Behavioral and Social Sciences
Angelina Sutin, PhD
Professor
Behavioral Sciences & Social Medicine
Florida State University College of Medicine
Tallahassee, Florida, United States
Giyeon Kim, PhD, FGSA (she/her/hers)
Professor
Department of Psychology
Chung-Ang University
Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi, Republic of Korea
Niccole Nelson, PhD (she/her/hers)
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado, United States
Gabrielle Pfund, PhD (she/her/hers)
Postdoctoral Researcher
Medical Social Sciences
Northwestern University
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Angelina Sutin, PhD
Professor
Behavioral Sciences & Social Medicine
Florida State University College of Medicine
Tallahassee, Florida, United States
Purpose in life is the feeling that one’s life is goal oriented and has direction. There is converging, replicated evidence that having a greater sense of purpose in life is associated with better cognitive aging outcomes, including less cognitive decline across middle and older adulthood and lower risk of incident dementia. Emerging evidence also suggests that cognitive function may likewise support purpose in life. This symposium highlights recent advances on the dynamics between purpose in life and cognition across varying time scales and populations. Kim will describe the association between purpose in life and the maintenance of better cognitive function across six years in older adulthood and moderators of this association. Nelson and Bergeman will describe how cognitive function supported purpose in life through the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic and moderators of this association. Pfund and colleagues will report on the bidirectional associations between purpose and cognition in older adulthood across four longitudinal samples using a coordinated data analytic approach. Finally, Sutin and colleagues will report on an ecological momentary assessment study that found that in moments when participants felt more purposeful, they had faster processing speed. Collectively, these talks emphasize the dynamic and often bidirectional relation between purpose in life and cognitive function. This work will help stimulate research to better understand purpose and cognitive health and how to leverage purpose in life for healthier cognitive aging outcomes.
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Giyeon Kim, PhD, FGSA (she/her/hers) – Chung-Ang University
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Niccole A. Nelson, PhD (she/her/hers) – Colorado State University
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Gabrielle N. Pfund, PhD (she/her/hers) – Northwestern University
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Angelina R. Sutin, PhD – Florida State University College of Medicine