# EMOTION AND AGING:  COGNITIVE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 1991 · $78,141

## Abstract

Our goal is to study the psychophysiological patterns of expressed emotions
in aging women.  The research is intended to examine affective behavior
across the lifespan, exploring how changes in emotional responses are
related to health and effective functioning.  The specific experiments
focus on emotional imagery, as it is prompted by narrative descriptions of
events, and as such imagery processing is determined by real or conjectural
memorial experience.  The theory driving this research integrates concepts
from cognitive psychology and psychophysiology.  Emotions are viewed as
action sets or behavioral dispositons (including verbal, overt operant, and
covert physiological elements).  An affective disposition is represented in
memory as a network of concepts, defining context and response.  Response
concepts are linked to an efferent program which is partially activated
during imagery.  Thus, emotional pattern can be monitored physiologically
during image processing.  Two major experiments and their sequelae are
proposed, to be conducted in a psychophysiology laboratory, with computer
controlled presentation of taped emotional stimulus material, and automated
measurement of affective ratings, facial expression, and autonomic and
somatomotro responses.  Emotional and control imagery will be studied in
women who range in age from the third to the ninth decades of life.  For
women in the 45 to 59 cohort, pre-, peri-, and post-menopausal sub-groups
will be separately considered, evaluating the specific impact on emotional
expression of this major hormonal transition.  The first experiment
emphasizes fear and anxiety imagery; the second experiment will explore a
range of emotions (anger, grief, fear, and pleasure), with stimulus
materials tailored to the subjects' experience, and based on a preliminary
interview/survey of emotional content over the lifespan.  The importance of
several moderator variables will be assessed:  "matching" of script
material to actual experience, recency of emotional experience, imagery
ability, imagery "training", menstral cycle period, disposition to PMS,
trait anxiety and emotionality.  The results are expected to contribute
importantly to understanding how general aging factors and hormonal change
with aging impact on women" health, productivity, and effective social
funcitoning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3121700
- **Project number:** 9R01AG009779-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **SAM.gov UEI:** NNFQH1JAPEP3
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter J Lang
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1991
- **Award amount:** $78,141
- **Award type:** 9
- **Project period:** 1991-02-01 → 1996-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3121700

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3121700, EMOTION AND AGING:  COGNITIVE PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY (9R01AG009779-04). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3121700. Licensed CC0.

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