Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 May 2;2(1):11.
doi: 10.1186/2050-7283-2-11. eCollection 2014.

Mood and cognition in healthy older European adults: the Zenith study

Ellen Ea Simpson  1 , Elizabeth A Maylor  2 , Christopher McConville  3 , Barbara Stewart-Knox  4 , Natalie Meunier  5 , Maud Andriollo-Sanchez  6 , Angela Polito  7 , Federica Intorre  6 , Jacqueline M McCormack  8 , Charles Coudray  9
Affiliations

Mood and cognition in healthy older European adults: the Zenith study

Ellen Ea Simpson et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: The study aim was to determine if state and trait intra-individual measures of everyday affect predict cognitive functioning in healthy older community dwelling European adults (n = 387), aged 55-87 years.

Methods: Participants were recruited from centres in France, Italy and Northern Ireland. Trait level and variability in positive and negative affect (PA and NA) were assessed using self-administered PANAS scales, four times a day for four days. State mood was assessed by one PANAS scale prior to assessment of recognition memory, spatial working memory, reaction time and sustained attention using the CANTAB computerized test battery.

Results: A series of hierarchical regression analyses were carried out, one for each measure of cognitive function as the dependent variable, and socio-demographic variables (age, sex and social class), state and trait mood measures as the predictors. State PA and NA were both predictive of spatial working memory prior to looking at the contribution of trait mood. Trait PA and its variability were predictive of sustained attention. In the final step of the regression analyses, trait PA variability predicted greater sustained attention, whereas state NA predicted fewer spatial working memory errors, accounting for a very small percentage of the variance (1-2%) in the respective tests.

Conclusion: Moods, by and large, have a small transient effect on cognition in this older sample.

Keywords: Affect; CANTAB; Cognition; Mood; Older adults; PANAS.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Allen PA, Kaut KP, Lord RG, Hall RJ, Grabbe J, Bowie T. An emotional mediation theory of differential age effects in episodic and semantic memory. Experimental Aging Research. 2005;31:355–391. doi: 10.1080/03610730500206642. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aoki R, Sato H, Katura T, Utsugi K, Koizumi H, Matsuda R, Maki A. Relationship of negative mood with prefrontal cortex activity during working memory tasks: an optical topography study. Neuroscience Research. 2011;70:189–196. doi: 10.1016/j.neures.2011.02.011. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ashby FG, Isen AM, Turken AU. A neuropsychological theory of positive affect and its influence on cognition. Psychological Review. 1999;106:529–550. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.106.3.529. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Barbas H. Connections underlying the synthesis of cognition, memory, and emotion in primate prefrontal cortices. Brain Research Bulletin. 2000;52:319–330. doi: 10.1016/S0361-9230(99)00245-2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Birchler-Pedross A, Schröder CM, Münch M, Knoblauch V, Blatter K, Schnitzler- Sack C, Wirz-Justice A, Cajochen C. Subjective well-being is modulated by circadian phase, sleep pressure, age, and gender. Journal of Biological Rhythms. 2009;24:232–242. doi: 10.1177/0748730409335546. - DOI - PubMed
Pre-publication history
    1. The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/2050-7283/2/11/prepub

LinkOut - more resources