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Cognitive and motivational selectivity in healthy aging
Author(s) -
Swirsky Liyana T.,
Spaniol Julia
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.526
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1939-5086
pISSN - 1939-5078
DOI - 10.1002/wcs.1512
Subject(s) - psychology , cognition , cognitive psychology , cognitive aging , affect (linguistics) , neuroscience , communication
Normal aging is associated with a reduction in the selectivity of cognitive processes such as attention and memory. This loss of selectivity is attributed to diminished inhibition and cognitive control mechanisms in older adults, which render them more susceptible to distraction and more likely to attend to and encode irrelevant information. However, motivational selectivity appears largely preserved in aging. For example, older adults selectively avoid high‐demand tasks, exhibit a positivity bias in attention and memory, and show better memory for high‐value compared to low‐value information. The aim of this review is to integrate these seemingly paradoxical findings of reduced and preserved selectivity in aging, discuss potential neural mechanisms, and propose questions for future research. This article is categorized under: Neuroscience > Cognition Psychology > Development and Aging