Altered cognitive performance and frontal alpha asymmetries during emotion–cognition interactions in older adults with a history of depression and/or anxiety

Emotion-cognition interactions are essential for mental health in aging, yet their disruption in older adults with a history of affective disorders is poorly understood. We compared older adults reporting a history of depression and/or anxiety (History Group; n = 20) to those without such history (No-History Group; n = 28) using an emotional oddball task to examine behavioral performance and frontal and occipital alpha asymmetry patterns. Behaviorally, the history group exhibited generally delayed reaction times across all target types and reduced accuracy specifically in targets following fearful distractors, compared with the no-history group, indicating increased susceptibility to emotional interference associated with affective history. EEG analysis (electrodes F3/F4 for frontal and O1/O2 for occipital) revealed distinct frontal alpha asymmetries: the history group exhibited a left visual field bias in frontal alpha following fearful distractors, alongside a right-frontal dominance across target types. In contrast, the No-history group showed balanced bilateral frontal activation across target conditions. No group differences emerged in occipital alpha asymmetry, suggesting comparable visual processing strategies. These findings indicate that a history of depression and/or anxiety is associated with altered cognitive task performance and distinct frontal neural signatures in older adults, highlighting the potential value of emotion regulation interventions for supporting cognitive flexibility in this population.