The Orbitofrontal Cortex, Real‐World Decision Making, and Normal Aging

Abstract

The present series of three studies aims at investigating the hypothesis that some seemingly normal older persons have deficits in reasoning and decision making due to dysfunction in a neural system which includes the ventromedial prefrontal cortices. This hypothesis is relevant to the comprehensive study of aging, and also addresses the question of why so many older adults fall prey to fraud. To our knowledge, this work represents the first of its kind to begin to identify, from an individual-differences perspective, the behavioral, psychophysiological, and consumer correlates of defective decision making among healthy older adults. Our findings, in a cross-sectional sample of community-dwelling participants, demonstrate that a sizeable subset of older adults (approximately 35-40%) perform disadvantageously on a laboratory measure of decision making that closely mimics everyday life, by the manner in which it factors in reward, punishment, risk, and ambiguity. These same poor decision makers display defective autonomic responses (or somatic markers), reminiscent of that previously established in patients with acquired prefrontal lesions. Finally, we present data demonstrating that poor decision makers are more likely to fall prey to deceptive advertising, suggesting compromise of real-world judgment and decision-making abilities.

Normal Aging and Decision Making: The Role of Motivation

“…A number of studies that investigated asymmetries in the processing of gains and losses in decision making employed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) [Baena, Allen, Kaut, & Hall, 2010;Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994;Denburg, Bechara, Tranel, Hindes, & Damasio, 1999;Denburg et al, 2007;Denburg, Recknor, Bechara, & Tranel, 2006;Denburg, Tranel, & Bechara, 2005;Kovalchik, Camerer, Grether, Plott, & Allman, 2005;MacPherson, Phillips, & Della Sala, 2002;Wood, Busemeyer, Koling, Cox, & Davis, 2005]. The results of this line of studies present a mixed picture.…”

Aging and the neuroeconomics of decision making: A review

“…The elderly therefore make up an increasingly significant part of the population, and their decisions can influence our society's economy and politics (Kovalchik et al, 2005); thus, it is important to study their economic decision-making processes. Poor decision makers, and especially older decision makers, have been shown to be particularly vulnerable to deceptive advertising (Denburg et al, 2007).…”

Mediating Age-related Cognitive Decline Through Lifestyle Activities: A Brief Review Of The Effects Of Physical Exercise And Sports-playing On Older Adult Cognition

“…The ability to both encode and retrieve newly acquired information also tends to show a decline with age [15]. A wide range of changes have been observed in the set of cognitive processes referred to as executive functioning, including noticeable declines in response inhibition [16], task switching [17], and decision-making [18]. Moreover, aging may affect attentional abilities [19], divided attention [20], visual working memory [21], verbal and spatial working memory [22], and dual task processing [23].…”