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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

Measuring the Subjective Value of Risky and Ambiguous Options using Experimental Economics and Functional MRI Methods
Published on: September 19, 2012
Variability in nucleus accumbens activity mediates age-related suboptimal financial risk taking
Gregory R Samanez-Larkin1, Camelia M Kuhnen, Daniel J Yoo
1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-2130, USA. glarkin@stanford.edu
Abstract:
As human life expectancy continues to rise, financial decisions of aging investors may have an increasing impact on the global economy. In this study, we examined age differences in financial decisions across the adult life span by combining functional neuroimaging with a dynamic financial investment task. During the task, older adults made more suboptimal choices than younger adults when choosing risky assets. This age-related effect was mediated by a neural measure of temporal variability in nucleus accumbens activity. These findings reveal a novel neural mechanism by which aging may disrupt rational financial choice.
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