The Mellow Years?: Neural Basis of Improving Emotional Stability over Age

Contrary to the pervasive negative stereotypes of human aging, emotional functions may improve with advancing age. However, the brain mechanisms underlying changes in emotional function over age remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that emotional stability improves linearly over seven decades (12-79...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of neuroscience 2006-06, Vol.26 (24), p.6422-6430
Main Authors: Williams, Leanne M, Brown, Kerri J, Palmer, Donna, Liddell, Belinda J, Kemp, Andrew H, Olivieri, Gloria, Peduto, Anthony, Gordon, Evian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Aging - physiology
Analysis of Variance
Brain - anatomy & histology
Brain - blood supply
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
Child
Electroencephalography - methods
Emotions - physiology
Evoked Potentials - physiology
Expressed Emotion - physiology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Middle Aged
Oxygen - blood
Photic Stimulation - methods
Predictive Value of Tests
Regression Analysis
Self Concept
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Summary:Contrary to the pervasive negative stereotypes of human aging, emotional functions may improve with advancing age. However, the brain mechanisms underlying changes in emotional function over age remain unknown. Here, we demonstrate that emotional stability improves linearly over seven decades (12-79 years) of the human lifespan. We used both functional magnetic resonance imaging and event-related potential recording to examine the neural basis of this improvement. With these multimodal techniques, we show that better stability is predicted by a shift toward greater medial prefrontal control over negative emotional input associated with increased activity later in the processing sequence (beyond 200 ms after stimulus) and less control over positive input, related to a decrease in early activity (within 150 ms). This shift was independent from gray matter loss, indexed by structural magnetic resonance data. We propose an integrative model in which accumulated life experience and the motivation for meaning over acquisition in older age contribute to plasticity of medial prefrontal systems, achieving a greater selective control over emotional functions.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0022-06.2006