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THEY say that wisdom grows with age. Perhaps it is also accompanied by the ability to look on the brighter side of life. A study of adults over 65 suggests that they experience fewer negative emotions than younger people when anticipating losses.

Gregory Larkin of Stanford University, California, and his colleagues gave a group of adults aged over 65 and a group of 19 to 27-year-olds a task in which they had to respond to a cue to either win money or avoid losing it. Their brain activity was monitored during the exercise using functional MRI, and participants also reported…

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