Objectives: Embedded in a traditional culture where filial piety was honored, living with adult children once had been the most prevalent living arrangement and the best option for Chinese elderly people. This study examined whether co-residence with adult children would be still beneficial to the psychological well-being (PWB) among the oldest old (aged 80 and above) in China today. Method: Using data from the fifth wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey conducted in 2008, the authors examined the living arrangements among the total sample (n = 12,213) and the association between living arrangement and PWB among a subsample (n = 7037) of respondents with normal cognition. Results: (1) More than half (67.1%) of the unmarried oldest old reported being co-resided with their children; while for the married oldest old, the majority of the respondents (62.4%) lived with a spouse only. (2) For the widowed, co-residence with adult children was associated with better PWB compared to living alone; but for the married, co-residence did not bring additional benefits to the PWB. (3) Co-residence of the widowed and children was associated with better life satisfaction compared to living with a spouse only, while it was associated with lower emotional well-being compared to living with a spouse (with or without a child). Conclusion: These findings suggest that living arrangements of Chinese oldest old are partially getting westernized, and a majority of them adapt it well. Government programs need to be developed to assist the Chinese oldest old (especially widowed) to live independently.

Cognitive bias modification (CBM), a set of techniques for modifying bias in information processing—is considered a novel intervention for social anxiety disorder (SAD), which has drawn considerable interest from researchers. However, the effects of CBM on SAD are not consistent. Some studies have demonstrated significant positive effects compared to control groups, while others have found no such effects. We conducted a meta-analysis aimed at quantitatively assessing the effects of CBM on SAD at post-test. Through a systematic literature search by two independent raters, 34 articles (36 randomized studies) including 2,550 participants were identified. A multilevel modeling approach was employed to assess the effects of CBM on SAD, and to explore the potentially crucial procedures and sample characteristics that enhance the effectiveness of benign training. In general, there were small but significant effects of CBM on the primary symptoms of SAD (g = 0.17), cognitive bias (CB) toward threat (g = 0.32), and reactivity in stressful situations (g = 0.25), but non-significant effects on secondary symptoms. However, the interpretation modification program was more effective than was attentional bias modification in reducing SAD primary symptoms and negative CB. Laboratory training procedures produced larger primary symptom reductions compared to Internet-based training, whereas the percentage of contingency and feedback about training performance boosted cognitive effects only. Finally, the following groups were more likely to benefit from CBM: younger participants (primary symptoms and cognitive effects), women (primary symptom effects), and samples with stronger CB (stressor effects). The quality of the randomized controlled trials was less than desirable, as there was some indication of publication bias in our study. Current findings broadly supported cognitive theories of SAD that consider a bidirectional or mutually reinforcing relationship between symptoms and CBs. However, the small therapeutic effect observed here indicates that it is necessary to develop more reliable and efficient CBM interventions that are specific to SAD.

In this study, we compared executive functioning in 32 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) individuals with that of normally aging controls. Cognitive planning tests (Trail Making, Porteus Maze Test, verbal fluency tests) show a group difference favoring the normal controls, but tests for inhibition of prepotent responses (no-go accuracy, two measures of the Stroop effect, and negative priming) failed to uncover a significant group difference. The results indicate that there is no general executive control function impairment in MCI; rather, the deficits found are compatible with the hypothesis that MCI is an accelerated form of normal aging.

To investigate the effects of high-altitude exposure on response inhibition, event-related potential (ERP) components N2 and P3 were measured in Go/NoGo task. The participants included an ‘immigrant’ high-altitude group (who had lived at high altitude for three years but born at low altitude) and a low-altitude group (living in low altitude only). Although the behavioural data showed no significant differences between the two groups, a delayed latency of NoGo-N2 was found in the high-altitude group compared to the low-altitude group. Moreover, larger N2 and smaller P3 amplitudes were found in the high-altitude group compared to the low-altitude group, for both the Go and NoGo conditions. These findings suggest that high-altitude exposure affects response inhibition with regard to processing speed during the conflict monitoring stage. In addition, high altitude generally increases the neural activity in the matching step of information processing and attentional resources. These results may provide some insights into the neurocognitive basis of the effects on high-altitude exposure on response inhibition.