TY - JOUR
T1 - Age differences in cognitive and affective theory of mind
T2 - Concurrent contributions of neurocognitive performance, sex, and pulse pressure
AU - Fischer, Ashley L.
AU - O'Rourke, Norm
AU - Thornton, Wendy Loken
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC-410-2010-0407) grant awarded to Dr. W. L. Thornton. A. L. Fischer was supported by a SSHRC Doctoral Canada Graduate Scholarship.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Objectives: Theory of mind (ToM) allows us to detect and make inferences about cognitive and affective mental states. Mixed findings exist regarding (a) age differences in cognitive and affective ToM and (b) what mechanisms may underlie changes in the two components. We addressed these questions by examining the unique and joint contributions of neurocognitive performance, pulse pressure (PP), and biological sex to age differences in cognitive and affective ToM. Method: We tested 86 young and 85 older adults on standardized measures of neurocognitive performance and ToM. Predictors were derived from demographics (sex), in-office PP, and measures of executive functions, semantic memory, and episodic memory. We used path analysis to identify concurrent predictors of cognitive and affective ToM between groups and invariance analyses to assess age differences in the relative strength of identified predictors. Results: We demonstrated robust age differences in cognitive and affective ToM. Certain neurocognitive predictors of ToM were more salient among older individuals; most predictors were shared across age groups and equivalent in magnitude. Discussion: To our knowledge, this study represents the most comprehensive investigation to date of predictors of ToM in aging. Findings highlight the need for continued investigation of ToM within a multidimensional framework.
AB - Objectives: Theory of mind (ToM) allows us to detect and make inferences about cognitive and affective mental states. Mixed findings exist regarding (a) age differences in cognitive and affective ToM and (b) what mechanisms may underlie changes in the two components. We addressed these questions by examining the unique and joint contributions of neurocognitive performance, pulse pressure (PP), and biological sex to age differences in cognitive and affective ToM. Method: We tested 86 young and 85 older adults on standardized measures of neurocognitive performance and ToM. Predictors were derived from demographics (sex), in-office PP, and measures of executive functions, semantic memory, and episodic memory. We used path analysis to identify concurrent predictors of cognitive and affective ToM between groups and invariance analyses to assess age differences in the relative strength of identified predictors. Results: We demonstrated robust age differences in cognitive and affective ToM. Certain neurocognitive predictors of ToM were more salient among older individuals; most predictors were shared across age groups and equivalent in magnitude. Discussion: To our knowledge, this study represents the most comprehensive investigation to date of predictors of ToM in aging. Findings highlight the need for continued investigation of ToM within a multidimensional framework.
KW - Cardiovascular disease
KW - Neuropsychology
KW - Path analyses
KW - Social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019871017&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbw088
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbw088
M3 - Article
C2 - 27503390
AN - SCOPUS:85019871017
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 72
SP - 71
EP - 81
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 1
ER -
