Functions of Real-Life Conversational Time Travel in the Context of Healthy Aging

Abstract Using smartphone sensing in real life, we examined conversational time travel (i.e., talking about the personal past versus future), its functions and relation with positive affect (i.e., laughing behavior). We used the Electronically Activated Recorder (audio recorder that periodically records snippets of ambient sounds and speech) and collected a random sample of over 30,000 sound snippets (30 seconds long) from 61 young and 48 healthy older adults across four days. We transcribed and manually coded participants’ speech. Multilevel models conducted in R showed that individuals tended to talk about their past with more social functions (e.g., give advice), whereas talked about their future for more directive purposes (e.g., planning). Age group differences were minimal. We also found that individuals laughed two times more while talking about their past than their future. Results are discussed in relation to the functions of mental/conversational time travel in the context of healthy aging.

assigned 130 participants to 12-months of volunteering or active control. We will describe the trial as well as baseline characteristics of participants that may predict non-compliance with volunteering/control. We found no difference between conditions nor demographic characteristics (age, gender) on non-compliance. Participants demonstrated wide variability in depression at baseline (PROMIS t-score range 38.9 to 71.4) and 18% reported suicide ideation; neither were associated with compliance (p>.20). These preliminary findings indicate that those with more severe mental health symptoms were equally willing/able to engage in volunteering as those without depression and suicide ideation. Volunteering is a highly scalable intervention (given nationwide Senior Corps infrastructure) that may function as upstream suicide prevention. The healthy aging model of the World Health Organization (2015) highlights the value of assessing and monitoring everyday activities in understanding health in old age. This symposium includes four studies that used the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a portable recording device that periodically collects sound snippets in everyday life, to assess various real-life cognitive activities in the context of healthy aging. The four studies collected over 100,000 sound snippets (30-seconds long) over a few days from young and older adults in the US and Switzerland. Participants' speech in the sound snippets were transcribed and coded for different cognitive activity information. Specifically, Haas and Kliegel have investigated the "prospective memory paradox" by examining the commonality and differences in utterances about retrospective and prospective memory failure in young and older adults' everyday conversations. Demiray and colleagues investigated the relation between autobiographical memory functions and conversation types in young and older adults in relation to well-being. Luo and colleagues have identified the compensatory function of real-world contexts in cognitive aging: Their study showed that older adults benefited from talking with their spouse in producing complex grammatical structures. Finally, Polsinelli and colleagues found robust associations between language markers (e.g., prepositions, more numbers) and executive functions, highlighting the potential use of spontaneous speech in predicting cognitive status in healthy older adults. Finally, Prof. Matthew Grilli will serve as a discussant and provide an integrative discussion of the papers, informed by his extensive work on clinical and cognitive neuroscience of memory in relation to real-life contexts.

FUNCTIONS OF REAL-LIFE CONVERSATIONAL TIME TRAVEL IN THE CONTEXT OF HEALTHY AGING
Burcu Demiray, Minxia Luo, and Mike Martin, University of Zurich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Using smartphone sensing in real life, we examined conversational time travel (i.e., talking about the personal past versus future), its functions and relation with positive affect (i.e., laughing behavior). We used the Electronically Activated Recorder (audio recorder that periodically records snippets of ambient sounds and speech) and collected a random sample of over 30,000 sound snippets (30 seconds long) from 61 young and 48 healthy older adults across four days. We transcribed and manually coded participants' speech. Multilevel models conducted in R showed that individuals tended to talk about their past with more social functions (e.g., give advice), whereas talked about their future for more directive purposes (e.g., planning). Age group differences were minimal. We also found that individuals laughed two times more while talking about their past than their future. Results are discussed in relation to the functions of mental/conversational time travel in the context of healthy aging.

REAL-WORLD LANGUAGE USE WITH FAMILIAR VERSUS UNFAMILIAR INTERLOCUTORS IN YOUNG AND OLDER ADULTS
Minxia Luo, Rudolf Debelak, Gerold Schneider, Mike Martin, and Burcu Demiray, University of Zurich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Real-world contexts may compensate for age-related changes in language production. We compared age effects on vocabulary richness (i.e., entropy) and grammatical complexity (i.e., clause length) in conversations with familiar interlocutors (i.e., significant other, friends, family members) versus with strangers. We collected thousands of 30-seconds speech samples from 61 young and 48 healthy older adults across four days using a portable audio recording devicethe Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR). Bayesian multilevel analyses showed that participants used richer vocabulary and more complex grammar with familiar interlocutors than strangers. Young adults used richer vocabulary than older adults. Furthermore, older adults produced equally complex grammar with the significant other as young adults did, but simpler grammar with friends and family members. We found no age group differences in grammatical complexity with strangers (lacking statistical power). In sum, familiarity with the significant other may benefit older adults in producing complex grammar in real-world conversations.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE: NEW INSIGHTS ON MEMORY AND COGNITIVE AGING RESEARCH THROUGH REAL-LIFE METHODS
Maximilian Haas, 1 Alexandra Hering, 2 and Matthias Kliegel, 2 1. University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, 2. University of Geneva, Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland In the past decades, the so-called "age -prospective memory paradox"-a phenomenon comparing prospective memory (PM) performance in and outside the lab -has challenged the classical assumption that older adults necessarily evidence a marked decline in PM functioning. In our study, we want to extend established methods for measuring memory through arising technologies, such as the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR; Mehl, 2017). Over the course of three days, 60 younger adults (18-32 years) and 45 older adults (60-82 years) completed an ambulatory assessment with the EAR in order to detect spontaneous speech production related to memory and memory failures. Results reveal that younger and older adults do not differ in the total number of utterances related to different facets of memory and cognition. However, when it comes to failures, older adults talk significantly less about PM failures than younger adults. Possible explanations for these findings will be discussed. Language use during structured clinical tasks predicts pathological cognitive aging. However, structured tasks reflect only a narrow band of potential communication contexts, which limits the ability to capture cognitive processes manifested in language use under more natural conditions (i.e., minimal constraints). The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) makes it possible to sample language from the full ecology of individuals' interactions. As interactions are cognitively complex, language use in everyday life might be especially sensitive to the integrity of higher-order cognitive processes, including executive functions (EF). Using the EAR and a standard EF battery, we show that EF, particularly working memory, is reflected in analytic (e.g. articles and prepositions), complex (e.g. longer words), and specific (e.g. more numbers) language. The EAR provides first evidence that the words used in daily life reflect the integrity of EF and that reliance on less complex language could reflect WM variability among cognitively healthy adults.

STRESS, TRAUMA, AND RESILIENCE AMONG U.S. ASIAN OLDER ADULTS: FINDINGS FROM THE RUTGERS ASIAN RCMAR
Chair: XinQi Dong Co-Chair: Melissa Simon Discussant: Bei Wu U.S. Asians are the fastest growing group of older adults in the nation, increasing by 68% from 2000-2018. However, research on the psychological wellbeing of this population is limited. Drawing on the research of Rutgers Asian RCMAR Scientists, this symposium will address the impacts of stress, trauma and resilience on the psychological wellbeing of diverse groups of U.S. Asian older adults. Session 1 will assess the prevalence of psychological distress among older LGBT and non-LGBT U.S. Asian older adults, and the role of discrimination in medical care and intimate violence on psychological distress. Session 2 will take a mixed-methods approach to examining caregiver burden and depressive symptoms of Chinese American spouses and adult-children who provided care for their spouse or parents with dementia. Session 3 will explore the risk and protective factors for the mental health of sexual minority U.S. Asian older adults using data from the Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health. Session 4 will identify different patterns of coping repertoires of older immigrants, based on a combination of individual, family, and community coping resources, and the optimal coping repertoire that is associated with the best psychological outcomes. In summation, this symposium describes the psychological wellbeing of diverse groups of U.S. Asian older adults, including sexual