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Anxiety and Cognition

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Geropsychology

  • 36 Accesses

Synonyms

Neurocognitive functioning in late-life anxiety disorders; Neurocognitive functioning in the context of late-life anxiety symptoms

Definition

Older adults reporting elevated anxiety symptoms have been shown to exhibit lower global cognitive functioning and lower performance in specific cognitive domains, namely, speed of information processing, memory, and effortful cognitive abilities known collectively as cognitive control (Beaudreau and O’Hara 2008). Anxiety is also frequently observed in older individuals with cognitive impairments, such as dementia (Beaudreau and O’Hara 2008).

Global Cognitive Performance

Scientific evidence bridging late-life anxiety and cognitive performance has focused primarily on nonclinical older samples without cognitive impairment (Beaudreau and O’Hara 2008). Even among older adults with no psychiatric diagnosis, greater severity of self-reported anxiety symptoms correlates with worse global cognitive functioning in most cross-sectional studies...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA

    Sherry A. Beaudreau, Nathan Hantke & Christine E. Gould

  2. Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Sherry A. Beaudreau

  3. School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Sherry A. Beaudreau

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Andrew J. Petkus

  5. Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Christine E. Gould

  6. Sierra Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers (MIRECC), VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Nathan Hantke

Authors
  1. Sherry A. Beaudreau
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  2. Andrew J. Petkus
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  3. Nathan Hantke
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  4. Christine E. Gould
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sherry A. Beaudreau .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Nancy A. Pachana

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore (outside the USA)

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Beaudreau, S.A., Petkus, A.J., Hantke, N., Gould, C.E. (2017). Anxiety and Cognition. In: Pachana, N.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geropsychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-082-7_352

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