Older Adults as Adaptive Decision Makers: Evidence From the Iowa Gambling Task

Older adults process emotional information differently than younger adults and may demonstrate less of a negativity bias on cognitive tasks. The Iowa Gambling Task designed by A. Bechara, H. Damasio, D. Tranel, and A. R. Damasio (1997) has been used to examine the integration of emotion and cognitio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology and aging 2005-06, Vol.20 (2), p.220-225
Main Authors: Wood, Stacey, Busemeyer, Jerome, Koling, Andreas, Cox, Cathy R, Davis, Hasker
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adaptive behaviour
Adolescent
Adult
Adult. Elderly
Age Differences
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging
Aging - psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive tasks
Decision Making
Developmental psychology
Elderly people
Emotional aspects
Emotions
Expectancy-Value theory
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gambling
Human
Humans
Learning
Male
Memory
Older people
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Risk taking
Task Performance and Analysis
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Summary:Older adults process emotional information differently than younger adults and may demonstrate less of a negativity bias on cognitive tasks. The Iowa Gambling Task designed by A. Bechara, H. Damasio, D. Tranel, and A. R. Damasio (1997) has been used to examine the integration of emotion and cognition in a risky-choice decision task and may give insight into differences in the decision-making strategies in younger and older adults. Eighty-eight younger adults (18-34 years) and 67 older adults (65-88 years) completed the Iowa Gambling Task. Using a theoretical decomposition of the task designed by J. R. Busemeyer and J. C. Stout (2002) , the authors found that both groups were successful at solving the task but used very different strategies that reflected each group's strength. For younger adults, that strength was learning and memory. For older adults, that strength was an accurate representation of wins and losses (valence).
ISSN:0882-7974
1939-1498
DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.20.2.220