Age-related changes in ongoing thought relate to external context and individual cognition |
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| Affiliation: | 1. The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;2. The University of Sydney, School of Psychology, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;3. ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;4. Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at The University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK;5. Memory and Cognition Clinic, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;6. The University of Sydney, School of Medical Sciences, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;1. Department of Psychology and Sports Sciences, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK;2. Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, 30-060 Kraków, Poland;3. Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London (UCL), London WC1N 3AZ, UK |
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| Abstract: | Understanding how age-related changes in cognition manifest in the real world is an important goal. One means of capturing these changes involves “experience sampling” participant’s self-reported thoughts. Research has shown age-related changes in ongoing thought: e.g., older adults have fewer thoughts unrelated to the here-and-now. However, it is currently unclear how these changes reflect cognitive aging or lifestyle changes. 78 younger adults and 35 older adults rated their thought contents along 20 dimensions and the difficulty of their current activity in their daily lives. They also performed cognitive tasks in the laboratory. In a set of exploratory analyses, we found that older adults spent more time thinking positive, wanted thoughts, particularly in demanding contexts, and less time mind wandering about their future selves. Past-related thought related to episodic memory differently in older and younger adults. These findings inform the use of experience sampling to understand cognitive aging. |
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