| Description |
Executive functioning (EF) is more vulnerable than other aspects of cognition to fluctuations caused by transient factors, such as mood states, sleep disturbance, and pain. Fluctuations in EF likely reduce the efficiency and accuracy of older adults' motor functioning (more so than is the case for younger adults), because motor action becomes increasingly intertwined with EF with increasing age. This increased vulnerability is concerning, as lapses in motor functioning (e.g., falls) represent both a considerable threat to older adults and a major public health cost. Expressive suppression is one factor that growing evidence points to as a cause of EF fluctuations among both younger and older adults. Expressive suppression is associated with inefficiencies in EF in both experimental and observational studies. However, it is not yet known whether expressive suppression affects older adults' gait functioning nor whether expressive suppression has a cumulative versus overlapping effect with other executively taxing factors. One hundred and one older adults completed self-report measures of pain, sleep disturbance, and expressive suppression, as well as objective measures of EF and singleand dual-task walking. All participants also completed an experimental expressive suppression task (where participants were randomly assigned to either a suppression or free expression condition) followed by a repeat administration of the walking task. Self-reported expressive suppression was associated with reduced EF and slower dual-task walking, such that EF mediated the association between expressive suppression iv and dual-task performance beyond covariates. Expressive suppression and pain interference, but not nonrestorative sleep, demonstrated unique relationships with EF performance when all factors were considered simultaneously. The experimental expressive suppression task did not affect dual- or single-task walking. Expressive suppression in daily life appears to weaken EF and in turn executive aspects of motor functioning, such as walking under cognitive load. Quantifying and accounting for contextual factors may improve the accuracy of EF assessment and, by extension, the utility of EF measures in predicting daily functioning. Expressive suppression, pain interference, and nonrestorative sleep also represent potentially modifiable targets that, if better managed, may help reduce EF lapses and motor failings among older adults. |
