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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

Published on: August 26, 2011

Emotion processing in the aging brain is modulated by semantic elaboration.

Maureen Ritchey¹, Brandy Bessette-Symons, Scott M Hayes

¹Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. maureen.ritchey@duke.edu

Neuropsychologia

|September 28, 2010

Summary

Older adults show enhanced brain activity for positive stimuli during elaborative tasks, suggesting controlled processing mediates age-related emotional biases. This highlights the role of semantic elaboration in emotion regulation across the lifespan.

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Published on: February 14, 2014

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Aging
Psychology

Background:

Age-related differences exist in emotion processing neural correlates, including frontal and amygdala activity.
Older adults (OAs) show valence-specific biases, potentially linked to controlled elaboration capacity.
The specific role of semantic elaboration in mediating these valence effects in aging remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of semantic elaboration in modulating valence effects in the aging brain.
To examine age-related differences in neural activity and functional connectivity during emotion processing under varying elaboration demands.
To test if executive function predicts valence effects in older adults during elaborative tasks.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan young adults (YAs) and OAs.
Participants viewed negative, neutral, and positive pictures during deep (elaborative) or shallow (perceptual) tasks.
Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses assessed functional connectivity.

Main Results:

Amygdala activity related to emotion processing was preserved in aging and unaffected by elaboration.
OAs, compared to YAs, showed enhanced medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and ventrolateral PFC activity for positive versus negative stimuli, but only during elaborative tasks.
Executive function in OAs predicted positive valence effects in the deep, but not shallow, task.
Age effects were found in valence-dependent functional connectivity between medial PFC and ventral striatum.
Age and task effects were observed in medial PFC-retrosplenial cortex interactions.

Conclusions:

Valence processing differences in aging are modulated by controlled processes like semantic elaboration.
Age-related shifts in valence processing are supported by controlled semantic elaboration, self-referential processing, and emotion regulation.
Findings suggest that controlled elaboration is a key mechanism underlying age-related valence biases in the brain.