Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory

Age and Emotion

Long-Term Married Couples Study (DUOOLD)

The centerpiece of this research has been an ongoing longitudinal study of a large sample of long-term first marriages in middle and old age. This work uses an observational methodology in which couples come to the laboratory and engage in naturalistic discussions about important topics related to their relationship. These interactions are studied to determine if there are signs in emotional experience, behavior, language, and physiology that can be used to discriminate between the interactions of couples who are satisfied and dissatisfied with their relationships, to discriminate between couples at different stages of the life span, and to predict what will happen to the level of couples' relationship satisfaction over time.

The other focus of this work is to learn about normative changes in emotion that occur with age. Here, emotional reactivity, emotional regulation, and emotional knowledge/understanding are assessed in the laboratory in participants at different ages (cross-sectionally and longitudinally) to determine how human emotions change as we age. Unlike many other aspects of human functioning which show pronounced declines with age (e.g., memory, psychomotor skills), certain aspects of emotional functioning appear to be relatively spared as we age, and some even show signs of continuing improvement and positive development in late life.

Empathy and Aging Study

This ongoing study focuses on the relationship between different forms of empathy and physiology, and how types of empathy change across the adult lifespan.