Social priming improves cognitive control in elderly adults--evidence from the Simon task.

Daniela Aisenberg,Tal Shenberg,Hadas Pick,Iris Tressman,Noga Cohen,Michal Rappaport,Avishai Henik,Sam Gilbert

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117151

Abstract

We examined whether social priming of cognitive states affects the inhibitory process in elderly adults, as aging is related to deficits in inhibitory control. Forty-eight elderly adults and 45 young adults were assigned to three groups and performed a cognitive control task (Simon task), which was followed by 3 different manipulations of social priming (i.e., thinking about an 82 year-old person): 1) negative—characterized by poor cognitive abilities, 2) neutral—characterized by acts irrelevant to cognitive abilities, and 3) positive—excellent cognitive abilities. After the manipulation, the Simon task was performed again. Results showed improvement in cognitive control effects in seniors after the positive manipulation, indicated by a significant decrease in the magnitude of the Simon and interference effects, but not after the neutral and negative manipulations. Furthermore, a healthy pattern of sequential effect (Gratton) that was absent before the manipulation in all 3 groups appeared after the positive manipulation. Namely, the Simon effect was only present after congruent but not after incongruent trials for the positive manipulation group. No influence of manipulations was found in young adults. These meaningful results were replicated in a second experiment and suggest a decrease in conflict interference resulting from positive cognitive state priming. Our study provides evidence that an implicit social concept of a positive cognitive condition in old age can affect the control process of the elderly and improve cognitive abilities.

Highlights

Imagine an 82 year-old man enjoying his retirement
In line with the notion that social priming has an effect on automatic cognitive processes, the present study examined whether social priming could affect the cognitive process of inhibition in healthy elderly adults
Young adults were overall faster than elderly adults, F(1, 87) = 73.01, η2p = .45, MSE =

Summary

Introduction

Imagine an 82 year-old man enjoying his retirement. He attends online bridge competitions, reads interesting books, and solves crossword puzzles. The. Social Priming Improves Control in Elderly Adults present study aims to examine the influence of thinking about another person (i.e., a social concept) on cognitive performance in old age. If a social concept influences inhibitory control, we would expect a decrease of conflict interference after a positive manipulation, compared to neutral and negative manipulations, resulting in a smaller congruency (Simon) effect. In the context of the present study, if social priming affects cognitive control, we would expect a smaller Simon effect and interference following the implementation of the positive manipulation compared to the negative manipulation. Three social priming manipulations (negative, neutral, or positive) were used, asking participants to write, within a five-minute period, their thoughts regarding the following: [Negative] “Joseph, 82 years old, senses a deterioration of his abilities His memory is impaired and his thinking is not as fast as it used to be.

Participants

Procedure

Results

Discussion