Objectives Memory complaints are present in adults of all ages but are only weakly related to objective memory deficits, raising the question of what their presence may indicate. In older adults, memory complaints are moderately related to negative affect, but there is little research examining this relationship in young and middle-aged adults. This study examined whether memory complaints and negative affect were similarly related across the adult lifespan and in adults with varying levels of objective memory performance. Method The sample included 3,798 healthy adults aged 18 to 99, and was divided into five groups: young, middle-aged, young-old, old-old, and oldest-old adults. Participants completed questionnaire measures of memory complaints and negative affect (neuroticism and depressive and anxiety symptoms), in addition to lab measures of objective memory. Results Using structural equation models, we found that the relationship between memory complaints and negative affect was moderate in all the age groups, and there was no evidence for moderation by objective memory. Conclusion For adults of all ages, perceived memory decline may be distressing and/or negative affect may lead to negative self-evaluations of memory.

Understanding differences in responses following attempts to suppress versus simply monitor intrusive thoughts is important given the established relationship between intrusive thinking and numerous forms of psychopathology. Moreover, these differences may vary as a function of age. Because of the links between aging and both enhancement in emotion regulation skills and decline in inhibition skills, older and younger adults were expected to differ in their responses (e.g., experience of negative affect and thought recurrence) to attempts at suppressing intrusive thoughts. This study examined whether efforts to suppress thought content that varied in valence and age-relevance differentially affected older (N = 40, aged 66–92) and younger (N = 42, aged 16–25) adults’ ability to inhibit intrusive thought recurrence and their resulting negative affect. Interestingly, older adults experienced less recurrence for most thoughts than younger adults. Also, for several dependent variables (negative affect and perceived difficulty suppressing intrusive thoughts), older adults showed less decline in their magnitude of response across thinking periods (i.e., from suppression to monitoring) than did younger adults. These age effects were not generally moderated by level of trait anxiety, though higher anxiety did predict intrusive thought responding in expected directions, such as greater negative affect. These findings point to independent influences of age and anxiety, and suggest a complex mix of risk and protective factors for older adults’ responses to intrusive thoughts.

Murine typhus is typically a mild febrile illness caused by Rickettsia typhi, generally confined to Texas and Southern California. Clinicians should consider early treatment with doxycycline when presented with a child having protracted fever, rash, and headache.We present 5 pediatric cases and a literature review highlighting the changing epidemiology and diagnostic difficulty of typhus.

We examined the predictive validity of explicit and implicit measures of threat overestimation in relation to contamination-fear outcomes using structural equation modeling. Undergraduate students high in contamination fear (N = 56) completed explicit measures of contamination threat likelihood and severity, as well as looming vulnerability cognitions, in addition to an implicit measure of danger associations with potential contaminants. Participants also completed measures of contamination-fear symptoms, as well as subjective distress and avoidance during a behavioral avoidance task, and state looming vulnerability cognitions during an exposure task. The latent explicit (but not implicit) threat overestimation variable was a significant and unique predictor of contamination fear symptoms and self-reported affective and cognitive facets of contamination fear. On the contrary, the implicit (but not explicit) latent measure predicted behavioral avoidance (at the level of a trend). Results are discussed in terms of differential predictive validity of implicit versus explicit markers of threat processing and multiple fear response systems.

The health-IAT appears to be a valid and reliable new measure that assesses implicit self-concept relating to physical health. Results reveal the potential value of assessing implicit health self-concept in both research and practice, especially when taking into account age.

To examine the causal link between implicit associations and fear reduction, a conditioning paradigm was used in an attempt to modify contamination-related implicit associations for individuals high in contamination fear. Individuals (N = 81) were assigned to a Positive, Neutral, or No Training condition. In the Positive training condition, individuals clicked on images of potential contaminants that were followed by images of the individual's smiling face or by an approach-related word. Positive training was hypothesized to result in decreased behavioral avoidance and emotional vulnerability ratings during subsequent behavioral avoidance tasks. In the Neutral training control condition, the images of potential contaminants were followed by an equal mix of the individual's smiling, disgusted, and fearful faces or an avoidance-related word. The No Training condition served as an additional control group. Contrary to expectations, training did not shift implicit associations, nor did it affect avoidance or emotional vulnerability ratings. These results raise questions about the most appropriate form and dosage of training for this population – we conclude with suggestions for researchers to learn from these null findings when developing new training programs.

Current treatments for disorders of emotion, like pathological anxiety, are often less effective in older adults than in younger adults and have poorly understood mechanisms, pointing to the need for psychopathology models that better account for age-related changes in normative emotional functioning and the expression of disordered emotion. This article describes ways in which the healthy aging and emotion literature can enhance understanding and treatment of symptoms of anxiety and depression in later life. We offer recommendations for how to integrate the healthy aging literatures' theories and findings with psychopathology research and clinical practice, and highlight opportunities for future research.

This study investigated biases in interpretation (e.g., evaluation of the dangerousness of spiders) and memory (preferential recall of spider stimuli) in spider fearful and non-fearful children (n = 59; ages 9-11) and young adults (n = 61; ages 18-21). Of interest were: (a) whether biases are present in high fear persons, and (b) whether biases can predict subjective distress and avoidance in response to a feared stimulus. Results showed that spider specific interpretation and memory biases are present in high fear adults, but not in high fear children. Only the spider specific interpretation bias significantly predicted anxious responding on its own, and did so in adults only. Findings are discussed in terms of cognitive models of anxiety, as well as developmental and methodological considerations that may have made it difficult to observe biased processing in the child sample.General cognitive models of anxiety predict that individuals suffering from extreme fear and anxiety will demonstrate biases in the ways they attend to, interpret, and remember information (e.g., Beck & Emery, with Greenberg, 1985). These models have improved our understanding about the onset, maintenance, and treatment of anxiety difficulties. However, cognitive models have primarily focused on describing biased processing in anxious adults. yet, the early and chronic course of many anxiety disorders (Newman et al., 1996; see review by Cartwright-Hatton, McNicol, & Doubleday, 2006) suggests that further research exploring information processing biases in childhood anxiety is needed.