Age-related changes in ongoing thought relate to external context and individual cognition

Adam Turnbull; Giulia L Poerio; Nerissa Sp Ho; Léa M Martinon; Leigh M Riby; Feng V Lin; Elizabeth Jefferies; Jonathan Smallwood

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103226

Age-related changes in ongoing thought relate to external context and individual cognition

Conscious Cogn. 2021 Nov:96:103226. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103226. Epub 2021 Oct 21.

Authors

Adam Turnbull¹, Giulia L Poerio², Nerissa Sp Ho³, Léa M Martinon⁴, Leigh M Riby⁵, Feng V Lin⁶, Elizabeth Jefferies⁷, Jonathan Smallwood⁸

Affiliations

¹ School of Nursing, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, USA; Department of Imaging Sciences, University of Rochester, USA. Electronic address: adam_turnbull@urmc.rochester.edu.
² Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK.
³ School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
⁴ LAPSCO CNRS UMR 6024, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK.
⁶ The Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute, Stanford University, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.
⁸ Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.

PMID: 34689074
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2021.103226

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.

Keywords: Aging; Everyday cognition; Mind wandering; Ongoing thought.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Cognition*
Humans
Memory, Episodic*
Motivation