BackgroundSocial support has been widely known as a protective factor for the emotional well-being (EWB) of older adults, but less studies have investigated the roles of different sources of social support (i.e., family and friend support) on different facets of EWB (i.e., positive affect and negative affect) simultaneously.Methodology and FindingsIn this study, the associations between family/friend support and positive/negative affect were investigated in a sample of 700 Chinese elderly. The EWB and social support were measured with a 12-item affective wordlist (Kahneman et al., 2004) and a self-prepared questionnaire. The results showed that (1) the order of contact frequency and mutual support followed a hierarchical order from spouse, children, to friends; (2) zero-order correlations of both family support and friend support were associated with more positive affect and less negative affect; and when compared with the relative role of family and friend support, (3) spouse (children if spouse is not available) support had greater contribution on decreasing negative affect, while friend support had greater influence on increasing positive affect, even after controlling the demographic, self-rated health and life events variables.ConclusionFamily and friend support play different roles on the two facets of EWB of the elderly. These results were better explained in light of the task specificity model rather than the hierarchical compensatory model. Moreover, positive affect may be enhanced by friend support (based on personal interests and selectable) rather than family support (bonded by kinship and not selectable), which added evidences to the socioemotional selectivity theory.

Inhibition deficit plays a crucial part in cognitive aging; however, few studies have systematically investigated the plasticity of various inhibitory processes among older adults. We studied the plasticity of 3 inhibitory processes (access, deletion, and restraint) and the extent of far transfer of inhibition training to other general cognitive abilities. Thirty-six participants (aged 60 years and above, M ϭ 70.06, SD ϭ 5.53) were randomly assigned to an adaptive training group that received 12 sessions of training covering 3 inhibitory processes or an active control group that received 4 sessions of mental health lectures. Participants in both groups completed pre-and posttest assessments, in which behavioral and electrophysiological measures were used to evaluate potential transfer effects. Direct training gains were observed for trained tasks of all inhibitory processes, but near-transfer effects were only found within untrained tasks associated with deletion at a composite score level. Furthermore, far-transfer effects were demonstrated for fluid intelligence (Gf) but not for working memory or other general cognitive abilities. Near transfer to deletion and far transfer to Gf persisted at a 3-month follow-up assessment session. We discussed differences in plasticity between the 3 inhibitory processes as well as their possible associations with far transfer to Gf.

Working memory updating (updating) and working memory capacity (WMC) have been assumed to share a common mechanism. However, it is unclear whether WMC can be expanded by boosting the efficiency of updating, particularly during late adulthood. In this randomized controlled study, 33 older adults (aged 60 years and above, M = 69.53, SD = 5.21) were assigned to updating training (n = 17) and contact control (n = 16) groups. In the training group, updating was targeted by a running memory task and a chess game in each training session; whereas in the control group, motivational effects were estimated by their attendance to a series of mental health-related lectures. The boosted updating efficiency was demonstrated by direct training gains over sessions on updating criterion/training tasks, and significant frontocentral inflation at the N2 time range. Near transfer effects were revealed on untrained similar measures immediately after training and partly maintained at a 3-month follow-up. Far transfer effects to WMC were revealed by a significant increase in contralateral delay activity (CDA) ERP measures, although these effects did not manifest on WMC span tasks and other far transfer measures. Note that increased CDA was significantly correlated with the extent of direct gains in updating training. Our findings suggest that updating efficiency can be boosted in older adults; although it has not yet brought about an explicit expansion of WMC in our behavioral measures (i.e., on span tasks), capacity-related neural changes (i.e., on CDA) have nevertheless, started to show up in our short-term updating training program.

Computational theories in the early linguistic acquisition, especially statistical learning and cognitive processing perspectives, have independently acknowledged the crucial aspects of learning mechanisms in lexical or syntactic acquisition. In this research, the prediction error-driven learning mechanism (EDL) has been integrated into the primitive information processing element architecture (PRIMs) in modeling the simultaneous learning of lexicons and procedures in multiple early linguistic tasks. In the first proof-of-concept simulation study, the integrated EDL-PRIMs model demonstrates procedural learning in an algebraic task, extending the statistical learning perspective in a syntactic phenomenon. In the second simulation study, the model incorporates a set of information processing elements constrained by the empirically-identified skills; and moderates a global efficiency parameter to simulate age-related differences in processing algebraic, statistical learning, and non-adjacent dependency patterns. The integrated model's learned lexical and procedural activation profiles are adaptive when the task is syntactic, lexical, and hybrid, respectively. Moreover, the simulated efficiencies of processing elements are linked with age-related performance changes revealed by empirical findings. The simulated results are discussed with references to the empirical literature and computational theories of early linguistic development.

Young children's response to repeated stimulus exhibit repetition suppression or enhancement by task complexity. The current simulation study simulates both repetition-related dynamics based on a prediction error perspective. In the RW model, a reduction of prediction error contributes to increasing sensory perception and prediction activities and, at the same time, moderates latency reduction leading to attenuation of neural response. Based on the resource availability theory, the RW+RA model further investigates the moderation of off-task competition on neural attenuation. While both models can simulate the main findings of repetition-related dynamics, each model is better at modeling the differential cortical responses concerning repetition suppression or enhancement. The current models are discussed with references to various empirical factors and compared with other computational models.