Faces are widely used as stimuli in various research fields. Interest in emotion-related differences and ageassociated changes in the processing of faces is growing. With the aim of systematically varying both expression and age of the face, we created FACES, a database comprising N 171 naturalistic faces of young, middle-aged, and older women and men. Each face is represented with two sets of six facial expressions (neutrality, sadness, disgust, fear, anger, and happiness), resulting in 2,052 individual images. A total of N 154 young, middleaged, and older women and men rated the faces in terms of facial expression and perceived age. With its large age range of faces displaying different expressions, FACES is well suited for investigating developmental and other research questions on emotion, motivation, and cognition, as well as their interactions. Information on using FACES for research purposes can be found at

Using a multimethod approach, the authors conducted 4 studies to test life span hypotheses about goal orientations across adulthood. Confirming expectations, in Studies 1 and 2 younger adults reported a primary growth orientation in their goals, whereas older adults reported a stronger orientation toward maintenance and loss prevention. Orientation toward prevention of loss correlated negatively with well-being in younger adults. In older adults, orientation toward maintenance was positively associated with well-being. Studies 3 and 4 extend findings of a self-reported shift in goal orientation to the level of behavioral choice involving cognitive and physical fitness goals. Studies 3 and 4 also examine the role of expected resource demands. The shift in goal orientation is discussed as an adaptive mechanism to manage changing opportunities and constraints across adulthood.

Studies finding that older compared to young adults are less able to identify facial expressions and have worse memory for negative than positive faces have used only young faces. Studies finding that both age groups are more accurate at recognizing faces of their own than other ages have used mostly neutral faces. Thus, age-differences in processing faces may not extend to older faces, and preferential memory for own-age faces may not extend to emotional faces. To investigate these possibilities, we had young and older participants view young and older faces presented either with happy, angry, or neutral expressions and identify the expressions displayed, and then complete a surprise face recognition task. Older compared to young participants were less able to identify expressions of angry young and older faces and (based on participants' categorizations) remembered angry faces less well than happy faces. There was no evidence of an own-age bias in memory, but self-reported frequency of contact with young and older adults and awareness of own emotions played a role in expression identification of and/or memory for young and older faces.Keywords age-differences; expression identification; face recognition; own-age bias; frequency of social contact Attention and memory are selective, that is, people attend more to some information than to other and remember some of their experiences better than others. There are several factors that influence whether information is attended to and encoded in memory. From earlier studies we know, for example, that emotionally evocative information is more likely to be attended to and recalled than emotionally neutral information (Bradley, Greenwald, Petry, & Lang, 1992;Charles, Mather, & Carstensen, 2003;Ochsner, 2000).In the present study we were interested in a specific type of information, namely human faces. Human faces constitute a unique category of objects that we see from very early on and frequently in our daily lives and other people are of great relevance for our physical, social, and emotional well-being. During the course of our lives we are exposed to, and learn to recognize, a large number of faces. Faces are characterized by a high level of similarity and yet processing and recognizing faces is a task at which we become very skilled. With Publisher's Disclaimer:The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at www.apa.org/journals/emo. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptEmotion. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 June 1. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript increas...

Perceptions of age influence how we evaluate, approach, and interact with other people. Based on a paramorphic human judgment model, the present study investigates possible determinants of accuracy and bias in age estimation across the adult life span. For this purpose, 154 young, middle-aged, and older participants of both genders estimated the age of 171 faces of young, middle-aged, and older men and women, portrayed on a total of 2,052 photographs. Each face displayed either an angry, fearful, disgusted, happy, sad, or neutral expression (FACES database;Ebner, Riediger, & Lindenberger, 2010). We found that age estimation ability decreased with age. Older and young adults, however, were more accurate and less biased in estimating the age of members of their own as compared with those of the other age group. In contrast, no reliable own-gender advantage was observed. Generally, the age of older faces was more difficult to estimate than the age of younger faces. Furthermore, facial expressions had a substantial impact on accuracy and bias of age estimation. Relative to other facial expressions, the age of neutral faces was estimated most accurately, while the age of faces displaying happy expressions was most likely underestimated. Results are discussed in terms of methodological and practical implications for research on age estimation.

The concept of ‘Successful Aging’ has long intrigued the scientific community. Despite this long-standing interest, a consensus definition has proven to be a difficult task, due to the inherent challenge involved in defining such a complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon. The lack of a clear set of defining characteristics for the construct of successful aging has made comparison of findings across studies difficult and has limited advances in aging research. The domain in which consensus on markers of successful aging is furthest developed is the domain of physical functioning. For example, walking speed appears to be an excellent surrogate marker of overall health and predicts the maintenance of physical independence, a cornerstone of successful aging. The purpose of the present article is to provide an overview and discussion of specific health conditions, behavioral factors, and biological mechanisms that mark declining mobility and physical function and promising interventions to counter these effects. With life expectancy continuing to increase in the United States and developed countries throughout the world, there is an increasing public health focus on the maintenance of physical independence among all older adults.