Running head: EFFECTS OF AGE ON DETECTION OF EMOTION
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Effects of Age on Detection of Emotional Information
Christina M. Leclerc and Elizabeth A. Kensinger
Boston College
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Christina M. Leclerc and Elizabeth A. Kensinger, Department of Psychology,
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EFFECTS OF AGE ON DETECTION OF EMOTION
Boston College.
Abstract
Writing the abstract, 2.04
This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant BCS 0542694 arch Age differences were examined in affective processing, in the context of a visual search task. awarded to Elizabeth A. Kensinger. beth Young and older adults were faster to detect high arousal images compared with low arousal and
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Christina M. Leclerc, ndence neutral items. Younger adults were faster to detect positive high arousal targets compared with
Department of Psychology, Boston College, McGuinn Hall, Room 512, 140 Commonwealth sychology, other categories. In contrast, older adults exhibited an overall detection advantage for emotional ut Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. Email: christina.leclerc.1@bc.edu images compared with neutral images. Together, these findings suggest that older adults do not display valence-based effects on affective processing at relatively automatic stages.
Keywords: aging, attention, information processing, emotion, visual search
Double-spaced manuscript,
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Paper adapted from “Effects of Age on Detection of Emotional Information,” by C. M. Leclerc and E. A. Kensinger,
2008, Psychology and Aging, 23, pp. 209–215. Copyright 2008 by the American Psychological Association.
Figure 2.1. Sample One-Experiment Paper (continued)
EFFECTS OF AGE ON DETECTION OF EMOTION
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Effects of Age on Detection of Emotional Information
Frequently, people encounter situations in their environment in which it is impossible to attend to all available stimuli. It is therefore of great importance for one’s attentional processes to select only the most salient information in the environment to which one should attend. Previous research has suggested that emotional information is privy to attentional selection in young adults (e.g., Anderson, 2005; Calvo & Lang, 2004; Carretie, Hinojosa, Marin-Loeches, Mecado,
& Tapia, 2004; Nummenmaa, Hyona, & Calvo, 2006), an obvious service to evolutionary drives
Selecting to approach rewarding situations and to avoid threat and danger (Davis & Whalen, 2001; Dolan the correct tense, 3.18 & Vuilleumier, 2003; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1997; LeDoux, 1995).
For example, Ohman, Flykt, and Esteves (2001) presented participants with 3 × 3 visual
Numbers arrays with images representing four categories (snakes, spiders, flowers, mushrooms). In half expressed in words, the arrays, all nine images were from the same category, whereas in the remaining half of the
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arrays, eight images were from one category and one image was from a different category (e.g.,
Use of hyphenation for compound words, 4.13, discrepant stimulus. Results indicated that fear- relevant images were more quickly detected than Table 4.1 ant fear-relevant r eight flowers and one snake). Participants were asked to indicate whether the matrix included a
fear-irrelevant items, a larger search facilitation effects were observed for participants who elevant and arful were fearful of the stimuli. A similar pattern of results has been