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A considerable amount of research has illustrated that negative attitudes toward one’s own aging can directly hinder mental and physical well-being or lead to maladjustment in later stages of life (Swift et al. in Social Issues Policy Rev 11(1):195–231, https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12031, 2017). Research so far has focused on the analysis of individual factors related to attitudes toward aging, often related to personality traits. Our study proposes and tests a model of positive contact with aging (PCA). It analyses both individual and social antecedents of attitudes towards one’s own aging, hypothesizing that individual health self-efficacy directly affects attitudes towards one’s own aging and that the quality and quantity of contact with older adults indirectly impacts on attitudes towards one’s own aging through attitudes towards older adults. The model was tested in a wide sample of the Italian population (N = 753) with a varied age range. The PCA model tested showed excellent fit to the data, explaining a moderate amount of variance in attitudes toward one’s own aging (12%). This model promises to offer implications for active policies that can improve attitudes towards one’s own aging, promoting educational strategies to increase intergenerational exchanges and foster health-related self-efficacy.

Objective: Although several studies suggest an association between psychological distress and increased morbidity and mortality in various cardiac populations, little is known about positive psychological resources, like Sense of Coherence (SOC), that may reduce distress. This longitudinal observational study aimed to test the hypothesis that a strong SOC predicted a longitudinal decrease in anxiety and depression in a sample of patients after their first acute coronary event. Methods: A sample of 275 patients completed the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) and the SOC Scale at five time-points (at the baseline and after 6, 12, 24, and 36 months). Longitudinal trajectories of anxiety, depression, and SOC were examined through hierarchical (generalized) linear models, controlling for sociodemographic and clinical indicators. Results: 38.6% of patients experienced clinically relevant anxiety symptoms soon after the cardiovascular event, whereas only 20.8% experienced clinically relevant depressive symptoms. Anxiety symptoms decreased over time, plateaued, and then slightly increased, whereas depressive symptoms tended to be stable; these variables were positively associated during all time points. The SOC did not change over time; a strong SOC at baseline predicted decreased anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Findings showed a strong relationship between SOC and symptoms of anxiety and depression, and they suggested the importance of a salutogenic approach in clinical practice and the relevance of interventions aimed at increasing resilience resources like the SOC in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Despite widespread hearing problems among older adults, only a minority uses hearing aids. The stigma associated with such aids represents a key factor modulated by language. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of different forms of media communication on both implicit and explicit attitudes toward hearing aids. A preliminary analysis highlighted an over-representation of “technical” and “medical” terms in the corpus linguistic commonly used by the press. These results were used to design an online experimental study. The results suggested that the exposure to a language that includes informal words—as opposed to the technical terms commonly used by the press—favors positive implicit and explicit attitudes toward hearing aids, particularly among people who have direct contact with older adults. Overall, the use of an informal language in the press could generate a style of communication that positively influences people’s attitudes toward hearing aids.

Stress responses are mediated by complex patterns of cortical and autonomic activity. Earlier studies showed increased recruitment of the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) and parasympathetic withdrawal during a stress task; however, it remains unclear whether these responses change in relation to different levels of psychopathological symptoms, such as trait anxiety. The present study examines the effect of a mathematical task (with a control condition and a stressful/experimental condition) on the PFC and autonomic activity, using a two-channel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and an ECG monitoring system. After a preliminary screening of 65 subjects, a sample of 12 individuals (6 with the highest and 6 with the lowest scores on an anxiety questionnaire, i.e. the STAI trait) was selected. The two groups were similar regarding demographic variables (age, sex, body mass index) and baseline STAI-state scores. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to compare changes from baseline in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb), heart rate (HR) and root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) between the two groups. Individuals affected by high levels of trait anxiety showed a reduced bilateral PFC activity during the entire experimental procedure compared to those with low anxiety. No differences in NIRS channels were found between the two groups. During both conditions, RMSSD was lower among individuals affected by high levels of anxious symptoms. Finally, throughout the procedure, changes in HR were higher in the anxious group. Overall, these findings suggest a reduced PFC activity and a larger parasympathetic withdrawal during a stress task in individuals with high levels of trait anxiety compared to those with low anxiety. These results could represent a starting point for future NIRS and ECG studies on the relationship between mental disorders and acute stress responses.

Aging is associated with changes in biological functions, such as reduced cardiovascular responses to stressful tasks. However, less is known about the influence of age on the reactivity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to acute stressors. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of a computerized-controlled stress task on the PFC and autonomic system activity in a sample of older and younger adults. We recruited a total of 55 healthy, right-handed persons (26 older adults with mean age 69.5, SD 5.8 years; and 29 younger adults with mean age 23.8, SD 3.3 years); groups were balanced for sex. Tasks included a control and an experimental condition: during both tasks individuals had to solve simple mental arithmetic problems. For the experimental condition, all participants were faced with a time limit that induced significant stress. Physiological indexes were collected continuously during the entire procedure using a 2-channel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and an ECG monitoring system. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to assess changes in hemoglobin concentrations, and changes in both heart rate and performance outcomes. NIRS, ECG and performance data showed a significant interaction between the group and condition. Post-hoc analyses evidenced a significant increase in heart rate and Oxy-Hb concentration in the bilateral PFC between the control and experimental condition only in the younger group. Post-hoc analyses of behavioral data showed lower percentages of correct responses and higher response times in the older group. In summary, these results suggested that cardiovascular and cortical reactivity to stress tasks are a function of age. Older individuals seem to be characterized by blunted physiological reactivity, suggestive of impaired adaptive responses to acute stressors. Therefore, future studies should investigate the underlying physiological mechanisms of prefrontal and cardiovascular changes related to aging.

The capacity to deceive others is a complex mental skill that requires the ability to suppress truthful information. The polygraph is widely used in countries such as the USA to detect deception. However, little is known about the effects of emotional processes (such as the fear of being found guilty despite being innocent) on the physiological responses that are used to detect lies. The aim of this study was to investigate the time course and neural correlates of untruthful behavior by analyzing electrocortical indexes in response to visually presented neutral and affective questions. Affective questions included sexual, shameful or disgusting topics. A total of 296 questions that were inherently true or false were presented to 25 subjects while ERPs were recorded from 128 scalp sites. Subjects were asked to lie on half of the questions and to answer truthfully on the remaining half. Behavioral and ERP responses indicated an increased need for executive control functions, namely working memory, inhibition and task switching processes, during deceptive responses. Deceptive responses also elicited a more negative N400 over the prefrontal areas and a smaller late positivity (LP 550–750 ms) over the prefrontal and frontal areas. However, a reduction in LP amplitude was also elicited by truthful affective responses. The failure to observe a difference in LP responses across conditions likely results from emotional interference. A swLORETA inverse solution was computed on the N400 amplitude (300–400 ms) for the dishonest – honest contrast. These results showed the activation of the superior, medial, middle and inferior frontal gyri (BA9, 11, 47) and the anterior cingulate cortex during deceptive responses. Our results conclude that the N400 amplitude is a reliable neural marker of deception.

The capacity to deceive others is a complex mental skill that requires the ability to suppress truthful information. The polygraph is widely used in countries such as the USA to detect deception. However, little is known about the effects of emotional processes (such as the fear of being found guilty despite being innocent) on the physiological responses that are used to detect lies. The aim of this study was to investigate the time course and neural correlates of untruthful behavior by analyzing electrocortical indexes in response to visually presented neutral and affective questions. Affective questions included sexual, shameful or disgusting topics. A total of 296 questions that were inherently true or false were presented to 25 subjects while ERPs were recorded from 128 scalp sites. Subjects were asked to lie on half of the questions and to answer truthfully on the remaining half. Behavioral and ERP responses indicated an increased need for executive control functions, namely working memory, inhibition and task switching processes, during deceptive responses. Deceptive responses also elicited a more negative N400 over the prefrontal areas and a smaller late positivity (LP 550–750 ms) over the prefrontal and frontal areas. However, a reduction in LP amplitude was also elicited by truthful affective responses. The failure to observe a difference in LP responses across conditions likely results from emotional interference. A swLORETA inverse solution was computed on the N400 amplitude (300–400 ms) for the dishonest – honest contrast. These results showed the activation of the superior, medial, middle and inferior frontal gyri (BA9, 11, 47) and the anterior cingulate cortex during deceptive responses. Our results conclude that the N400 amplitude is a reliable neural marker of deception.