Xin Zhang1, Serena Lecce2, Irene Ceccato2, Elena Cavallini2, Linfang Zhang1, Tianyong Chen3. 1. a School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China. 2. b Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences , University of Pavia , Pavia , Italy. 3. c Key Laboratory of Mental Health , Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing , China.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Recently, motivation has been found to attenuate the age-related decline in Theory of Mind (ToM) performance (i.e. faux pas recognition). However, whether or not this effect could be generalized to other ToM tasks is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether and how motivation could enhance older adults' performance and reduce age differences in ToM tasks (Faux Pas vs. Animation task) that differ in familiarity. METHOD: Following a previous paradigm, 171 Chinese adults (87 younger adults and 84 older adults) were recruited, and we experimentally manipulated the level of perceived closeness between participants and the experimenter before administering the ToM tasks in order to enhance participants' motivation. RESULTS: Results showed that, for the Faux Pas task, we replicated previous findings such that older adults under the enhanced motivation conditions performed equally well as younger adults. Conversely, for the Animation task, younger adults outperformed older adults, regardless of motivation. DISCUSSION: These results indicate that motivation can enhance older adults' performance in ToM tasks, however, this beneficial effect cannot be generalized across ToM tasks.
OBJECTIVE: Recently, motivation has been found to attenuate the age-related decline in Theory of Mind (ToM) performance (i.e. faux pas recognition). However, whether or not this effect could be generalized to other ToM tasks is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether and how motivation could enhance older adults' performance and reduce age differences in ToM tasks (Faux Pas vs. Animation task) that differ in familiarity. METHOD: Following a previous paradigm, 171 Chinese adults (87 younger adults and 84 older adults) were recruited, and we experimentally manipulated the level of perceived closeness between participants and the experimenter before administering the ToM tasks in order to enhance participants' motivation. RESULTS: Results showed that, for the Faux Pas task, we replicated previous findings such that older adults under the enhanced motivation conditions performed equally well as younger adults. Conversely, for the Animation task, younger adults outperformed older adults, regardless of motivation. DISCUSSION: These results indicate that motivation can enhance older adults' performance in ToM tasks, however, this beneficial effect cannot be generalized across ToM tasks.
Entities:
Keywords:
Animation task; Faux Pas; Motivation; Theory of Mind (ToM)
Authors: Lena Pollerhoff; Julia Stietz; Gregory John Depow; Michael Inzlicht; Philipp Kanske; Shu-Chen Li; Andrea M F Reiter Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2022-03-02 Impact factor: 4.379