Examining an emotion enhancement effect in working memory: Evidence from age-related differences

The aim of the present study was to examine age-related differences between young, young–old and old–old adults in an affective version of the classical Working Memory Operation Span Test. The affective version of the Working Memory Operation Span Test included neutral words (as in the classical version) as well as negative and positive ones. Results showed that while young adults performed better than the young–old and old–old with neutral words, age-related differences between young and young–old with positive words were no longer significant, and age-related differences were nullified with negative ones. Altogether, results indicate that emotional words can reduce age-related decline when maintenance and manipulation of information in working memory in older adults are required.