The positivity effect: a negativity bias in youth fades with age; neural degradation and cognitive impairment cannot account for the effect; and cognitive load reduces it

The positivity effect: a negativity bias in youth fades with age. Laura L Carstensen, Marguerite De Liema. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Volume 19, February 2018, Pages 7-12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.009

Highlights
•    Neural degradation and cognitive impairment cannot account for the positivity effect.
•    Cognitive load reduces the positivity effect.
•    Constraints on time horizons produce the positivity effect in young people.
•    Selective attention to positive information may hold both advantageous and detrimental consequences for older adults.

Abstract: Relative to younger adults, older adults attend to and remember positive information more than negative information. This shift from a negativity bias in younger age to a preference for positive information in later life is termed the ‘positivity effect.’ Based on nearly two decades of research and recent evidence from neuroscience, we argue that the effect reflects age-related changes in motivation that direct behavior and cognitive processing rather than neural or cognitive decline. Understanding the positivity effect, including conditions that reduce and enhance it, can inform effective public health and educational messages directed at older people.