Older
adults show more emotionally gratifying memory distortion for past
choices and autobiographical information than younger adults do. In
addition, when shown positive and negative stimuli, older adults are
more likely to favor the positive over negative stimuli in attention
and memory than younger adults do. Results from behavioral and
neuroimaging studies argue against the hypothesis that older adults’
positivity effect in attention and memory is due to age-related decline
in brain regions such as the amygdala that detect and monitor negative
and potentially threatening information. Instead, current findings
support the hypothesis that this positivity effect is implemented by
prefrontal cognitive control mechanisms that enhance positive and
diminish negative information. |