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Aging and emotion regulation: flexible engagement of cognitive control through the evaluation of reward

  • THE KOREAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
  • 2016, 29(3), pp.135-163
  • Publisher : The Korean Society For Developmental Psychology
  • Research Area : Social Science > Psychological Science

JIN YOUNG-SUN 1 김현옥 1

1경북대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

It has been considered that the decline of cognitive function due to aging is an essential part of later life. However, emotion regulation ability, which requires cognitive control, improves despite the deterioration of cognitive control. The current review suggested three possible explanations that can account for this paradoxical phenomenon. Additionally, we examined previous studies related to these three hypotheses. As a result, we confirmed that reduced reaction to emotional information was not found in older adults. Mastery deriving from the life experience of the elderly also cannot explain improvements in emotion regulation strategies, which demand cognitive resources. Based on the behavioral and neural findings, we found that the hypothesis of selective engagement of cognitive control depending on motivation can most reasonably elucidate the enhancement of emotion regulation in older adults. This is a novel perspective that enables us to deeply understand cognitive aging beyond decline and deterioration, suggesting a more parsimonious explanation for asymmetric effects of aging on various sub-areas of cognitive functions and a reasonable account for why the apparent effect of aging on cognitive functions does not seem to appear in the everyday functioning of older adults.

Citation status

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