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Updated: Mar 2, 2026

A Method for Manipulating Blood Glucose and Measuring Resulting Changes in Cognitive Accessibility of Target Stimuli
Published on: August 12, 2016
Food for happy thought: Glucose protects age-related positivity effects under cognitive load
Konstantinos Mantantzis1, Friederike Schlaghecken1, Elizabeth A Maylor1
1Department of Psychology, University of Warwick.
Abstract:
Older adults show a preference for positive information, which disappears under high task demands. We examined whether glucose can help older adults preserve their positivity effect (PE) under high cognitive load. One hundred twenty-two adults (40 young and 42 older in Experiment 1; 40 older in Experiment 2) consumed a glucose (25 g) or a taste-matched placebo drink and completed an immediate recall task of emotional word-lists presented under high- and low-load conditions. Older adults showed PEs for low-load lists. Whereas PEs disappeared for older-placebo participants for high-load lists, older-glucose participants retained their positive preference. Providing the brain with extra energy resources can help older adults achieve PEs even under demanding conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record
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