Age-related differences in affective responses to and memory for emotions conveyed by music: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

There is mounting evidence that aging is associated with the maintenance of positive affect and the decrease of negative affect to ensure emotion regulation goals. Previous empirical studies have primarily focused on a visual or autobiographical form of emotion communication. To date, little investigation has been done on musical emotions. The few studies that have addressed aging and emotions in music were mainly interested in emotion recognition, thus leaving unexplored the question of how aging may influence emotional responses to and memory for emotions conveyed by music. In the present study, eighteen older (60–84 years) and eighteen younger (19–24 years) listeners were asked to evaluate the strength of their experienced emotion on happy, peaceful, sad, and scary musical excerpts (Vieillard et al., 2008) while facial muscle activity was recorded. Participants then performed an incidental recognition task followed by a task in which they judged to what extent they experienced happiness, peacefulness, sadness, and fear when listening to music. Compared to younger adults, older adults (a) reported a stronger emotional reactivity for happiness than other emotion categories, (b) showed an increased zygomatic activity for scary stimuli, (c) were more likely to falsely recognize happy music, and (d) showed a decrease in their responsiveness to sad and scary music. These results are in line with previous findings and extend them to emotion experience and memory recognition, corroborating the view of age-related changes in emotional responses to music in a positive direction away from negativity.

Expressive suppression and enhancement during music-elicited emotions in younger and older adults

“…This is in line with previous findings indicating that when the experimental condition allows emotional goals to not be constrained by cognitively demanding instructions, the positivity effects are most likely to be observed (e.g., Kennedy et al, 2004 ; Knight et al, 2007 ; Yang and Ornstein, 2011 ; Tomaszczyk and Fernandes, 2012 ). More generally, these findings are consistent with previous findings showing age-related changes in the way musical emotions are appraised (Vieillard et al, 2012 ; Vieillard and Gilet, 2013 ; Vieillard and Bigand, 2014 ).…”

“…A caveat would be that the lack of pilot study ensuring equivalent emotional ratings across age groups could explain age-related differences observed in emotion regulation skills. However, the fact that the negatively valenced musical stimuli were repeatedly found to elicit less intense emotional experience in older adults than in younger adults (Vieillard et al, 2012 ; Vieillard and Gilet, 2013 ; Vieillard and Bigand, 2014 ) across different set of musical stimuli is a result per se . Moreover, it is consistent with prior findings indicating that older adults demonstrated lower arousal ratings of negative pictures compared to younger counterpart (e.g., Mather et al, 2004 ).…”

Age-related patterns in emotions evoked by music.

“…AGE AND EVOKED EMOTION Vieillard and Gilet (2013) for accuracy of categorization of felt emotion in music (but Vieillard & Bigand, 2014, found no age differences in "hedonic feeling" in their four categories of music).…”

“…In most extant studies on emotional reactivity and aging, reactions have been assessed based on a categorical model, wherein listeners are asked to assess their emotion category (and intensity) with the same four adjectives as the pieces putatively express. However, as Table 3 from the paper by Vieillard and Gilet (2013) shows, a significant proportion of pieces elicited what they called "ambivalent" responses: For instance, if a putatively sad piece elicited equal numbers of "sad" and "peaceful" ratings, it was considered ambivalent and not included in the main analyses of accurate categorization. Vieillard and Bigand (2014) used one scale item to measure arousal and valence, respectively.…”

Old age from the perspective of elderly individuals of different nationalities

“…Further studies can enable the acknowledgment of other experiences and conceptions, which in turn, will be key tools in the planning of care actions moving toward the promotion and maintenance of quality of life among this population. 5 Healthcare workers, in turn, need to acknowledge these differences and develop positive attitudes toward the elderly, reinforcing the discoveries and experiences this stage of life can bring.…”