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Age Differences in Memory for Arousing and Nonarousing Emotional Words

Department of Psychology, Boston College, Massachusetts.

Address correspondence to Elizabeth A. Kensinger, McGuinn Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. E-mail: elizabeth.kensinger{at}bc.edu

Older adults sometimes demonstrate a mnemonic "positivity effect," remembering more positive than negative information. The present study examined whether this effect would occur for arousing words (elation vs slaughter) or for nonarousing ones (serenity vs sorrow). The results revealed no positivity effect for arousing words: Young and older adults remembered negative and positive arousing words equally well and more often than neutral words. However, a positivity effect emerged for nonarousing words. Young adults remembered negative nonarousing words better than positive nonarousing items. Older adults remembered positive nonarousing words better than negative nonarousing words and showed no mnemonic benefit for negative nonarousing words as compared with neutral words. These findings suggest that aging preserves responses to arousing information while altering the processing of nonarousing information.

Key Words: Aging • Emotion • Memory • Valence • Arousal