2011/04/24 by Christina M. Leclerc, Elizabeth A. Kensinger · 2 citations
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies #Face Recognition and Perception #Memory Processes and Influences #Psychology #Amygdala #Young adult #Prefrontal cortex #Neural correlates of consciousness #Developmental psychology #Emotional memory #Audiology #Cognitive psychology #Neuroscience #Cognition
paper · doi:10.1080/87565641.2010.549864
openalex publication_date 2011/04/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Recent findings have revealed age-related changes in neural recruitment during the processing of emotional information. The present study examined whether these age-related changes would be more pronounced for words, thought to be processed in a controlled manner versus relatively automatically processed pictures. Compared to young adults, older adults showed less amygdala activation, and more medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation, for negative than positive pictures. The opposite pattern was observed for words. Older adults showed a positivity effect in memory for words, but not for pictures, suggesting that their positivity effect may stem from age-related changes in medial PFC engagement during encoding.