachsenen im Erinnern von positiven und negativen Wörtern durch eine selektive Präferenz (d.h. emotionsbasierte Verarbeitungspriorität) für positive Wörter erklärt werden können, benutze ich das Heterogenitäts-Homogenitäts-Paradigma mit emotional gefärbten Wörtern. Die Grundidee dieses Paradigmas ist es, dass eine Verarbeitungspriorität im Vergleich von emotional-heterogenen, durchmischten Listen und emotional- homogenen, undurchmischten Listen sichtbar wird. Die Erwartung war, dass Gedächtnisunterschiede zwischen positiven und negativen Wörtern im Allgemeinen und im Speziellen zwischen jungen und alten Erwachsenen durch Selektionsprozesse erklärt werden können. Basierend auf einer Wortbeurteilungsstudie, in der 24 junge (20-30 Jahre) und 24 ältere Erwachsene (65-75 Jahre) gebeten worden sind, 200 Adjektive auf 6 Dimensionen (Valenz, Aktivierung/Arousal, Kontrolle, Bildhaftigkeit, Selbstrelevanz, & Altersrelevanz) zu beurteilen, habe ich Wörter zu emotional-heterogenen Wortlisten, in denen 10 positive, 10 negative und 10 neutrale Adjektive durchmischt präsentiert werden, oder zu emotional-homogenen Wortlisten, in denen entweder nur 30 positive, 30 negative oder 30 neutrale Adjektive präsentiert wurden, zusammengestellt. 72 jungen (18-31 Jahre) und 72 älteren Erwachsenen (64-75 Jahre) wurden dann in einem Zwischensubjekt-Design entweder emotional-heterogene oder emotional-homogene Wortlisten präsentiert, die sie über fünf Lerndurchgänge und zwei Langzeit-Abrufintervalle (1-Stunde & 1-Woche) erinnern sollten. Die Stichprobe war geschichtet nach Geschlecht und Bildung. Im Gegensatz zu Vermutungen in der Lebensspannen-Psychologie, gab es keine Hinweise auf einen Positivitätseffekt im Gedächtnis älterer Personen. Dies war der Fall für beide Wortlisten-Bedingungen wie auch für die unterschiedlichen Lern- und Abrufintervalle. Die vorliegenden Befunde liefern keine Bestätigung für die Vermutung, dass ältere Personen sich besonders gut an positive Inhalte erinnern können. Die Befunde zeigten jedoch, dass negative Wörter in emotional-heterogenen Wortlisten besser erinnert wurden als positive Wörter, während dies in den homogenen Wortlisten nicht der Fall war. Diese Befunde sind im Einklang mit der Idee, dass generelle Selektionsprozesse operieren, die negativen Inhalten eine höhere Priorität in der Informationsverarbeitung gewähren