Sensitivity to anger cues decrease as we age.
Want More of This? Get Some Brain Food Every Week.
Sensitivity to anger cues decrease as we age. So if you’re mad and texting someone older, lay down some extra 😡😡😡 (jk) (sort of).
Express yourself
Okay, I’m not actually advocating passive aggressive emoji laying down. If you’re mad, just do what all British people do and pretend everything’s fine communicate openly.
But here’s something to be aware of which may explain why sometimes talking between generations can feel like wires are getting crossed. They actually kind of are.
Emotional sensitivity: there’s a test for that?
Yes, there is. And 10,000 people got theirs tested by researchers from the McLean Hospital’s Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Health Technology.
In a new paper published in the Journal of Experimental psychology, the study found that as we age our visual perception abilities decline. For older adults, this means their emotion-detectors are off.
In particular, the paper found that sensitivity to anger declines with age.
On a lighter note (because I definitely don’t want to leave you hanging on an angry note), sensitivity towards happiness didn’t change. Yay!
Over communicating is usually a good idea
Most of us aren’t mind readers, and combined with the findings from this study it’s a good idea to go ahead and extra-express yourself to your parents and grandparents — they may not pick up on your usual subtle cues that everything’s not cool.
Or, you know — practice some self awareness techniques and chill yourself out instead.
FOR THE NERDY: U mad? [source: National Center for Biotechnology Information - How Sensitivity to Emotions Changes Across the Lifespan]