With older adults making up a larger portion of society than ever, health issues affecting not only the body but also mental functioning and emotional well-being are becoming of greater and greater concern. The need to improve our understanding of the psychological changes associated with older adulthood is driving new areas of research. Dr. Laura Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, is a psychologist who is best known for socioemotional selectivity theory, a lifespan theory of motivation. She provides an overview of the key areas of research in the psychological aspects of aging.

Q. What are the most important aspects of the aging mind that researchers are studying today?

Most of the ongoing research on the aging mind concerns the nature and the degree of cognitive decline with age. For many years the research simply documented age-related decline, but today there is increasing interest in preventing the decline or understanding ways in which the effects can be minimized. In addition, research on emotion and aging has exploded in the last decade. In this domain, the news is good. Emotional regulation and experience appear to improve with age. Finally, there is growing interest in what some people call “wisdom.” Wisdom reflects a combination of knowledge about practical matters of life and emotional stability.

Q. Can you walk us through the basics of these areas and talk about how age impacts them?

Yes. Beginning with cognition and memory, I think it’s important to point out that there is no question that some key aspects of mental functioning decline with age. Older adults are slower and less effective at performing a variety of mental tasks, from recalling information to concentrating. There is growing interest in research on interventions that improve cognitive functioning.

Q. Like these “brain games” we keep hearing about?

Yes, there is work going on studying things like computer-based games, doing crossword puzzles, or taking herbal supplements like Ginko Biloba. Scientists are developing research programs that test these claims along with other prospects. But honestly, for now, the evidence is mixed. Playing games clearly improves your performance on the games but in most cases it’s unlikely that your game performance will carry over to real-world tasks. Obviously, the public is intrigued by the idea of taking a supplement or doing simple games to improve cognition, but while some findings are intriguing there isn’t compelling evidence that it works.

Q. Has there been any progress?

I would say yes. Scientists are optimistic that some interventions can work. At Stanford, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Jerome Yesavage and his team are studying ways to improve memory by methods to improve concentration, visual imagery ability and the ability to use associative devices (mnemonics) in older adults with and without Alzheimer’s. In a more biologically based approach, Stanford neuroendocrinologist Robert Sapolsky is developing gene therapy strategies that might preserve brain neurons, among other interventions. Our Center has been working with a group based at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin. Led by Director of the Institute, Ulman Lindenberger, their research team is doing exciting work that suggests that intensive training over several weeks may effectively improve functioning.

My research team has shown that when it comes to processing emotional information, decline is less evident. Particularly when tasks involve positive information, older adults perform quite well. Whereas younger adults tend to remember negative information, older people remember relatively more positive information. We are trying to develop models for helping people capitalize on such strengths. . Some of it involves studying what we call ‘framing’ information that is important in a way that is easier for older people to remember. To give you an example, if a physician is trying to make sure that an older patient remembers to take a medication on the proper schedule, it makes sense to stress the positive benefits of taking the medication, rather than the negative consequences of forgetting to take it. Saying “If you take this on time, you will have more energy and be able to spend more playing with your grandchildren,” rather than, “If you don’t follow the proper dosage and schedule, you will increase your risk of feeling weak and dizzy, “ may be more effective in terms of achieving the desired outcome.

Q. What about expertise and life knowledge?

We know that what has been called “fluid intelligence” (such as speed of information processing) declines over time, but “crystallized intelligence” (such as emotional expertise and life knowledge) grows as we age.

There’s ample evidence that older adults are as good as — and in some ways better than — younger adults at regulating their emotions. This likely reflects enhanced knowledge about oneself and other people. My research shows that when older adults experience negative emotions, these feelings last for shorter periods than for younger adults. Another interesting insight from our group comes from neuroimaging research led by Gregory Samanez Larkin, which shows that older adults actually show less brain activity than younger adults while anticipating monetary losses — but not while anticipating gains. That would suggest that they’re less ruffled by the possibility of financial loss than younger people.

Knowledge is hard to research because it is so individualized. My expertise, for example, in psychology is entirely different from the expertise that an engineering colleague may have. From a research perspective, it’s difficult to measure and quantify knowledge across individuals. Because of this we tend to use more general measures of things like vocabulary and cultural knowledge, measures that surely underestimate specialized knowledge.

Q. Why is it important to study knowledge?

Life knowledge and expertise are the products of information processing. The efficiency of processing new information is somewhat degraded with age, but learning continues. The longer we live, the more experience we have. Absent diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, there is nothing about normal aging that makes people lose the knowledge they have gained. Consequently, it continues to grow into very advanced ages. The more we know about the world, the better we navigate it. Older scientists are usually the most knowledgeable in their disciplines. Older symphony conductors are the most renowned. Congress is filled with older people who understand how bills are passed and have rich knowledge base about our country’s history. As much as people criticize Congress, I think most people would rather have a group of 70 year olds govern the nation than 20 year olds! In addition, knowledge helps us to compensate for some of the losses we see. For example, when you can’t retrieve a word you want from memory, having a large vocabulary allows you to deliver your message using different words.

Wisdom is a term that refers to a sort of knowledge that goes beyond a store of facts and is certainly different from how fast you can solve a new puzzle. Wisdom is considered practical knowledge about the human condition. Along with an understanding of how to accomplish goals, it includes an understanding of the relative nature of knowledge and the need to consider circumstances before acting. “Right” and “wrong” shifts to shades of gray. Experience does not insure wisdom, but it affords the opportunity for wisdom to emerge. Research suggests that wisdom peaks in middle age and does not decline in advanced age.

Understanding the strengths of older minds will help societies best use the resources older people offer.

Q. One thing people often find a surprising is the idea that older adults are among the most stable and mentally healthy of all the age groups.

Yes, research on mental health and well-being has revealed something that’s been called “the well-being paradox.” The objective realities of old age can be daunting — weaker physical health, a decline in cognitive function and independence, and often the deaths of close friends — however, older people experience a remarkably high level of subjective well-being. Not only do they register life satisfaction levels as high as those of younger people, but they also experience less negative emotion and less interpersonal conflict than younger adults. Mental illness, such as depression and anxiety disorders, is less common among the elderly than it is among younger adults.

All that is good news – but only for those who are aging normally. Whereas most psychiatric disorders decline with age, by definition dementia is a brain disease of old age. With a terrible disease such as Alzheimer’s, for example, everything changes. That’s why there is a lot of research into that disease, because there’s a large rise in the incidence of this disease with each decade of life; indeed more than a third of all people who reach age 90 have it.

At the moment, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, although medication can postpone its symptoms. Lots of scientists are aiming to find ways to detect the disorder as early as possible. Stanford researchers Ruth O’Hara and Michael Greicius are among those using brain imaging and other techniques to discover early signs of Alzheimer’s. In addition to their work in early detection, Jerome Yesavage and Jared Tinklenberg are also investigating drug treatments.