Aging research focuses on physical and cognitive functions and psychopathology common in the elderly. Largely ignored is negative age-related change in socioemotional capacities that can adversely affect health. Adopting pharmacological, neurofeedback, and applied interventional approaches, the lab’s research targets this understudied field to determine factors that contribute to, and neurobiology that underlies, successful socioemotional aging.
The lab’s research program addresses four research questions:
(1) What are cognitive mechanisms underlying processing biases for socioemotional information in aging? Face memory deficits increase with age but are less pronounced for own-age faces. The lab’s work extends this own-age bias to attentional processes and emotional faces and supports amygdala as key structure. The lab currently examine the role of facial features (attractiveness, trustworthiness) on this bias and identify conditions under which older adults show less of a memory deficit.
(2) Is oxytocin associated with improved socioemotional functioning in aging? The neuropeptide Oxytocin benefits socioemotional functioning. Currently, it has almost exclusively been studied in young adults, clinical disorders, and preclinically. The lab has established a line of investigation on oxytocin in human aging and have significantly contributed theoretically and empirically, demonstrating that oxytocin intervention particularly benefits older men. As a crucial milestone, the lab has implemented compounding of an FDA-approved oxytocin nasal spray, making UF a unique oxytocin research site. The lab plans to determine clinical potential of intranasal oxytocin towards functional improvement in healthy aging and in age-related affective disorders. In 2018, we received an NIA R01 to study mechanisms of oxytocin’s pain-reducing effects in aging.
(3) Can neurofeedback training promote socioemotional functioning in aging? The lab’s previous work showed age-related deficits in reading others’ emotions and emotion regulation, crucial capacities for leading an emotionally fulfilling life. Directly following up on this work, we received an NIA R21 to use neurofeedback training via real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) and are now among the first groups to have established feasibility of this approach in aging. The lab currently continues this research with an analysis of rtfMRI-neurofeedback effects on brain plasticity and behavioral enhancement in Parkinson’s Disease.
(4) Can older adults’ decision-making capacities be improved to benefit health and avoid cyberattacks? This line of work identifies age differences in socioemotional influences on decision making in health and the cyberspace. For example, we showed that older adults were particularly susceptibility to web-based cyberattacks and little aware of their risk. We extend this work through NSF and NIA funding (R01 received in 2018) to determine brain and behavioral risk profiles, including in Mild Cognitive Impairment (Supplement received in 2019). We also currently develop an open-source warning tool to reduce the significant risk of online fraud among older individuals.
The lab pursues the long-term goal of developing viable treatments towards functional improvement in the elderly. The lab’s work is important from a developmental perspective, qualifies general theories of memory and decision making, and has practical implications for social interactions and health in aging.