Decision Neuroscience: Why We Become More Cautious with Age
Peter Bossaerts1, Carsten Murawski1
1Brain, Mind and Markets Laboratory, Department of Finance, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Current Biology : CB
|June 22, 2016
Summary
Risk-taking behavior declines with age, potentially due to dopamine-related changes in how we approach rewards, rather than a decreased perceived value of those rewards.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Economics
- Psychology
Background:
- Traditional economic and psychological models suggest risk-taking decreases with age due to a lower valuation of rewards.
- However, the neurobiological underpinnings of age-related changes in risk-taking remain incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between aging, dopamine signaling, and risk-taking behavior.
- To differentiate between changes in reward valuation and changes in approach behavior as explanations for age-related risk aversion.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a combination of behavioral experiments and neuroimaging techniques (e.g., fMRI) to assess risk-taking tendencies and dopamine pathway activity in different age groups.
- Employed computational modeling to analyze Pavlovian approach behavior and subjective reward valuation.
Main Results:
- Found that risk-taking significantly decreases with advancing age.
- Results indicate that this age-related decline is associated with altered dopamine modulation of Pavlovian approach behavior.
- No evidence was found to support a reduction in the subjective value of incremental rewards with age.
Conclusions:
- Age-related decreases in risk-taking are primarily driven by neurobiological changes in dopamine-modulated approach behaviors.
- These findings challenge traditional economic and psychological models by highlighting the role of neural mechanisms over reward valuation in explaining age-related risk aversion.
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