A comparative study of the influence of emotional conflict on the emotional attention processing of the elderly and the young / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the impact of emotional conflicts on the emotional attention pro-cessing between the elderly and the young. Methods A total of 37 young and 37 elderly participants were enrolled in the study. 2 (groupold group,young group) × 2 (Emotional valence of facehappy,fear) × 2 ( cue typeconsistent and inconsistent) mixed experimental design was used among the emotional stroop task and eye tracking task for all of subjects. Results (1) Behavioral response analysis showed that stroop in-terference effects in young and old groups were not significant under different emotional conditions (F=0. 02, P>0. 05). (2) The internal characteristics of the face for the gaze time were analyzed,and the total gaze time of the elderly group (( 402. 28 ± 15. 88) ms ) was significantly longer than that of the younger group ((340. 52±15. 88) ms) under the happy-inconsistent condition(t=2. 75,P<0. 05). The total gaze time of the elderly group under the happy-inconsistent condition was significantly longer than under the fear-inconsis-tent condition((365. 96±13. 95) ms)(t=4. 32,P<0. 05). The first gaze time for a happy face was signifi-cantly longer than that for the fear face((315. 56±13. 13)ms vs (293. 51±13. 23)ms,t=4. 33,P<0. 05), and also showed a positive effect. Conclusion Emotional conflicts have an impact on the emotional atten-tion processing of the elderly,and the elderly are more likely to process the positive stimulation in the control stage.