Emotion Regulation and Executive Functioning in Late Life

Emotion regulation has long been suspected to boost executive functioning. Correlational studies have shown links between emotion regulation and executive functioning. However, experimental studies have been rare, especially with older adults for whom declines in executive functioning may become a pressing concern. In this laboratory-based study, we examined whether instructing older adults to use emotion regulation strategies in response to loss-themed film clips could enhance subsequent executive functioning. The sample consisted of 129 healthy older adults (age 64-83) who completed an experiment consisting of six trials in which they first watched a loss-themed film clip (with the instruction to “just watch” or to regulate their emotions using detachment, positive reappraisal, or emotional acceptance) and then completed an executive functioning task (assessing verbal fluency, inhibition, or working memory). Results showed a selective effect of emotion regulation on verbal fluency, but not inhibition or working memory performance. Older adults who were instructed to regulate negative emotions (vs. “just watch”) subsequently showed greater verbal fluency. Effects of emotion regulation on executive functions did not differ between detachment, positive reappraisal, and emotional acceptance and remained stable when controlling for age, gender, education, and functional status. This study contributes to our understanding of emotion-cognition interactions, highlights emotion regulation as an avenue for enhancing verbal fluency in older adults, and suggests further probing of links between emotion regulation and other executive functioning processes in late life.