Like cognitive function, decision making across the life span shows profound age-related changes.
Agnieszka Tymula1, Lior A Rosenberg Belmaker, Lital Ruderman
1School of Economics, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Summary
Cognitive function declines with age, impacting decision-making. Older adults show reduced choice consistency and rationality, while risk aversion peaks in adolescence and old age, unlike midlife adults.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Decision Science
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Human cognitive function develops through young adulthood and declines in later life.
- Decision-making under uncertainty involves risk and ambiguity, influencing choices in gain and loss scenarios.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related changes in decision-making across the lifespan.
- To measure risk and ambiguity attitudes and choice consistency in an urban cohort aged 12 to 90.
- To identify specific patterns in decision-making function across different age groups.
Main Methods:
- Assessed decision-making by measuring risk and ambiguity attitudes in gain and loss domains.
- Evaluated choice consistency across a wide age range (12-90 years).
- Utilized an urban cohort to represent diverse demographic factors.
Main Results:
- Healthy elders (65-90 years) exhibited significantly lower choice consistency and rationality compared to younger individuals.
- Ambiguity aversion was primarily observed in the gain domain, with minimal effect in the loss domain, except in older adults.
- Risk attitudes followed an inverted U-shaped function across the lifespan, with adolescents and elders being more risk-averse than middle-aged adults.
Conclusions:
- Aging significantly impacts cognitive functions related to decision-making, particularly choice rationality and consistency.
- Ambiguity aversion is domain-specific (gains vs. losses) and shows age-related nuances.
- Risk preferences vary across the lifespan, with heightened risk aversion in younger and older age groups.
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