Emotional contagion characteristics and relationship with cognition levels in the elderly
10.3969/j.issn.1000-6729.2025.06.04
- VernacularTitle:老年人情绪感染特征及其与认知水平的关系
- Author:
Erjia XU
1
;
Xiaojun LYU
1
;
Ping HU
1
Author Information
1. 中国人民大学心理学系,北京 100086
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
emotional mimicry;
emotional contagion;
aged;
mild cognitive impairment
- From:
Chinese Mental Health Journal
2025;39(6):496-501
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To explore the characteristics of emotional contagion in the elderly and analyze its rela-tionship with cognitive level.Methods:Totally 33 elderly people and 29 young people were recruited in experiment 1.By watching emotional videos,data on facial muscle activity and subjective emotion scores were collected to ex-plore the characteristics of emotional contagion in the elderly.Experiment 2 recruited 16 elderly people with mild cognitive impairment and 18 healthy elderly people to further explore the impact of cognitive ability on emotional contagion in the elderly.Results:There were no significant differences in muscle activity data between the elderly and young people(experiment 1)and between the elderly with mild cognitive impairment and elderly with normal cognitive level(experiment 2)(Ps＞0.05).The elderly group scored higher on internal emotional experience of happy emotions than the young people(P＜0.05).The elderly with mild cognitive impairment scored higher on in-ternal emotional experience of sad emotions than the elderly with normal cognitive level(P＜0.05).Conclusion:The emotional contagion characteristics of the elderly are characterized by a stronger ability to contaminate happy e-motions.Differences in cognitive levels may affect the process of emotional contagion in the elderly,elderly people with mild cognitive impairment are more susceptible to sad emotions.
