Age differences in the effect of framing on risky choice: A meta-analysis

Diversity in the study of aging and lifespan development

In psychology, authors have shined a light on a lack of ethnic/racial and cultural diversity in sampling and scholarship. These issues pertain also to the study of aging and lifespan development. This article presents examples of how diverse sampling, across ethnic/racial groups and cultures, enriches theories of aging and adult development. There remain, however, numerous theoretical insights that are yet to be uncovered by future research that seeks to further diversify this sub-discipline. Good practices and avenues to diversification are considered, including targeted sampling of minority groups in the community, online sampling with use of data screening tools, lifespan-orientated surveys initiated in non-Western countries, and a redress of the balance in the perceived value of research from different regions of the world.

Adult age differences in risk perception and risk taking

Research on self-reported risk perception and risk taking suggests age-related decrements in risk preference, with older adults less likely to engage in general and domain-specific risk taking (i.e., in financial, health-related, ethical, career, and leisure contexts). Data relating to social risks, however, are inconsistent. With respect to behavioral risk-taking tasks, age-related differences vary depending on task characteristics and older adults' cognitive capacities. Specifically, older adults are less good at learning to take advantageous risks and take fewer risks when faced with gains, especially financial and mortality-based ones. We contextualize these trends by referencing relevant theoretical frameworks (see Frey et al., 2021 [1]) and by drawing on the COVID-19 pandemic to illustrate recent examples of age-related differences in real-life risk responses.

Differential impacts of healthy cognitive aging on directed and random exploration

Deciding whether to explore unknown opportunities or exploit well-known options is a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. Extensive work in college students suggests that young people make explore-exploit decisions using a mixture of information seeking and random behavioral variability. Whether, and to what extent, older adults use the same strategies is unknown. To address this question, 51 older adults (ages 65-74) and 32 younger adults (ages 18-25) completed the Horizon Task, a gambling task that quantifies information seeking and behavioral variability as well as how these strategies are controlled for the purposes of exploration. Qualitatively, we found that older adults performed similar to younger adults on this task, increasing both their information seeking and behavioral variability when it was adaptive to explore. Quantitively, however, there were substantial differences between the age groups, with older adults showing less information seeking overall and less reliance on variability as a means to explore. In addition, we found a subset of approximately 26% of older adults whose information seeking was close to zero, avoiding informative options even when they were clearly the better choice. Unsurprisingly, these "information avoiders" performed worse on the task. In contrast, task performance in the remaining "information seeking" older adults was comparable to that of younger adults suggesting that age-related differences in explore-exploit decision making may be adaptive except when they are taken to extremes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A systematic review of risky-choice framing effects

Classic decision theory requires that rational agents show description invariance: which description is chosen should not matter for judgments, preferences, or choices given the descriptions are co-extensive. Framing research has amply demonstrated a failure of description invariance by showing that the choice of the description has a systematic effect on judgments, preferences, and choices. Specifically, framing research has shown that linguistically different descriptions of seemingly equivalent options frequently lead to preference reversals. I summarize the research on framing in situations entailing risk. This includes the characterization of different research designs used, the size and robustness of the framing effects reported for those designs, and the theoretical accounts put forward to explain framing effects. The theoretical accounts are evaluated with respect to their merits, empirically and theoretically. I end by providing the implications of framing research. My central point is that the existence of framing effects points to the adaptiveness of the processes underlying human judgment and choice rather than simply showing human irrationality.

Facial Trustworthiness Influences Age Differences in Visual Attention Toward Credible Versus Non-credible Messages

Background and Objectives

The literature on consumer decision-making and aging suggests that older adults make less optimal buying decisions than younger adults do, partly because older adults tend to perceive salespersons' faces as more trustworthy. This study aims to directly test the difference in the effect of perceived facial trustworthiness on buying intention between younger and older adults. It also aims to reveal the underlying mechanisms of this age-related difference by testing whether a more trustworthy face disrupts older adults' attention toward credible (vs. non-credible) information to a higher degree compared with younger adults.

Research Design and Methods

A sample of 92 younger (aged 18-37 years) and 83 older (aged 60-82 years) adults viewed advertisements for 32 products while their eye movements were captured by an eye tracker to measure their fixation duration (as an indicator of attention). The advertisements varied in terms of the credibility of the content and the trustworthiness of the salesperson's face.

Results

Both age groups showed higher buying intentions for products featured in advertisements with higher credibility and facial trustworthiness. When facial trustworthiness was lower, both age groups showed greater attentional preferences for credible over non-credible content. However, this distinction in attention disappeared in older but not younger adults with an increase in facial trustworthiness.

Discussion and Implications

Our findings suggest that although facial trustworthiness generally increases buying intention of both younger and older adults, it only reduces older (but not younger) adults' attentional discrimination between credible and non-credible content. This paper offers a novel and promising mechanism for the increase in fraud vulnerability in late adulthood.

Age differences in the neural basis of decision-making under uncertainty

Humans globally are reaping the benefits of longer lives. Yet, longer life spans also require engaging with consequential but often uncertain decisions well into old age. Previous research has yielded mixed findings with regards to life span differences in how individuals make decisions under uncertainty. One factor contributing to the heterogeneity of findings is the diversity of paradigms that cover different aspects of uncertainty and tap into different cognitive and affective mechanisms. In this study, 175 participants (53.14% females, mean age = 44.9 years, SD = 19.0, age range = 16 to 81) completed functional neuroimaging versions of two prominent paradigms in this area, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and the Delay Discounting Task. Guided by neurobiological accounts of age-related changes in decision-making under uncertainty, we examined age effects on neural activation differences in decision-relevant brain structures, and compared these across multiple contrasts for the two paradigms using specification curve analysis. In line with theoretical predictions, we find age differences in nucleus accumbens, anterior insula, and medial prefrontal cortex, but the results vary across paradigm and contrasts. Our results are in line with existing theories of age differences in decision making and their neural substrates, yet also suggest the need for a broader research agenda that considers how both individual and task characteristics determine the way humans deal with uncertainty.

Communicating risk: How relevant and irrelevant probabilistic information influences risk perception in medical decision-making

Patients rely on knowing potential risks before accepting medical treatments, but risk perception can be distorted by cognitive biases and irrelevant information. We examined the interactive effects of subjective processes, objective knowledge, and demographic characteristics on how individuals estimate risks when provided with relevant and irrelevant probabilistic information. Participants read medical scenarios describing potential adverse effects associated with declining and accepting preventative treatment, as well as the objective likelihood of experiencing adverse effects associated with one of these two courses of action. We found that the perceived negativity of outcomes influenced perceptions of risk regardless of whether relevant probabilities were available and that the use of affect heuristics to estimate risk increased with age. Introducing objective estimates ameliorated age-related increases in affective distortions. Sensitivity to relevant probabilities increased with greater perceived outcome severity and was greater for men than for women. We conclude that relevant objective information may reduce the propensity to conflate outcome severity with likelihood and that medical judgments of risk vary depending on exposure to relevant and irrelevant probabilities. Implications for how medical professionals should communicate risk information to patients are considered.

Aging, uncertainty, and decision making-A review

There is a great deal of uncertainty in the world. One common source of uncertainty results from incomplete or missing information about probabilistic outcomes (i.e., outcomes that may occur), which influences how people make decisions. The impact of this type of uncertainty may particularly pronounced for older adults, who, as the primary leaders around the world, make highly impactful decisions with lasting outcomes. This review examines the ways in which uncertainty about probabilistic outcomes is perceived, handled, and represented in the aging brain, with an emphasis on how uncertainty may specifically affect decision making in later life. We describe the role of uncertainty in decision making and aging from four perspectives, including 1) theoretical, 2) self-report, 3) behavioral, and 4) neuroscientific. We report evidence of any age-related differences in uncertainty among these contexts and describe how these changes may affect decision making. We then integrate the findings across the distinct perspectives, followed by a discussion of important future directions for research on aging and uncertainty, including prospection, domain-specificity in risk-taking behaviors, and choice overload.

Enhanced putamen functional connectivity underlies altered risky decision-making in age-related cognitive decline

Risky decision-making is critical to survival and development, which has been compromised in elderly populations. However, the neural substrates of altered financial risk-taking behavior in aging are still under-investigated. Here we examined the intrinsic putamen network in modulating risk-taking behaviors of Balloon Analogue Risk Task in healthy young and older adults using resting-state fMRI. Compared with the young group, the elderly group showed significantly different task performance. Based on the task performance, older adults were further subdivided into two subgroups, showing young-like and over-conservative risk behaviors, regardless of cognitive decline. Compared with young adults, the intrinsic pattern of putamen connectivity was significantly different in over-conservative older adults, but not in young-like older adults. Notably, age-effects on risk behaviors were mediated via the putamen functional connectivity. In addition, the putamen gray matter volume showed significantly different relationships with risk behaviors and functional connectivity in over-conservative older adults. Our findings suggest that reward-based risky behaviors might be a sensitive indicator of brain aging, highlighting the critical role of the putamen network in maintaining optimal risky decision-making in age-related cognitive decline.

Cognitive Effort-Based Decision-Making Across Experimental and Daily Life Indices in Younger and Older Adults

OBJECTIVES

The study investigated whether cognitive effort decision-making measured via a neuroeconomic paradigm that manipulated framing (gain vs. loss outcomes), could predict daily life engagement in mentally demanding activities in both younger and older adults.

METHOD

Younger and older adult participants (N = 310) completed the Cognitive Effort Discounting paradigm (Cog-ED), under both gain and loss conditions, to provide an experimental index of cognitive effort costs for each participant in each framing condition. A subset of participants (N = 230) also completed a 7-day Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocol measuring engagement in mentally demanding daily life activities.

RESULTS

In a large, online sample, we replicated a robust increase in cognitive effort costs among older, relative to younger, adults. Additionally, costs were found to be reduced in the loss relative to gain frame, although these effects were only reliable at high levels of task difficulty and were not moderated by age. Critically, participants who had lower effort costs in the gain frame tended to report engaging in more mentally demanding daily life activities, but the opposite pattern was observed in the loss frame. Further analyses demonstrated the specificity of reward-related cognitive motivation in predicting daily life mentally demanding activities.

DISCUSSION

Together, these results suggest that cognitive effort costs, as measured through behavioral choice patterns in a neuroeconomic decision-making task, can be used to predict and explain engagement in mentally demanding activities during daily life among both older and younger adults.

Pay One or Pay All? The Role of Incentive Schemes in Decision Making Across Adulthood

OBJECTIVES

This research addresses how younger and older adults' decisions and evaluations of gains and losses are affected by the way in which monetary incentives are provided. We compared 2 common incentive schemes in decision making: pay one (only a single decision is incentivized) and pay all (incentives across all decisions are accumulated).

METHOD

Younger adults (18-36 years; n = 147) and older adults (60-89 years; n = 139) participated in either a pay-one or pay-all condition and made binary choices between two-outcome monetary lotteries in gain, loss, and mixed domains. We analyzed participants' decision quality, risk taking, and psychometric test scores. Computational modeling of cumulative prospect theory served to measure sensitivity to outcomes and probabilities, loss aversion, and choice sensitivity.

RESULTS

Decision quality and risk aversion were higher in the gain than mixed or loss domain, but unaffected by age. Loss aversion was higher, and choice sensitivity was lower in older than younger adults. In the pay-one condition, the value functions were more strongly curved, and choice sensitivity was higher than in the pay-all condition.

DISCUSSION

An opportunity of accumulating incentives has similar portfolio effects on younger and older adults' decisions. In general, people appear to decide less cautiously in pay-all than pay-one scenarios. The impact of different incentive schemes should be carefully considered in aging and decision research.

Framing Effects in Older Adults' Medical Decision-Making: Social Distance Matters

OBJECTIVES

The present study sought to explore how decision making is influenced by aging, framing, and social distance in the medical domain. Based on Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, we predicted that social distance would moderate age differences of framing effects as a result of older adults' emphasis on close partners.

METHODS

Younger and middle-aged (N = 206) and older (N = 208) adults from Shanghai, China completed 2 medical decision tasks in which they were presented with different descriptions of social distance, namely deciding for close relatives or for strangers. Participants' risk preferences were measured.

RESULTS

The results showed that framing effects were a function of social distance in older adults. Older adults showed smaller framing effects when making decisions for strangers as their preference for the riskier option was reduced in the loss-framed condition. For younger and middle-aged adults, framing effects existed consistently regardless of social distance.

DISCUSSION

These findings suggest that social distance moderates age differences in framing effects in medical decision-making. It also highlights a potential way to improve older adults' medical decision-making quality: having older adults imagine as if they are making medical decisions for a stranger.

A Scoping Review and Field Guide of Theoretical Approaches and Recommendations to Studying the Decision to Adopt Hearing Aids

OBJECTIVES

Given the low rates of hearing aid adoption among individuals with hearing loss, it is imperative to better understand the decision-making processes leading to greater hearing aid uptake. A careful analysis of the existing literature on theoretical approaches to studying these processes is needed to help researchers frame hypotheses and methodology in studies on audiology. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review with two aims. First, we examine theories that have been used to study research on hearing aid adoption. Second, we propose additional theories from the behavioral sciences that have not yet been used to examine hearing aid uptake but that can inform future research.

DESIGN

We identified peer-reviewed publications whose research was driven by one or more theoretical approaches by searching through PubMed, ProQuest PsycINFO, CINHAL Plus, Web of Science, Scopus, and OVID Medline/Embase/PsycINFO. The publications were examined by two researchers for eligibility.

RESULTS

Twenty-three papers were included in the analysis. The most common theoretical approaches studied include the Health Belief Model, the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, Self-Determination Theory, and the COM-B Model. Seven other theoretical frameworks based on cognitive psychology and behavioral economics have also appeared in the literature. In addition, we propose considering nudge theory, framing effect, prospect theory, social learning theory, social identity theory, dual process theories, and affective-based theories of decision making when studying hearing aid adoption.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that, although a number of theories have been considered in research on hearing aid uptake, there are considerable methodological limitations to their use. Furthermore, the field can benefit greatly from the inclusion of novel theoretical approaches drawn from outside of audiology.

Safety at high altitude: the importance of emotional dysregulation on pilots' risk attitudes during flight

Introduction

Aviation psychology is very interested in understanding how personological and psychological variables influence flight performances. Indeed, risk attitudes have been considered as a risk factor for aviation accidents. In this context, emotions and coping style are key variables which could influence concentration by affecting cognition and attention. In addition, the specific training backgrounds seemed to be associated with differences in in-flight accident rates. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between age, sex, flight experience, emotional dysregulation, coping styles, flight licenses, and pilots' risk attitudes.

Methods

Eighty pilots completed an online survey composed of ad hoc questionnaire for sociodemographic and work-related information's and self-report questionnaires that assessed emotional dysregulation, coping styles, and risk attitudes.

Results

Results showed that older age and emotional dysregulation were associated with higher risk attitudes in pilots. Moreover, emotional dysregulation seemed to promote worse self-confidence. Ultralight pilots appeared to be more risk-oriented and less self-confident than civil pilots, while more flight experience appeared to favorite greater self-confidence.

Discussion

In conclusion, the study suggests the importance of promoting interventions based on sharing pilots' difficulties and emotions and promoting safe attitudes with special attention to ultralight pilots, age, and sex differences.

Age and Framing Effects in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)

OBJECTIVES

Prior research has documented age differences in risky decisions and indicates that they are susceptible to gain versus loss framing. However, previous studies focused on 'decisions from description' that explicitly spell out the probabilities involved. The present study expands this literature by examining the effects of framing on age differences in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a widely used and ecologically valid measure of experience-based risky decision-making that involves pumping a virtual balloon.

METHOD

In a pre-registered study, younger (aged 18-30, n =129) and older adults (aged 60 and over, n=125) were randomly assigned to either a gain version of the BART, where pumping the balloon added monetary gains, or a loss version, where pumping the balloon avoided monetary losses.

RESULTS

We found a significant age by frame interaction on risk-taking: in the loss frame, older adults pumped more frequently and experienced more popped balloons than younger adults, whereas in the gain frame no significant age differences were found. Total performance on the BART did not vary by age or frame. Supplementary analyses indicated that age differences in pumping rates were most pronounced at the beginning of the BART and leveled off in subsequent trials. Controlling for age differences in motivation, personality, and cognition did not account for age differences in risk-taking.

DISCUSSION

In combination, findings suggest that age differences in risk-taking on the BART are more pronounced when the task context emphasizes avoiding losses rather than achieving gains.

Should I Play or Should I Go? Individuals’ Characteristics and Preference for Uncertainty

This paper presents an incentivized experiment analyzing the role of demographic characteristics in individual decision-making under uncertainty. Reactions to a natural source of uncertainty, payoffs in a TV game show, were measured using Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), allowing us to identify multiple configurations of causal conditions that are sufficient for individuals to prefer an uncertain payoff to a sure gain, and, thus, lower risk aversion. This paper found evidence of preference for uncertainty, measured as willingness to play for an uncertain payoff, in individuals with characteristics most commonly present in the literature: being male; young; childless; with studies in finance or similar areas. This paper also shows that conditions that would not justify the preference for uncertainty according to the literature (an older individual or having children), when combined with other conditions, change contestants’ behavior regarding preference for uncertainty. Individuals that are both older and single, and individuals that have children combined with education in finance, show an inverse effect on preference for uncertainty.

How Cues of Being Watched Promote Risk Seeking in Fund Investment in Older Adults

Social cues, such as being watched, can subtly alter fund investment choices. This study aimed to investigate how cues of being watched influence decision-making, attention allocation, and risk tendencies. Using decision scenarios adopted from the “Asian Disease Problem,” we examined participants’ risk tendency in a financial scenario when they were watched. A total of 63 older and 66 younger adults participated. Eye tracking was used to reveal the decision-maker’s attention allocation (fixations and dwell time per word). The results found that both younger and older adults tend to seek risk in the loss frame than in the gain frame (i.e., framing effect). Watching eyes tended to escalate reckless gambling behaviors among older adults, which led them to maintain their share in the depressed fund market, regardless of whether the options were gain or loss framed. The eye-tracking results revealed that older adults gave less attention to the sure option in the eye condition (i.e., fewer fixations and shorter dwell time). However, their attention was maintained on the gamble options. In comparison, images of “watching eyes” did not influence the risk seeking of younger adults but decreased their framing effect. Being watched can affect financial risk preference in decision-making. The exploration of the contextual sensitivity of being watched provides us with insight into developing decision aids to promote rational financial decision-making, such as human-robot interactions. Future research on age differences still requires further replication.

The influence of gain-loss framing and its interaction with political ideology on social distancing and mask wearing compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of cases and over half a million deaths in the United States. While health experts urge citizens to adopt preventative measures such as social distancing and wearing a mask, these recommended behaviors are not always followed by the public. To find a way to promote preventative measures, the present study examined the role of gain-loss framing of COVID-19 related messages on social distancing and mask wearing compliance. Moreover, the study also tested potential moderating effects on framing with three individual characteristics: political ideology, subjective numeracy, and risk attitude. A sample of 375 U.S. adult residents were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. Each participant read either a gain or loss-framed message related to practicing protective behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants also completed scales of preventative behaviors, risk attitude, subjective numeracy, political ideology, and other demographic variables. It was found that those who were more liberal, risk-averse and had greater subjective numeracy were more likely to wear a mask and/or follow social distancing. Furthermore, in the presence of demographic and psychological factors, the study found participants in the loss-framed condition than in the gain-framed condition were more likely to adopt both preventative measures, supporting the notion of loss aversion. Additionally, the framing effect was also moderated by political ideology on mask-wearing, with the effect being stronger in liberals than in conservatives. Collectively, the study implies message framing may be a useful means to promote preventative measures in the current pandemic.

Age-related differences in strategic competition

Understanding how people of different ages decide in competition is a question of theoretical and practical importance. Using an experimental laboratory approach, this research investigates the ability of younger and older adults to think and act strategically with equal or unequal resources. In zero-sum games of resource allocation, younger adults (19-35 years) and older adults (65-81 years) made strategic decisions in competition against opponents of a similar age (Study 1; N = 120) or different age (Study 2; N = 120). The findings highlight people's ability to make good interpersonal decisions in complex scenarios: Both younger and older adults were aware of their relative strength (in terms of material resources) and allocated their resources adaptively. When competing against opponents of a similar age, people's gains were in line with game-theoretic predictions. However, younger adults made superior strategic allocations and won more frequently when competing against older adults. Measures of fluid cognitive and numerical abilities correlated with strategic behavior in interpersonal competition.

Associations between phasic arousal and decisions under risk in younger and older adults

Higher arousal is linked to simple decision strategies and an increased preference for immediate rewards in younger adults, but little is known about the influence of arousal on decision making in older adults. In light of age-related locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system declines, we predicted a reduced association between arousal and decision behavior in older adults. Younger and older participants made a series of choices between smaller, higher-probability and larger, lower-probability financial gains. Each choice was preceded by the presentation of a high-arousal or low-arousal sound. Pupil dilation was continuously recorded as an index of task-evoked arousal. Both age groups showed significant modulation of pupil dilation as a function of arousal condition. Higher-arousal sounds were associated with shorter response times, particularly in younger adults. Furthermore, higher-arousal sounds were associated with greater risk aversion in younger adults and greater risk seeking in older adults, in line with an arousal-related amplification of baseline preferences in both age groups. Jointly, these findings help inform current theories of the effects of arousal on information processing in younger and older adults.

Is Applied Ethics Morally Problematic?

This paper argues that applied ethics can itself be morally problematic. As illustrated by the case of Peter Singer’s criticism of social practice, morally loaded communication by applied ethicists can lead to protests, backlashes, and aggression. By reviewing the psychological literature on self-image, collective identity, and motivated reasoning three categories of morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism by applied ethicists are identified: serious psychological discomfort, moral backfiring, and hostile conflict. The most worrisome is moral backfiring: psychological research suggests that ethical criticism of people’s central moral convictions can reinforce exactly those attitudes. Therefore, applied ethicists unintentionally can contribute to a consolidation of precisely those social circumstances that they condemn to be unethical. Furthermore, I argue that the normative concerns raised in this paper are not dependent on the commitment to one specific paradigm in moral philosophy. Utilitarianism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, and Rawlsian contractarianism all provide sound reasons to take morally problematic consequences of ethical criticism seriously. Only the case of deontological ethics is less clear-cut. Finally, I point out that the issues raised in this paper provide an excellent opportunity for further interdisciplinary collaboration between applied ethics and social sciences. I also propose strategies for communicating ethics effectively.

Age differences in risk taking: now you see them, now you don't

Older age has often, but not always, been associated with less risk taking. Inconsistencies may be due to diversity in the risk-taking measures used and/or individual differences in cognitive abilities. We investigated the robustness of age differences in risk taking across three measures, and tested whether age differences in risk taking remained after accounting for cognitive abilities. Younger (aged 25-36) and older (aged 60+) adults completed behavioral (i.e., Balloon Analogue Risk Task, BART) and self-report (i.e., framing tasks and Choice Dilemmas Questionnaire) measures of risk, as well as several measures of cognitive ability (i.e., analytic thinking, numeracy, processing speed, memory, and attention). Older adults showed significantly less risk taking than younger adults on the behavioral measure of risk, but not on the two self-report measures. Older adults also had significantly lower analytic thinking, slower processing speed, and worse executive control compared to younger adults. Less risk taking on the BART was associated with lower analytic thinking and numeracy, slower processing speed, and worse shifting of attention. Age differences in risk taking on the BART remained after accounting for older adults' lower scores on tests of cognitive abilities. Implications for measuring age differences in risk taking are discussed.

Effects and mechanisms of information saliency in enhancing value-based decision-making in younger and older adults

Aging attenuates frontostriatal network functioning, which could lead to deficits in value computation when decision-making involves uncertainty. Although it has been shown that visually enhancing information saliency of outcome probability can improve decision-making in old age, mechanisms of this effect are still unclear. In the present study, the saliency of outcome probability was increased using a color-coding scheme as a decision aid in a mixed lottery choice task, and spontaneous eye-blink rate and pupillary responses were assessed in younger and older adults. Older adults showed lower value sensitivity than younger adults; however, increasing information saliency benefitted choice behaviors in both age groups. Furthermore, the decision aid reduced pupil size during decision-making in both age groups, suggesting that enhancing information saliency decreases cognitive demands of value computation. Baseline value sensitivity was negatively correlated with benefit of enhancing information saliency only in older adults. As value representations in older decision makers are less distinctive at baseline, they may have required more environmental compensation than younger adults.

From gains to losses: Age-related differences in decisions under risk in a non-monetary gambling task

Lifespan theory suggests a shift from a primary orientation towards attaining gains in young adulthood to preventing losses in older adulthood. The current research tested if this motivational shift is reflected in behavioural and emotional responses to risks in non-monetary gains and losses. Study 1 established in a sample of N = 168 younger (18-30 years) and older adults (65-79 years) that a non-monetary gambling task was experienced similarly by the age groups with respect to arousal and valence of the task, and the willingness to continue playing. In Study 2 (N = 83), differences between young (18-30 years) and older (64-85 years) adults' risk-taking in this non-monetary gambling task with mixed gambles were tested while assessing physiological responses (event-related heart rate change) to gain and loss feedback. Behavioural - but not physiological - results confirm hypotheses derived from a lifespan motivational framework regarding age-differential effects of gains and losses.

Training in statistical analysis reduces the framing effect among medical students and residents in Argentina

PURPOSE

The framing effect refers to a phenomenon wherein, when the same problem is presented using different representations of information, people make significant changes in their decisions. This study aimed to explore whether the framing effect could be reduced in medical students and residents by teaching them the statistical concepts of effect size, probability, and sampling for use in the medical decision-making process.

METHODS

Ninety-five second-year medical students and 100 second-year medical residents of Austral University and Buenos Aires University, Argentina were invited to participate in the study between March and June 2017. A questionnaire was developed to assess the different types of framing effects in medical situations. After an initial administration of the survey, students and residents were taught statistical concepts including effect size, probability, and sampling during 2 individual independent official biostatistics courses. After these interventions, the same questionnaire was randomly administered again, and pre- and post-intervention outcomes were compared among students and residents.

RESULTS

Almost every type of framing effect was reproduced either in the students or in the residents. After teaching medical students and residents the analytical process behind statistical concepts, a significant reduction in sample-size, risky-choice, pseudo-certainty, number-size, attribute, goal, and probabilistic formulation framing effects was observed.

CONCLUSION

The decision-making of medical students and residents in simulated medical situations may be affected by different frame descriptions, and these framing effects can be partially reduced by training individuals in probability analysis and statistical sampling methods.

Age-related variability in decision-making: Insights from neurochemistry

Despite dopamine's significant role in models of value-based decision-making and findings demonstrating loss of dopamine function in aging, evidence of systematic changes in decision-making over the life span remains elusive. Previous studies attempting to resolve the neural basis of age-related alteration in decision-making have typically focused on physical age, which can be a poor proxy for age-related effects on neural systems. There is growing appreciation that aging has heterogeneous effects on distinct components of the dopamine system within subject in addition to substantial variability between subjects. We propose that some of the conflicting findings in age-related effects on decision-making may be reconciled if we can observe the underlying dopamine components within individuals. This can be achieved by incorporating in vivo imaging techniques including positron emission tomography (PET) and neuromelanin-sensitive MR. Further, we discuss how affective factors may contribute to individual differences in decision-making performance among older adults. Specifically, we propose that age-related shifts in affective attention ("positivity effect") can, in some cases, counteract the impact of altered dopamine function on specific decision-making processes, contributing to variability in findings. In an effort to provide clarity to the field and advance productive hypothesis testing, we propose ways in which in vivo dopamine imaging can be leveraged to disambiguate dopaminergic influences on decision-making, and suggest strategies for assessing individual differences in the contribution of affective attentional focus.

Uncovering Susceptibility Risk to Online Deception in Aging

OBJECTIVES

Fraud in the aged is an emerging public health problem. An increasingly common form of deception is conducted online. However, identification of cognitive and socioemotional risk factors has not been undertaken yet. In this endeavor, this study extended previous work suggesting age effects on susceptibility to online deception.

METHODS

Susceptibility was operationalized as clicking on the link in simulated spear-phishing emails that young (18-37 years), young-old (62-74 years), and middle-old (75-89 years) Internet users received, without knowing that the emails were part of the study. Participants also indicated for a set of spear-phishing emails how likely they would click on the embedded link (susceptibility awareness) and completed cognitive and socioemotional measures to determine susceptibility risk profiles.

RESULTS

Higher susceptibility was associated with lower short-term episodic memory in middle-old users and with lower positive affect in young-old and middle-old users. Greater susceptibility awareness was associated with better verbal fluency in middle-old users and with greater positive affect in young and middle-old users.

DISCUSSION

Short-term memory, verbal fluency, and positive affect in middle-old age may contribute to resilience against online spear-phishing attacks. These results inform mechanisms of online fraud susceptibility and real-life decision-supportive interventions toward fraud risk reduction in aging.

Strive to Win or Not to Lose? Age-Related Differences in Framing Effects on Effort-Based Decision-Making

Objectives

This study sought to assess how framing effects modulate age-related differences in effort-based decision-making. Consistent with the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) model’s loss prevention account of aging, we predicted that older adults would be more willing to select high-effort options in loss contexts than gain contexts.

Method

Older and younger adults completed the effort expenditure for rewards task (EEfRT) in either a gain or loss context. The EEfRT is an effort-based decision-making paradigm in which participants choose between a low-effort, “easy” option and a high-effort, “hard” option for several trials. The probability and value of an outcome varies on a trial-by-trial basis.

Results

The results supported our prediction and the SOC model. Older adults chose more high-effort, difficult options in loss frames than gain frames. Older adults also chose more low-effort, easy options than younger adults in gain contexts, but did not differ from younger adults in loss contexts.

Discussion

These findings demonstrate that framing effects impact older adults’ effort-based decisions. Older adults appear willing to incur a greater “cost” in the form of effort to prevent a loss than to attain a reward.

Neural mechanisms of decision-making in aging

The present review synthesizes findings on decision neuroscience and aging by focusing on decision processes that have been extensively studied in neuroeconomics and critically assessing the driving mechanisms of age-related change. The paper first highlights age-related changes to key brain structures that have been implicated in decision-making, then, reviews specific decision components and discusses investigations of age-related changes to their neural mechanisms. The review also weighs evidence for organic brain aging versus age-related changes to social and psychological factors in mediating age effects. Reviewed findings are discussed in the context of theories and frameworks that have been used to explain trajectories of change in decision-making across adulthood. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Development and Aging Psychology > Reasoning and Decision-Making Neuroscience > Cognition.

How do clinicians rate patient's performance status using the ECOG performance scale? A mixed-methods exploration of variability in decision-making in oncology

Background

Medical decisions made by oncology clinicians have serious implications, even when made collaboratively with the patient. Clinicians often use the Eastern Clinical Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) scores to help them make treatment-related decisions.

Methods

The current study explores the variability of the ECOG score when applied to 12 predetermined specially designed clinical case vignettes presented to a group of oncology clinicians (n = 72). The quantitative analysis included evaluation of variability of ECOG PS scores and exploration of rater and patient-related factors which may influence the final ECOG rating. In-depth interviews were conducted with oncology clinicians to ascertain factors that they felt were important while making treatment-related decisions. Basic and global themes were generated following qualitative data analysis.

Results

Quantitative results showed that there was poor agreement in ECOG rating between raters. Overall concordance with the gold standard rating ranged between 19.4% and 56.9% for the vignettes. Moreover, patients deemed to have socially desirable qualities (p < 0.004) were rated to have better PS and women patients (p < 0.004) to have worse PS. Clinicians having international work experience had increased concordance with ECOG PS rating. Qualitative results showed that ‘perceived socio-economic background of the patient’, ‘age of the patient’, ‘patient’s and family’s preferences’ and ‘past treatment response’ were the major themes highlighted by respondents that influenced the treatment-related decisions made by clinicians.

Conclusion

There is considerable variability in ECOG PS determined by clinicians. Decision-making in oncology is complex, multifactorial and is influenced by rater and patient-related factors.

Age-related differences in striatal, medial temporal, and frontal involvement during value-based decision processing

Appropriate neural representation of value and application of decision strategies are necessary to make optimal investment choices in real life. Normative human aging alters neural selectivity and control processing in brain regions implicated in value-based decision processing including striatal, medial temporal, and frontal areas. However, the specific neural mechanisms of how these age-related functional brain changes modulate value processing in older adults remain unclear. Here, young and older adults performed a lottery-choice functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment in which probabilities of winning different magnitudes of points constituted expected values of stakes. Increasing probability of winning modulated striatal responses in young adults, but modulated medial temporal and ventromedial prefrontal areas instead in older adults. Older adults additionally engaged higher responses in dorso-medio-lateral prefrontal cortices to more unfavorable stakes. Such extrastriatal involvement mediated age-related increase in risk-taking decisions. Furthermore, lower resting-state functional connectivity between lateral prefrontal and striatal areas also predicted lottery-choice task risk-taking that was mediated by higher functional connectivity between prefrontal and medial temporal areas during the task, with this mediation relationship being stronger in older than younger adults. Overall, we report evidence of a systemic neural mechanistic change in processing of probability in mixed-lottery values with age that increases risk-taking of unfavorable stakes in older adults. Moreover, individual differences in age-related effects on baseline frontostriatal communication may be a central determinant of such subsequent age differences in value-based decision neural processing and resulting behaviors.

Individual differences in loss aversion and preferences for skewed risks across adulthood

In a previous study, we found adult age differences in the tendency to accept more positively skewed gambles (with a small chance of a large win) than other equivalent risks, or an age-related positive-skew bias. In the present study, we examined whether loss aversion explained this bias. A total of 508 healthy participants (ages 21-82) completed measures of loss aversion and skew preference. Age was not related to loss aversion. Although loss aversion was a significant predictor of gamble acceptance, it did not influence the age-related positive-skew bias. (PsycINFO Database Record

Influential Cognitive Processes on Framing Biases in Aging

Factors that contribute to overcoming decision-making biases in later life pose an important investigational question given the increasing older adult population. Limited empirical evidence exists and the literature remains equivocal of whether increasing age is associated with elevated susceptibility to decision-making biases such as framing effects. Research into the individual differences contributing to decision-making ability may offer better understanding of the influence of age in decision-making ability. Changes in cognition underlying decision-making have been shown with increased age and may contribute to individual variability in decision-making abilities. This study had three aims; (1) to understand the influence of age on susceptibility to decision-making biases as measured by framing effects across a large, continuous age range; (2) to examine influence of cognitive abilities that change with age; and (3) to understand the influence of individual factors such as gender and education on susceptibility to framing effects. 200 individuals (28-79 years of age) were tested on a large battery of cognitive measures in the domains of executive function, memory and complex attention. Findings from this study demonstrated that cognitive abilities such as strategic control and delayed memory better predicted susceptibility to framing biases than age. The current findings demonstrate that age may not be as influential a factor in decision-making as cognitive ability and cognitive reserve. These findings motivate future studies to better characterize cognitive ability to determine decision-making susceptibilities in aging populations.

Age, Loss Minimization, and the Role of Probability for Decision-Making

BACKGROUND

Older adults are stereotypically considered to be risk averse compared to younger age groups, although meta-analyses on age and the influence of gain/loss framing on risky choices have not found empirical evidence for age differences in risk-taking.

OBJECTIVE

The current study extends the investigation of age differences in risk preference by including analyses on the effect of the probability of a risky option on choices in gain versus loss situations.

METHODS

Participants (n = 130 adults aged 19-80 years) chose between a certain option and a risky option of varying probability in gain- and loss-framed gambles with actual monetary outcomes.

RESULTS

Only younger adults displayed an overall framing effect. Younger and older adults responded differently to probability fluctuations depending on the framing condition. Older adults were more likely to choose the risky option as the likelihood of avoiding a larger loss increased and as the likelihood of a larger gain decreased. Younger adults responded with the opposite pattern: they were more likely to choose the risky option as the likelihood of a larger gain increased and as the likelihood of avoiding a (slightly) larger loss decreased.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that older adults are more willing to select a risky option when it increases the likelihood that larger losses be avoided, whereas younger adults are more willing to select a risky option when it allows for slightly larger gains. This finding supports expectations based on theoretical accounts of goal orientation shifting away from securing gains in younger adulthood towards maintenance and avoiding losses in older adulthood. Findings are also discussed in respect to the affective enhancement perspective and socioemotional selectivity theory.

Sex differences in risk-based decision making in adolescents with conduct disorder

Altered decision making processes and excessive risk-seeking behaviours are key features of conduct disorder (CD). Previous studies have provided compelling evidence of abnormally increased preference for risky options, higher sensitivity to rewards, as well as blunted responsiveness to aversive outcomes in adolescents with CD. However, most studies published to date have focused on males only; thus, it is not known whether females with CD show similar alterations in decision making. The current study investigated potential sex differences in decision making and risk-seeking behaviours in adolescents with CD. Forty-nine adolescents with CD (23 females) and 51 control subjects (27 females), aged 11-18 years, performed a computerised task assessing decision making under risk-the Risky Choice Task. Participants made a series of decisions between two gamble options that varied in terms of their expected values and probability of gains and losses. This enabled the participants' risk preferences to be determined. Taking the sample as a whole, adolescents with CD exhibited increased risk-seeking behaviours compared to healthy controls. However, we found a trend towards a sex-by-group interaction, suggesting that these effects may vary by sex. Follow-up analyses showed that males with CD made significantly more risky choices than their typically developing counterparts, while females with CD did not differ from typically developing females in their risk-seeking behaviours. Our results provide preliminary evidence that sex may moderate the relationship between CD and alterations in risk attitudes and reward processing, indicating that there may be sex differences in the developmental pathways and neuropsychological deficits that lead to CD.

Individual differences in skewed financial risk-taking across the adult life span

Older adults are disproportionately targeted by fraud schemes that advertise unlikely but large returns (positively skewed risks). We examined adult age differences in choice and neural activity as individuals considered risky gambles. Gambles were symmetric (50% chance of modest win or loss), positively skewed (25% chance of large gain), or negatively skewed (25% chance of large loss). The willingness to accept positively skewed relative to symmetric gambles increased with age, and this effect replicated in an independent behavioral study. Whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging analyses comparing positively (vs. negatively) skewed trials revealed that relative to younger adults, older adults showed increased anticipatory activity for negatively skewed gambles but reduced activity for positively skewed gambles in the anterior cingulate and lateral prefrontal regions. Individuals who were more biased toward positively skewed gambles showed increased activity in a network of regions including the nucleus accumbens. These results reveal age biases toward positively skewed gambles and age differences in corticostriatal regions during skewed risk-taking, and have implications for identifying financial decision biases across adulthood.

Who Dares, Who Errs? Disentangling Cognitive and Motivational Roots of Age Differences in Decisions Under Risk

We separate for the first time the roles of cognitive and motivational factors in shaping age differences in decision making under risk. Younger and older adults completed gain, loss, and mixed-domain choice problems as well as measures of cognitive functioning and affect. The older adults’ decision quality was lower than the younger adults’ in the loss domain, and this age difference was attributable to the older adults’ lower cognitive abilities. In addition, the older adults chose the more risky option more often than the younger adults in the gain and mixed domains; this difference in risk aversion was attributable to less pronounced negative affect among the older adults. Computational modeling with a hierarchical Bayesian implementation of cumulative prospect theory revealed that the older adults had higher response noise and more optimistic decision weights for gains than did the younger adults. Moreover, the older adults showed no loss aversion, a finding that supports a positivity-focus (rather than a loss-prevention) view of motivational reorientation in older age.

Individual classification of strong risk attitudes: An application across lottery types and age groups

Empirical evaluations of risk attitudes often rely on a weak definition of risk that concerns preferences towards risky and riskless options (e.g., a lottery vs. a sure outcome). A large body of work has shown that individuals tend to be weak risk averse in choice contexts involving risky and riskless gains but weak risk seeking in contexts involving losses, a phenomenon known as the reflection effect. Recent attempts to evaluate age differences in risk attitudes have relied on this weak definition, testing whether the reflection effect increases or diminishes as we grow older. The present work argues that weak risk attitudes have limited generalizability and proposes the use of a strong definition of risk that is concerned with preferences towards options with the same expected value but different degrees of risk (i.e., outcome variance). A reanalysis of previously-published data and the results from a new study show that only a minority of individuals manifests the reflection effect under a strong definition of risk, and that, when facing certain lottery-pair types, older adults appear to be more risk seeking than younger adults.

Framing matters: Effects of framing on older adults' exploratory decision-making

We examined framing effects on exploratory decision-making. In Experiment 1 we tested older and younger adults in two decision-making tasks separated by one week, finding that older adults' decision-making performance was preserved when maximizing gains, but it declined when minimizing losses. Computational modeling indicates that younger adults in both conditions, and older adults in gains maximization, utilized a decreasing threshold strategy (which is optimal), but older adults in losses were better fit by a fixed-probability model of exploration. In Experiment 2 we examined within-subject behavior in older and younger adults in the same exploratory decision-making task, but without a time separation between tasks. We replicated the older adult disadvantage in loss minimization from Experiment 1 and found that the older adult deficit was significantly reduced when the loss-minimization task immediately followed the gains-maximization task. We conclude that older adults' performance in exploratory decision-making is hindered when framed as loss minimization, but that this deficit is attenuated when older adults can first develop a strategy in a gains-framed task. (PsycINFO Database Record

Neuroanatomy accounts for age-related changes in risk preferences

Many decisions involve uncertainty, or 'risk', regarding potential outcomes, and substantial empirical evidence has demonstrated that human aging is associated with diminished tolerance for risky rewards. Grey matter volume in a region of right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC) is predictive of preferences for risky rewards in young adults, with less grey matter volume indicating decreased tolerance for risk. That grey matter loss in parietal regions is a part of healthy aging suggests that diminished rPPC grey matter volume may have a role in modulating risk preferences in older adults. Here we report evidence for this hypothesis and show that age-related declines in rPPC grey matter volume better account for age-related changes in risk preferences than does age per se. These results provide a basis for understanding the neural mechanisms that mediate risky choice and a glimpse into the neurodevelopmental dynamics that impact decision-making in an aging population.

Altered Value Coding in the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Healthy Older Adults

Previous work suggests that aging is associated with changes in risk taking but less is known about their underlying neural basis, such as the potential age differences in the neural processing of value and risk. The goal of the present study was to investigate adult age differences in functional neural responses in a naturalistic risk-taking task. Twenty-six young adults and 27 healthy older adults completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Young and older adults showed similar overt risk-taking behavior. Group comparison of neural activity in response to risky vs. control stimuli revealed similar patterns of activation in the bilateral striatum, anterior insula (AI) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Group comparison of parametrically modulated activity in response to continued pumping similarly revealed comparable results for both age groups in the AI and, potentially, the striatum, yet differences emerged for regional activity in the vmPFC. At whole brain level, insular, striatal and vmPFC activation was predictive of behavioral risk taking for young but not older adults. The current results are interpreted and discussed as preserved neural tracking of risk and reward in the AI and striatum, respectively, but altered value coding in the vmPFC in the two age groups. The latter finding points toward older adults exhibiting differential vmPFC-related integration and value coding. Furthermore, neural activation holds differential predictive validity for behavioral risk taking in young and older adults.