(Press-News.org) COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Older adults can improve their decision making and working memory simply by putting on a happy face, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that easy mood-boosters -- like giving people a small bag of candy -- helped seniors do significantly better on tests of decision-making and working memory.
This is the first study to show the power of positive moods in helping older people with these brain tasks.
"There has been lots of research showing that younger adults are more creative and cognitively flexible when they are in a good mood. But because of the cognitive declines that come with aging, we weren't sure that a good mood would be able to help older adults," said Ellen Peters, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
"So these results are good news. There are ways for older adults to overcome some of the cognitive declines that come with aging."
The study was done with Stephanie Carpenter of the University of Michigan; David Västfjäll of Linköping University in Sweden; and the late Alice Isen, of Cornell University. It appears in the current issue of the journal Cognition and Emotion.
The study involved 46 adults aged 63 to 85. Half of them were put into a good mood by receiving a thank-you card and two small bags of candy, tied with a red ribbon, when they arrived at the lab for the experiment. The other "neutral mood" participants did not receive a card or candy.
The participants completed the study on a computer. Those who were induced into the positive mood had a background screen that was designed to help keep them feeling positive -- it featured smiling suns on a sky-blue background. The neutral-mood participants had a similar background, but with neutral round images with no face.
In the decision-making task, the participants were given $3 in quarters and presented with eight virtual decks of cards over the course of experiment. Each of the decks had a different pattern on its back so that participants could identify them. Four of the decks were "gain" decks, meaning that the participants won a quarter 75 percent of the time if they chose a card from that deck, while the other 25 percent they did not win or lose. The other four decks were "loss" decks, meaning they lost a quarter 75 percent of the time that they chose a card from the deck.
Participants could choose to accept or reject the top card of each deck that was offered to them. They were told the goal of the experiment was to win as much money as possible.
The researchers wanted to see how quickly and accurately the participants would learn which decks generally won them money, and which decks lost them money.
The findings were clear: older adults who were put into a good mood chose significantly better than those who were in the neutral mood.
These results are significant because this decision-making task was experiential, meaning that the participants knew nothing about the card values at the beginning of the experiment and had to learn through trial and error.
"We used an experiential task because real life is experiential," Peters said.
"For example, you meet a new person and she is like one of these decks of cards. You don't know anything about her and you have to learn if she is someone you can trust. What this study suggests is that people who are in a good mood are going to learn faster and make better decisions."
Later in the experiment, the researchers tested working memory -- how much information people can hold in their mind at any one time. Researchers read aloud a group of intermixed letters and numbers (such as T9A3) and participants were to repeat the group back in numeric and then alphabetic order (in this case, 39AT). The participants received groups with increasingly more letters and numbers.
Results showed that the older adults who were induced into a good mood scored better on this test of working memory.
"Working memory is important in decision making," Peters said.
"If you're working your way through different options, how much you can remember of each option -- and can therefore compare and contrast in your head -- has a big impact on how well you can make a decision."
A positive mood did not help these older adults on some cognitive measures, such as speed of processing or vocabulary.
Still, Peters said the results provide some good news for a fast-growing population segment in the United States.
"Given the current concern about cognitive declines in the aged, our findings are important for showing how simple methods to improve mood can help improve cognitive functioning and decision performance in older adults, just like they do in younger people."
###The study was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation to Peters.
Contact: Ellen Peters, (614) 688-3477; Peters.498@osu.edu
Written by Jeff Grabmeier, (614) 292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu
Good mood helps boost brain power in older adults
2013-01-30
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute study: Stem cells boost heart's natural repair mechanisms
2013-01-30
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 30, 2012) – Injecting specialized cardiac stem cells into a patient's heart rebuilds healthy tissue after a heart attack, but where do the new cells come from and how are they transformed into functional muscle?
Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, whose clinical trial results in 2012 demonstrated that stem cell therapy reduces scarring and regenerates healthy tissue after a heart attack, now have found that the stem cell technique boosts production of existing adult heart cells (cardiomyocytes) and spurs recruitment of existing stem cells ...
Program to overcome early US math deficiencies could improve workforce
2013-01-30
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- One in five adults in the United States lacks the math competency expected of an eighth grader, according to the United States Center for Educational Statistics. University of Missouri researchers identified how a lack of a specific math skill in first grade correlated to lower scores on a seventh grade math test used to determine employability and wages in adults. Intervention programs designed to overcome this early math deficiency could prepare students for later employment, help them make wiser economic choices and improve the future U.S. workforce.
"Our ...
Vegetarianism can reduce risk of heart disease by up to a third
2013-01-30
The risk of hospitalisation or death from heart disease is 32% lower in vegetarians than people who eat meat and fish, according to a new study from the University of Oxford.
Heart disease is the single largest cause of death in developed countries, and is responsible for 65,000 deaths each year in the UK alone. The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that a vegetarian diet could significantly reduce people's risk of heart disease.
'Most of the difference in risk is probably caused by effects on cholesterol and blood pressure, ...
Erectile dysfunction drug also helps men ejaculate and orgasm
2013-01-30
NEW YORK (January 30, 2013) -- New data suggests the erectile dysfunction (ED) drug Cialis may also be beneficial in helping men who have problems with ejaculation and orgasm, report researchers from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in the February issue of the British Journal of Urology International. Cialis is currently approved for the treatment of ED, benign prostate hypertrophy (BPH) and for treatment of men with both conditions.
Their study, a meta-analysis of 17 double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials of men with ED, is the first ...
Pathway for membrane building blocks
2013-01-30
The lipid molecules of membranes, also known as phospholipids, are composed of two elements: A hydrophilic head and two long-chain fatty acids. The molecules form a bilayer in the membrane, with all of the heads pointing outwards and the fatty acid chains hanging in a zip-like interlay position.
Biomembranes are constantly reorganized or renewed, for example whenever cells divide. The cell is constantly creating new phospholipids that have to align themselves – which they do in both layers of the biomembrane. However, cells only produce phospholipids on one side of the ...
How to be a social climber
2013-01-30
The researchers have carried out a social network simulation: each individual is represented by a node, while links, connecting the nodes, represent social interactions. Each individual has the tendency to enhance their social importance, and to do so they necessarily have to connect with the "most central nodes", that is, to the people who count. However, to advance socially an individual has to break with the past: technically speaking, abandon old nodes and connect with the most central ones. But how many have an inclination to break up with old connections to aim high? ...
Understanding the historical probability of drought
2013-01-30
Droughts can severely limit crop growth, causing yearly losses of around $8 billion in the United States. But it may be possible to minimize those losses if farmers can synchronize the growth of crops with periods of time when drought is less likely to occur. Researchers from Oklahoma State University are working to create a reliable "calendar" of seasonal drought patterns that could help farmers optimize crop production by avoiding days prone to drought.
Historical probabilities of drought, which can point to days on which crop water stress is likely, are often calculated ...
Broker fees from mutual funds affect advice; predict worse performance, new study says
2013-01-30
Toronto – Brokers are supposed to recommend investments that are in the best interests of their clients.
But a study published in the February 2013 issue of the Journal of Finance has found that mutual funds offering higher broker fees attract the most investments, especially when the broker is not affiliated with the mutual fund company. Every additional dollar paid to a broker corresponds with another six dollars invested into the fund, and another fourteen dollars if the broker is an unaffiliated third party whose compensation depends exclusively on sales commissions. ...
New target to stop cancer's spread discovered by Georgia State scientists
2013-01-30
Disrupting a key interaction between two types of proteins in cells inhibits the spread of cancerous cells, providing researchers with a new pathway toward developing cancer-fighting drugs, according to new findings by Georgia State University scientists.
Cell migration is essential for the spread of cancerous cells, also known as metastasis, as well as for other diseases. The research team in the labs of Zhi-Ren Liu, professor of biology, and Jenny Yang, professor of biochemistry, studied the interaction of two molecules, p68 RNA helicase and calcium-calmodulin.
Interrupting ...
NTU research embraces laser and sparks cool affair
2013-01-30
Bulky and noisy air-conditioning compressors and refrigerators may soon be a thing of the past.
With the latest discovery by scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), current cooling systems which uses refrigerant harmful to the ozone layer could be replaced by a revolutionary cooling system using lasers.
This discovery, published and featured on the cover of the 24 January 2013 issue of Nature, the world's top scientific journal, could also potentially lead to a host of other innovations. This includes making huge Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines, ...