Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Age-related differences in affect are well established, but their neural mechanisms remain unclear. In a preregistered replication of Puccetti et al. (2021) and extension, we examined age, affect, left-amygdala negative persistence, and amygdala–ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) task-based connectivity using MIDUS 3 daily diary and fMRI data. Older age predicted higher positive and lower negative affect in the daily diary sample ( N = 1,168; ps < .001). In the primary diary + fMRI sample ( N = 81; ages 48–95, 61.7% female, 82.7% White), greater persistence predicted higher raw negative affect (β = 0.278, 95% CI [0.012, 0.544], p = .020); associations with positive and log-transformed negative affect were nonsignificant ( ps ≥ .063). Older age predicted lower persistence in the final fMRI sample ( N = 127; β = −0.00260, 95% CI [−0.00504, −0.00016], p = .018), but this association was weaker in the primary diary + fMRI sample ( p = .200), with no evidence of mediation. Greater anterior vmPFC connectivity predicted lower raw negative affect (β = −0.106, 95% CI [−0.223, 0.012], p = .039) and log-transformed negative affect ( p = .014). In MIDUS Refresher 1, affect estimates were directionally similar but nonsignificant ( N = 48; ps ≥ .081), whereas the age–persistence estimate reversed direction. These findings provide partial support for amygdala persistence and task-based connectivity as neural correlates of daily affect, while highlighting variability in the magnitude and replicability of fMRI–behavior associations. Public Significance Statement Among middle-aged and older adults, lingering brain responses to negative images and communication between emotion-related brain regions were associated with negative feelings in daily life. However, the findings did not establish why emotional experience differs with age, and evidence from a second sample was inconclusive. Larger studies are needed to determine how reliably these brain measures relate to everyday emotional well-being.
Institutions: Stanford Medicine, Stanford University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223031345