Aging

Cognition &

Emotion Lab
 
 


Research into adult aging in the School of Psychology includes the effects of aging on both cognitive and emotional functioning. The School maintains contact with a panel of volunteer participants aged up to 90 who take part in studies. There are also links with local hospitals and residential homes to access patients with dementia and other illnesses of old age. We are always recruiting participants. If you'd like to take part please contact Dr Roy Allen (Room G09, William Guild): 01224-272665 or roy.allen@abdn.ac.uk.

 

PDFs of published papers

Louise Phillips homepage

 

The Team

Staff members in Psychology:

Louise Phillips, Rebecca Bull, David Pearson, Judith Hosie, Lynden Miles, Roy Allen, Gillian Slessor, Emily Magar, Clare Scott

 

Collaborators in Aberdeen:

 

Collaborators outside Aberdeen:

 

Colin Hunter & Louise Reid (Geography), Alison Murray, Gordon Waiter & Roger Staff (Biomedical Imaging), Roy Soiza (Geriatrics), Donald Mowat & Stephen Bell (Old Age Psychiatry), Fiona Summers & Maggie Whyte (Neuropsychology)

 

Matthias Kliegel (Dresden), Julie Henry (UNSW), Shelley Channon (UCL), Sarah MacPherson (Edinburgh), Rachel Mitchell (Durham), Pilar Andres (UIB), Peter Rendell (ACU)

Postgraduate students:

Gigliola Brintazzoli, Clare Scott, Pauline Insch, Kate Houston, Monika Hunter (Edinburgh)

Previous staff & students:

Patricia Bestelmeyer, Nikola Bergis, Emma Brown, Hanne Bruhn, Claire Conway, Paula Cox, Sharin Garden, Anna Hedenstrom, Julie Henry, Alex Hering, Rory MacLean, Mairi MacLeod, Vasiliki Orgeta, Sarah MacPherson, Mary Tunstall, Francis Quinn

Projects:                      

1. Age differences in decoding subtle cues to mental state: Theory of mind.
2. Aging and emotion processing
3. Effects of Alzheimer's disease on emotional processing and social cognition
4. Effects of Alzheimer's disease and normal aging on executive functioning
5. Age, planning and prospective memory
6. Adult aging and the regulation of emotion

7. Effects of traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis on cognition and emotion
8. Working memory and social cue decoding
9. Self-regulation and risk-taking in adolescence

10. Stroke, emotional skills and social participation

11. Aging, pro-environmental behaviour and interactions with nature

12. The Aberdeen Birth Cohorts

 

DETAILS BELOW!

 

 

1.         Age differences in decoding subtle cues to mental state

Funded by The Leverhulme Trust, Wellcome Trust, Carnegie Trust

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Rebecca Bull, Roy Allen, Gillian Slessor, Pauline Insch.

Age changes in cognitive processes such as memory are well documented, but much less is known about age effects on social cognitive skills, such as understanding the mental state of other people. In everyday interaction, people rapidly draw conclusions about the intentions and emotions of others in their environment. Mental state decoding involves processing both cognitive and emotional cues, but existing tests do not separate these two aspects of processing. Recent neuropsychological studies indicate that different aspects of mental state decoding have separable anatomical correlates in the brain. Prefrontal cortex is involved in executive control processes, while temporal lobe regions are critical for early detection of socially relevant stimuli. This has implications for aging research, because age-related changes in neural functioning are particularly evident in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. We will explore the role of executive processes and early detection of social cues in age differences in understanding others' mental states. Our research will investigate the nature, causes and correlates of age effects on decoding the mental state of others through novel manipulations. The research will address the following questions:

1. What is the nature of age differences in mental state judgement? Does aging influence all aspects of mental state judgement, or are impairments greater in decoding some aspects of social cues compared to others? This will be addressed by controlled manipulations of specific social decoding processes, and the use of a wide range of stimulus modalities.

2. What cognitive mechanisms underlie age differences in mental state decoding? Building on brain-behaviour models of mental state attribution, are age differences in mental state judgement related to either executive control functions or early detection of social cues?

3. What impact might poor understanding of mental states have on the social skills of older adults? Do age differences in understanding others' mental states relate to the well-being, communication skills and social participation of older adults?

Detailed measurement of the cognitive components of social decoding will inform theories about the relationship between neural, behavioural and social aspects of aging. In each of three phases, 180 people aged between 18 and 88 years will be assessed on a range of mental state decoding tasks. Each study will address all three broad research questions, but using different mental state manipulations to investigate more specific hypotheses. All participants will complete brief computerised measures of executive function and social cue detection, along with questionnaires assessing social skills and well-being. In phase one, experimental manipulations will specifically address the role of cognitive factors such as working memory in age differences in decoding mental states. In phase two, manipulations of the emotional subtlety and complexity of stimuli will be used to investigate age differences in decoding others' mental states. In phase three, the ability of older adults to understand intentionality in social situations will be tested through looking at the detection of sarcasm, deception and social faux pas.

 

 

2.         Aging and emotion processing

Funded by Leverhulme Trust, Royal Society of Edinburgh/Lloyds TSB, Carnegie Trust, Bial Foundation.

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Rebecca Bull, Roy Allen, Monika Hunter, Alex Hering

Collaborators: Rachel Mitchell, University of Reading; Sarah MacPherson, University of Edinburgh; Julie Henry, UNSW; Ted Ruffman, Otago; Matthias Kliegel, University of Dresden.

Recent advances in research into human emotions indicates that 1) specific brain areas are particularly implicated in the perception and control of emotion, 2) emotions are important in many cognitive processes such as decision-making and social reasoning. However, there has been very little research that examines the effects of normal adult aging on the understanding of emotion. Evidence of localised brain changes with age indicates that there are age-related changes in two brain areas known to be important in emotion processing. Neuropsychological theories therefore suggest that emotional processing ability should decline with adult age. In contrast, sociocognitive theories predict age-related improvements in the understanding of emotion, because of improved knowledge with age about interpersonal relations and increases in the importance of emotional goals. The current projects aim to investigate the effects of normal adult aging on a range of measures of emotional processing to distinguish between these two theories. The measures are derived partly from neuropsychological literature where they have been used to examine brain-behaviour relationships in patients with brain injury, and partly from studies of individual differences in emotional reasoning in young adults.

 

 

3.         Effects of Alzheimer's Disease on emotional processing and social cognition

Funded by Alzheimer's Research Trust, Lily Charlton Trust

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Rebecca Bull, Gillian Slessor, Clare Scott, Pauline Insch

Collaborators: Donald Mowat & Stephen Bell (Old Age Psychiatry, Cornhill Hospital); Julie Henry, UNSW.

Theory of mind is the ability that adult humans have to understand the mental states of others. Theory of mind includes being able to work out what someone else knows about a situation, what they are feeling and why they are behaving in a certain way. Being able to interpret and understand others' behaviour in this way is critical for social interaction, maintaining relationships, and well-being. A number of illnesses which affect the brain, such as autism, schizophrenia and stroke, cause problems in theory of mind, and this can have severe implications for social functioning. However, the effects of dementia on these important social functions have not been extensively researched. Our recent work has explored one aspect of social understanding: the ability to interpret others' emotions from their facial expressions. The results indicate that Alzheimer's Disease impairs the ability to decode others' emotions, and that this problem in emotion perception is a more important predictor of quality of life in dementia than declines in cognitive function. It is important to build upon this work, in order to discover the effects of dementia more broadly on theory of mind skills, their longitudinal course, and the impact that impairments in social understanding might have on those who have dementia and their caregivers. If people with dementia fail to perceive what their relatives are feeling, and the reasons behind their behaviour, this is likely to have problematic consequences for interpersonal relationships. Better understanding of these problems is important for care staff and relatives, and will lead to new advice on interacting with people who have dementia to improve communication.

 

 

4.         Effects of Alzheimer's Disease and normal aging on executive functioning

Funded by Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, France and ESRC

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Rebecca Bull.

Collaborators: Helene Amieva, University of Bordeaux; Sergio Della Sala, University of Edinburgh; Pilar Andres, University of Plymouth; Tim Perfect, University of Plymouth; Julie Henry, UNSW

These projects aim to investigate the nature, causes and consequences of executive function changes in normal aging and dementia. In particular, we have been interested in the effects of normal and abnormal aging on inhibitory functioning. The aim of the current research has been to reconcile the inconsistencies observed in the literature on aging and dementia effects on a range of inhibitory tasks by utilising an important distinction in cognitive psychology: controlled versus automatic processes. The major hypothesis is that age, and Alzheimer's Disease will affect inhibitory tasks involving controlled or effortful processes (such as the Stroop effect), but not inhibitory tasks involving automatic or unintentional processes (such as inhibition of return). Further projects have investigated the effects of aging and dementia on verbal fluency: a task which demands strategic retrieval from long term memory.

 

 

5.       Aging and prospective memory

Funded by:  Australian Research Council

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Gigliola Brintazzoli.

Collaborators: Matthias Kliegel, University of Dresden; Julie Henry, UNSW; Peter Rendell, ACU; Phoebe Bailey, UNSW; Mareike Altgassen, Dresden.
Prospective memory (PM) requires that individuals set up an internal or external cue to remember to carry out a particular intention. For example, in order to remember to keep a lunch appointment we might write it down in a diary or rely on our memory (or our hunger) to prompt us to fulfil that appointment. The effects of aging on PM have proved controversial, with some evidence suggesting substantial age declines in PM because of the requirement for strategic internal cue-driven retrieval, while other studies suggest age-related improvement in PM where the tasks occur in a real environment. We have carried out a meta-analysis indicating that the environment in which a task is carried out, and the strategic demands of the task, are critical in determining the direction and magnitude of age effects on PM. Further studies are investigating the role of prioritisation and complexity of the on-going task on age effects on prospective memory.
Many everyday tasks demand that an individual makes a mental plan of a sequence of events, and then executes this plan efficiently. Examples include: cooking, shopping, scheduling work-based tasks etc. Adult aging appears to impair some aspects of planning (e.g. the efficiency with which a mental plan is created), but does not effect other aspects of planning (e.g. the efficiency of planning a shopping trip in a known environment). Our continuing work in this area investigates the role of task familiarity, emotion and memory aids in age differences in planning and prospective memory.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

6.         Effects of adult aging and dementia on the regulation of emotion

Funded by: The Leverhulme Trust

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Judith Hosie, Alan Milne

Collaborators:  Julie Henry, UNSW; Peter Rendell (ACU)

Regulation of emotion involves implementing strategies to control the subjective experience and/or outward signs of emotion. Good regulation of emotion has been argued to be important in: life satisfaction, mental health, occupational effectiveness, and relationship success. Most authors who discuss age effects on emotional processing have taken a sociocognitive perspective. Sociocognitive theories propose that with age there is increased ability to regulate emotions due to greater life experience of emotion control strategies. In particular, it is argued that older adults are more skilled at re-evaluating negative emotions such as anger. An alternative neuropsychological theory of aging and emotional regulation can be proposed, which emphasises the localisation of age changes in the brain. The pattern of frontal lobe changes in the brain in the course of adult aging therefore suggests that older adults may encounter some difficulties with the control of emotions. However, neuropsychological studies of aging have largely ignored emotional processes. We are investigating the effects of adult aging on the regulation of emotion, and whether good emotion regulation predicts quality of life in older adults. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with intact experience but abnormal expression of emotion. We have evidence that people with AD have some difficulties with controlling the display of emotion. However, intentionally suppressing emotional expressions in AD, consistent with models of aging that regard some emotion control processes as being relatively more automatic in older adulthood.

 

 

7.         Effects of traumatic brain injury and multiple sclerosis on cognition and emotion

Funded by: Tenovus Scotland

Researchers: Julie Henry, Louise Phillips, Clare Scott, Amber Saldias, Anna McCarrey, Moira Cook.

Collaborators: Fiona Summers & Maggie Whyte, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary; Julie Henry, UNSW.

Effects of brain injury on cognitive function are well-documented but less is known about the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on social cognitive skills such as understanding emotions and theory of mind. In a series of studies we investigated the effects of TBI on social functioning and its link to cognitive changes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is sometimes associated with disturbance in emotions, but few studies have addressed this issue empirically. The proposed research will clarify whether there is evidence of an emotional processing deficit in MS, and if so whether this reflects a deficit in emotional regulation. The relationship between emotional regulation, quality of life, and cognitive control will also be explored. The results will improve future prediction, management and treatment of behavioural changes in relation to MS.     

 

 

8.         Working memory and social cue decoding

Funded by: ESRC

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Rebecca Bull, Mary Tunstall, Anna Hedenstrom, Claire Conway

Collaborators: Shelley Channon (UCL)

Effective social communication demands the accurate monitoring of nonverbal signals. Patients suffering particular neuropsychological conditions (e.g. schizophrenia, frontal lobe brain injury) have impaired ability to decode these social signals. There is some dispute as to whether the decoding of nonverbal social signals is dependent upon cognitive resources such as working memory, or is a relatively automatic process which is not subject to conscious control. The current series of dual-task experiments will investigate whether nonverbal social cue decoding is either: (i) a relatively automatic task which makes little demand on cognitive systems, or alternatively (ii) a relatively demanding task which loads working memory. A range of social cue decoding tasks will be used in the experimental work, such as: identifying emotional expressions from static photographs of faces, classifying nonverbal cues from video clips of human body movements, and analysing social relationships between two people seen in brief video clips. The results will have implications for the current debate in the social neurosciences about the extent to which social communicative processes are automatic or in contrast demand cognitive resources. In the longer term, the results may have implications for the treatment of disorders of social communication. Functioning appropriately in a social world requires that we are able to understand verbal and visual cues as to a person's thoughts or feelings, and that we understand other people may hold different knowledge of a situation compared to our own, and this will influence their behaviour.  Such skills are referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM), held to be one of the principle psychological constructs underpinning normal social functioning.  However, there has long been debate as to whether ToM skills are dependent upon other cognitive resources, in particular executive functioning (EF).  We are investigating whether different ToM tasks are dependent on specific aspects of EF (inhibition, switching, updating).  This will be done using dual-task methodology, whereby a range of ToM tasks are performed both alone, and concurrently with a task which loads a specific aspect of EF.

 

 

9.         Self-regulation and risk-taking in adolescence

Funded by: The Leverhulme Trust, The Alcohol & Education Research Council

Researchers: Louise Phillips, Judith Hosie, Emily Magar, Rachel Couper.

Recent research indicates that particular regions within the frontal and parietal lobes of the brain show continued development well into the teenage years and early adulthood. It has often been argued that this relatively late brain development may have implications for behaviour, but relatively few psychological studies have investigated the development of critical cognitive and emotional skills across adolescence. Key issues to be addressed in this area include better understanding of the course of adolescent development in emotional and cognitive regulation processes. Also, the role of mood fluctuations in the control of behaviour amongst adolescent populations has not been explored in previous research.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

10.       Stroke, emotional skills and social participation.

Funded by: CSO, Tenovus Scotland

Researchers: Clare Scott, Louise Phillips, Marie Johnston, Bogna Radlak.

Stroke survivors are known to be prone to emotional problems. These can include mood disorders, as well as deficits in emotion perception. As stroke survivors are known to exhibit a decline in leisure activities and social participation that cannot be explained by disability alone, it is important to know whether emotional disorders may be responsible for such social limitations. The nature and severity of emotion disorders may be determined by the extent and location of the brain damage itself; however reactive response to stroke may also influence these emotional deficits. In this study we will explore the extent to which difficulties with mood and emotion perception predict activity limitation and social participation in stroke survivors. We shall use measures of mood, emotion perception, social limitation and quality of life to answer this research question. The results will improve future knowledge of the consequences of mood and emotion deficits in stroke survivors so that individuals who may be at risk can be identified and potentially targeted for intervention.

 

11.       Aging, pro-environmental behaviour and interactions with nature.

Funded by: ESRC, MRC and BBSRC

Researchers: Colin Hunter, Louise Reid, Louise Phillips, Alison Murray, Gordon Waiter, Jillian Anable, Pete Stollery.

Collaborators: Tony Craig, Pete Edwards, Christina Prell, Steve Redpath, Mark Reed, Linda Steg, Simon Thirgood, Mark van Vugt, and Rene van der Wal

BeWEL (Behaviour for Well-being, Environment and Life) is a network of 17 core researchers led from Aberdeen University and established to explore potential motivators of, and barriers to, individual ‘pro environment’ behavioural change (‘sustainable behaviours’). In the face of important global and regional environmental problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and growing pressure on water and other natural resources, there is an urgent need to better understand factors that may influence the tendency of an individual to undertake desirable, pro-environment, changes in behaviour, such as; increased recycling, reduced waste, electricity and water use, and changes in purchasing behaviours.

The focus of BeWEL is on exploring links between tendency to undertake pro-environment behaviours and:

• the ways in which people interact with nature

• how interactions to nature affect brain function, other physiological responses and feelings of personal well-being;

• age related changes in cognition and brain function.

http://www.bewel.net/

 

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