Sarah J. Barber, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Almost everyone has at least one social identity that is associated with a negative stereotype. For some people it is their age, for others it is their race, weight, religion, socioeconomic status or political affiliation. Problematically, according t stereotype threat theory, when people encounter these negative stereotypes they often underperform compared to their potential, and in doing so inadvertently confirm the stereotype. For example, older adults are stereotyped as having poor memory abilities. When this stereotype becomes salient to older adults their memory performance tends to decrease. This has serious clinical implications. In one study, stereotype threat increased the proportion of older adults scoring below the clinical cut-off for dementia from 14 to 70%. Given that 20% of Americans will be over the age of 65 by 2030, and that annual dementia screenings are now covered by Medicare, it is important to understand why stereotype threat impairs older adults' performance and how stereotype-threat-related performance deficits can be ameliorated. In Aim 1, we test the role of regulatory focus in contributing to older adults' stereotype threat effects. Regulatory focus theory leads to the counterintuitive hypothesis that although stereotype threat impairs performance when the task emphasizes gains, it should improve performance when the task emphasizes losses. Our preliminary data supports this; stereotype threat impaired older adults' memory when remembering led to gains, but improved memory when forgetting led to losses. In this application we test the generalizability of these results by examining how stereotype threat affects older adults' performance in other cognitive (e.g., verbal fluency, visuospatial skills, decision quality) and non-cognitive (i.e., screened vision and hearing) domains. Many of these domains have not previously been examined. If our regulatory focus predictions are consistently supported, it would suggest that emphasizing the importance of avoiding errors during assessments could be a simple, no-cost clinical intervention to eliminate stereotype threat effects. In Aim 2, we examine the contribution of physiological arousal to older adults' stereotype threat effects. Recently we proposed an arousal-biased competition (ABC) theory. According to our ABC theory, arousal increases the processing of high priority stimuli and decreases processing of low priority stimuli. Preliminary studies support this hypothesis. Of relevance to this application, based upon the regulatory focus theory we predict that under stereotype threat loss-related information is high priority and gain-related information is low priority. Thus, according to ABC theory, arousal should enhance the regulatory focus effects predicted above. Finally, Aim 3 is to examine the functional implications of stereotype threat for older adults. Thus, the domains in which we test our Aim 1 and 2 hypotheses each have relevance for older adults' health, practical, and financial well-being. We also test the hypothesi that genetic testing for Alzheimer's disease carries the risk of inducing stereotype threat and reducing memory performance in asymptomatic, healthy older adults.

PROJECT SUMMARY Stereotype threat occurs when people fear being judged through the lens of a negative, self-relevant stereotype. Problematically, in response to this, people often underperform compared to their potential. Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively examined cognitive performance. This is surprising because there are also many negative stereotypes about older adults' physical abilities; older adults are often stereotyped as being slow, weak, feeble, and frail. Despite the fact that older adults are actually more worried about age-related physical declines than they are about cognitive declines, it is currently unclear how these stereotypes affect older adults' physical performance. To date, only two studies have examined this question and their results are contradictory. In addressing the understudied question of how ageist stereotypes about frailty affect older adults' physical performance, the current study focuses on walking performance. Walking may seem like a simple activity, but it is actually a biologically complex task that involves the interplay of multiple motor and cognitive systems. When any one of these systems is not working properly, markers of walking ability, such as gait speed, decline. Because of this, gait speed is a powerful predictor of morbidity and mortality in older adults. In fact, its predictive value is so strong, that many have called for gait speed to be considered an additional vital sign that is routinely assessed for older adults. Although self-selected walking speed has potential clinical utility, an important, but unanswered question is how patients' expectations and concerns affect their performance. In examining this, we draw upon the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat. According to this model, in motivated performance situations people appraise the demands of the task (e.g., `how difficult is the task?') as well as their personal resources (e.g., `do I have the skills to perform well?'). When people perceive the demands as greater than their resources, they experience threat. When people perceive their resources as greater than the demands, they experience challenge. This in turn affects performance; threat appraisals impair performance whereas challenge appraisals improve performance. However, no previous study has tested this model in older adults. To address this, in the current study, older adult participants will be asked to complete ?difficult? and ?easy? walking tasks. During difficult tasks, we predict that age-based evaluations will be perceived as ?threats? and lead to slower gait speed. In contrast, during easy tasks, we predict that age-based evaluations will be perceived as ?challenges? and lead to faster gait speed (in contrast to the stereotype). We will also examine whether effects depend upon the method of instantiating the age-based evaluation, and whether age-based evaluations also affect other gait biomechanical measures associated with fall risks. Results will add to our knowledge about how ageism affects older adults' health and fall risks and will improve best practices for administering walking assessments.