Emotion regulation success in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment

Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have relatively poor emotional well-being, but little is known about their emotion regulation (ER) processes. In the present study, we investigate whether individuals of varying age and cognitive status might benefit emotionally from specific ER strategy selection instructions. Young adults (aged 21-34, n = 66), cognitively normal older adults (CN; aged 70-84, n = 90), and older adults with MCI (aged 70-84, n = 60) completed a laboratory ER task involving high-arousal negative film clips. They were instructed to (a) regulate using any ER strategy and then (b) regulate using a specific ER strategy, depending on the randomly assigned condition: cognitive distraction or detached reappraisal. Participants were video recorded while viewing the film clips and reported on their strategy use, experience of emotion, and perceived ER success. We examined three indicators of ER success: emotional experience, emotional expression, and perceived ER success. Generally, older adults with MCI did not differ greatly from young adults and CN older adults in how successfully they regulated negative emotions in this controlled context. Older adults with MCI expressed less of the target emotion being regulated when instructed to use a specific strategy compared to when instructed to spontaneously select any strategy. Additionally, older adults with MCI demonstrated benefits associated with distraction instructions over reappraisal instructions in terms of reduced experience of the target emotion and greater perceived success. Findings partially support the idea that cognitively impaired older adults may benefit from instructional support, especially encouragement to use attentional deployment strategies, when regulating high-arousal negative emotions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).