Socioeconomic status (SES) negatively impacts cognitive and executive functioning in older adults, yet its effects on socioemotional abilities have not been studied in this population. Also, evidence on neurocognitive processes associated with ageing primarily comes from Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) populations, hindering the generalization of findings to persons from upper-middle- and low‐middle‐income countries, such as those of Latin America. Here, we compared the performance of low- and high-SES older adults from Argentina in cognitive state, executive functions, social cognition (emotion recognition and theory of mind), and counter-empathic social emotions (envy and Schadenfreude; displeasure at others’ fortune and pleasure at others’ misfortune, respectively). Subsequently, we developed a path analysis to test the relationship among those variables in a theoretically plausible model and tested the main paths via multiple regression analyses. Relative to the high-SES group, low-SES older adults showed poorer performance on all assessed domains. Convergent evidence from covariance analysis, path analysis, and linear regressions suggested that low-SES impact on socioemotional processes was not primary but mediated by cognitive and executive impairment. These findings offer the first characterization of SES impacts on cognitive and socioemotional processes in a non-WEIRD population and have relevant equity-related implications for brain health.

The combination of deep breathing, relaxation response, meditation, and guided imagery techniques with CB seems to be effective at helping people to deal with stress.

Introduction: Palliative care practitioners suffer a considerable burden of stress.Although it is not possible to eliminate stress entirely, people can learn to manage it. Mind/Body intervention help individuals turn maladaptive responses to stress into more adaptive ones. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of mind body techniques in a group of Palliative Care professionals. Methods: We investigated anxiety, anger, baseline salivary cortisol levels immediately after awakening and autonomic nervous system activity in a group of health care professionals from a Palliative Care Unit (n = 22). In addition, we assessed the autonomic response to relax instructions. The participants were divided into two groups according to their regular practice of mind-body techniques.Results: No significant differences between groups were found for anxiety and anger. Baseline salivary cortisol levels were significantly greater in the untrained group (5.23 ± 5.16 μg/dl) when compared with the trained one (0.57 ± 0.19 μg/dl) (Mann-Whitney U Test = 0; p < 0.001). When comparing heart rate variability (HRV) values during relaxation with HRV values at rest within each group, trained subjects showed a significant increase in LF% (z = -2.073, p = 0.038), while untrained subjects showed a significant increase in HF% (z = -2.100, p = 0.036). Conclusions: Subjects who regularly practice mind-body techniques evidenced lower baseline morning cortisol levels and achieved a differential autonomic response to relax instructions.

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