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    The impact of social relationships on cognitive performance in the older adult : emotional loneliness is detrimental to cognitive performance : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North
    (Massey University, 2019) Whitehouse, Catherine Mary
    The present study examined the influence of loneliness and objective social isolation on cognitive performance at baseline (time 1) and after two years (time 2) among older adults aged 65 - 84 years old. The exploration of the moderating role of objective social isolation on the relationship between loneliness and cognitive performance was investigated. The role education may have in moderating the relationship between loneliness, objective social isolation and cognitive performance was also investigated. This study extends previous work on loneliness and social isolation, and cognition in two ways. While previous research has found a link between loneliness, objective social isolation, and cognition, many studies have considered loneliness and objective social isolation independent of each other when investigating their relationship with cognition. This study investigated the relative and synergistic relationship between loneliness, objective social isolation and cognition. Secondly, Weiss (1973) conceptualised loneliness as emotional loneliness or social loneliness. Social loneliness as a risk factor for cognitive performance in the older adult has been overlooked. This study considered both emotional loneliness and social loneliness, as two different forms of loneliness that may influence cognition in the older adult. The current study examined the impact of three different types of social isolation (emotional loneliness, social loneliness and objective social isolation) on global cognition and cognitive domains (memory, fluency, language and visuospatial ability). Pre-existing data from the New Zealand Longitudinal Study of Ageing (NZLSA; 2010 and 2012) was used for analysis. The relationships between emotional loneliness, social loneliness and objective social isolation were examined using standard quantitative statistical procedures with linear hierarchical multiple regression being the primary technique. Results showed that loneliness (emotional and social) and objective social isolation may be differentially important for cognitive performance in the older adult. Emotional loneliness had an association with global cognition, verbal fluency, language and visuospatial ability, though not memory at baseline. At the two year follow-up emotional loneliness had an association with global cognition, memory, language, and visuospatial ability, though not verbal fluency. Social loneliness did not have an association with cognition at baseline, and was found to be a suppressor variable at the two year follow-up. Objective social isolation had an association at baseline with visuospatial ability only, which did not carry through to the two year analysis. Novel findings were that older adults who were emotional lonely and not socially isolated had poorer cognitive performance at baseline for global cognition, language and visuospatial tasks, than those who were emotionally lonely and socially isolated. Also older adults who had low levels of education and were socially isolated performed better in visuospatial tasks at baseline than older adults with low levels of education who were not socially isolated. Explanations of why emotional loneliness influence cognition is discussed, with a focus on the ‘lonely in the crowd’ subsample of older adults. Limitations of the study and implications for future research, such as need for longitudinal research that includes control variables such as personality factors, stress and sleep is also discussed.
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    Physiological, experiential & cognitive consequences of suppression, reappraisal & acceptance during emotional arousal : a comparative analysis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2006) Malthus, Sarah
    This study investigated the experiential, physiological, and memory effects of three emotion regulation strategies: acceptance, suppression, and reappraisal. Eighty female university students were exposed to a two minute standardised film designed to evoke feelings of sadness, while under instructions to either (a) push away emotions that arose (suppression), (b) view the film in an objective detached way (reappraisal), (c) accept emotions that arose without judgement (acceptance), or (d) simply watch the film (control group). Participants rated the intensity of emotions experienced both prior to and during the film. Heart rate and skin conductance were measured prior to, during, and following the film, and participants' incidental recognition memory (visual and verbal) and subjective confidence in memory were assessed post film. No significant differences were found between the mean scores of the four instructional conditions for any of the main dependent variables (possibilities regarding why this was so are discussed in this thesis). However, analysis of mean and effect size revealed trends that were supportive of several hypotheses. None of the emotion regulation strategies were found to be effective for alleviating either physiological or subjective responses to the film. However, reappraisal and acceptance participants did rate the emotive stimulus as more positive/pleasant than control participants. Clear differences also emerged with respect to incidental verbal recognition memory. Acceptance participants were the only group to achieve higher scores than control participants on this measure. These findings suggest different emotion regulation strategies may have different adaptive consequences depending on their emphasis on emotional control.
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    Aging and positivity : a cognitive comparison of encoding and memory retrieval in two different age groups : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2007) Bryce, Barbara Jane
    The positivity effect refers to a developmental trend in which the ratio of positive over negative events becomes more pronounced over the lifespan, suggesting that older adults evaluate, encode and retrieve stimuli from recall differently from young adults. Previous research has focused on identifying the positivity effect, on whether memory distortion has caused it, and for how long older adults can maintain positive emotion. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the cognitive functions behind the positivity effect. It examined differences in the encoding and memory retrieval of neutral, positive and negatively valenced images in young and old adults by comparing measures of self-reported intensity of arousal in 30 females aged 18-30 with 30 females aged 65-80. A slideshow of 60 valenced images from the International Affective Picture System was shown in either a direct emotion or an indirect emotion task, followed by a brief interference task, after which all participants were rated on the accuracy of their recognition of the valenced images. Results revealed that older adults had a positivity effect in most tasks when compared with younger adults, enhanced by a diminished preference for negative images. Psycho-social implications of this positively-biased view of themselves and the world include concerns over personal health care and safety issues related to independent living.