Jodi Field
Doctor of Clinical Psychology, (Doctor of Clinical Psychology)
Study Completed: 2015
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Citation
Thesis Title
To investigate the differences in detecting expressed emotion between depressed & non depressed older adults
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
Previous research has found that depressed individuals attend to negative stimuli for longer than non-depressed individuals. However, no research has investigated this effect in older depressed adults (those aged over 65 years). Mrs Field investigated both age and mood-related differences in the way individuals view competing emotional images. She used eye-tracking techniques to investigate these differences with mixed results. There was evidence to suggest that older adults, when compared to their younger counterparts, viewed positive stimuli for longer periods of time and were especially prone to seek out positive stimuli. Overall, Mrs Field''sresearch has contributed to the limited research towards understanding the differences in older and younger individuals'' experience of depression.
Supervisors
Associate Professor John Podd
Dr Duncan Babbage
Associate Professor Stephen Hill