Life often teaches people how to handle difficult moments. A painful disappointment that once felt overwhelming may become easier to put into perspective after years of experience. At the same time, aging also brings gradual changes in the brain’s cognitive abilities, raising an important question: when emotions run high, which matters more—the knowledge built through decades of living or the ability to think quickly and adapt in the moment?
A new study published in the journal Emotion tackles that question by examining two different kinds of cognitive abilities across adulthood and how each relates to emotion regulation.
The researchers found that these two forms of thinking appear to play different roles. Accumulated knowledge and experience—known as crystallized cognition—was linked to better emotion regulation regardless of the type of emotion involved. Meanwhile, fluid cognition, which supports mental flexibility, attention, memory, and rapid information processing, was specifically associated with successfully reducing negative emotions.
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