Abstract

The recent finding that the ability to experience and regulate emotions remains stable during aging has captured the attention by many cognitive researchers for the implications that an efficient emotional system may have on cognition. The main issue is whether and how emotional processing affects specific memory functions. In this work we review a series of behavioural and neuroimaging studies that point to a strong relationship between emotion and working memory in aging. Although working memory is the memory component that shows the larger age-related deficits, there is an age-related enhancement in working memory performance for emotional stimuli. Data are discussed in terms of a new hypothesis to cognitive aging: the cognitive-affective trade-off in working memory.