Influence of Sad Mood and Old Age Schema on Older Adults' Attention to Physical Symptoms

We examined how mood and activation of old age schema influenced attentional focus on physical symptoms in older adults. Seventy-one individuals aged 60 years or above participated in an experiment that manipulated mood and old age schema. They completed a modified Stroop task that measured attentio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2009-01, Vol.64B (1), p.41-44
Main Authors: Poon, Cecilia Y. M., Knight, Bob G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult. Elderly
Affect
Age
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - psychology
Anxiety
Attention
Attentional bias
Biological and medical sciences
Color Perception
Developmental psychology
Elderly people
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Illness Behavior
Influence
Information processing
Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences
Male
Middle Aged
Mood
Moods
Neuropsychological Tests
Older people
Personality Inventory
Physical symptoms
Population density
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychopathology
Reaction Time
Reading
Schemas
Semantics
Set (Psychology)
Stereotypes
Studies
Symptoms
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Summary:We examined how mood and activation of old age schema influenced attentional focus on physical symptoms in older adults. Seventy-one individuals aged 60 years or above participated in an experiment that manipulated mood and old age schema. They completed a modified Stroop task that measured attentional bias to physical symptoms. Controlling for baseline processing speed, the two variables had significant main and interaction effects on attentional focus on symptoms. Sad mood and old age schema independently minimized the bias to avoid attending to symptoms. When combined, these two variables contributed to greater attentional focus on symptoms. These findings highlight psychological influences on current attention to symptoms.
ISSN:1079-5014
1758-5368
DOI:10.1093/geronb/gbn025