Loading...
Mood and cognition in healthy older European adults: the Zenith study
Simpson, E.E.A. Maylor, E.A. McConville, C. Stewart-Knox, Barbara Meunier, N. Andriollo-Sanchez, M. Polito, A. Intorre, F. McCormack, J.M. Coudray, C.
Simpson, E.E.A.
Maylor, E.A.
McConville, C.
Stewart-Knox, Barbara
Meunier, N.
Andriollo-Sanchez, M.
Polito, A.
Intorre, F.
McCormack, J.M.
Coudray, C.
Publication Date
2014-05
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Rights
© Simpson et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014.
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative
Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this
article, unless otherwise stated.
Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
Accepted for publication
2014-04-11
Institution
Department
Awarded
Embargo end date
Collections
Additional title
Abstract
Background: The study aim was to determine if state and trait intra-individual measures of everyday affect predict
cognitive functioning in healthy older community dwelling European adults (n = 387), aged 55-87 years.
Methods: Participants were recruited from centres in France, Italy and Northern Ireland. Trait level and variability in
positive and negative affect (PA and NA) were assessed using self-administered PANAS scales, four times a day for
four days. State mood was assessed by one PANAS scale prior to assessment of recognition memory, spatial working
memory, reaction time and sustained attention using the CANTAB computerized test battery.
Results: A series of hierarchical regression analyses were carried out, one for each measure of cognitive function as the
dependent variable, and socio-demographic variables (age, sex and social class), state and trait mood measures as the
predictors. State PA and NA were both predictive of spatial working memory prior to looking at the contribution of trait
mood. Trait PA and its variability were predictive of sustained attention. In the final step of the regression analyses, trait
PA variability predicted greater sustained attention, whereas state NA predicted fewer spatial working memory errors,
accounting for a very small percentage of the variance (1-2%) in the respective tests.
Conclusion: Moods, by and large, have a small transient effect on cognition in this older sample.
Version
Published version
Citation
Simpson EEA, Maylor EA, McConville C et al (2014) Mood and cognition in healthy older
European adults: the Zenith study. BMC Psychology. 2(11).
Link to publisher’s version
Link to published version
Link to Version of Record
Type
Article