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Expected value information improves financial risk taking across the adult life span.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Samanez-Larkin, GR; Wagner, AD; Knutson, B
Published in: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
April 2011

When making decisions, individuals must often compensate for cognitive limitations, particularly in the face of advanced age. Recent findings suggest that age-related variability in striatal activity may increase financial risk-taking mistakes in older adults. In two studies, we sought to further characterize neural contributions to optimal financial risk taking and to determine whether decision aids could improve financial risk taking. In Study 1, neuroimaging analyses revealed that individuals whose mesolimbic activation correlated with the expected value estimates of a rational actor made more optimal financial decisions. In Study 2, presentation of expected value information improved decision making in both younger and older adults, but the addition of a distracting secondary task had little impact on decision quality. Remarkably, provision of expected value information improved the performance of older adults to match that of younger adults at baseline. These findings are consistent with the notion that mesolimbic circuits play a critical role in optimal choice, and imply that providing simplified information about expected value may improve financial risk taking across the adult life span.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1749-5024

ISSN

1749-5016

Publication Date

April 2011

Volume

6

Issue

2

Start / End Page

207 / 217

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Risk-Taking
  • Oxygen
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Life Expectancy
  • Individuality
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
 

Citation

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Samanez-Larkin, G. R., Wagner, A. D., & Knutson, B. (2011). Expected value information improves financial risk taking across the adult life span. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(2), 207–217. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq043
Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R., Anthony D. Wagner, and Brian Knutson. “Expected value information improves financial risk taking across the adult life span.Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 6, no. 2 (April 2011): 207–17. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsq043.
Samanez-Larkin GR, Wagner AD, Knutson B. Expected value information improves financial risk taking across the adult life span. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 2011 Apr;6(2):207–17.
Samanez-Larkin, Gregory R., et al. “Expected value information improves financial risk taking across the adult life span.Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 6, no. 2, Apr. 2011, pp. 207–17. Epmc, doi:10.1093/scan/nsq043.
Samanez-Larkin GR, Wagner AD, Knutson B. Expected value information improves financial risk taking across the adult life span. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. 2011 Apr;6(2):207–217.
Journal cover image

Published In

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience

DOI

EISSN

1749-5024

ISSN

1749-5016

Publication Date

April 2011

Volume

6

Issue

2

Start / End Page

207 / 217

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Risk-Taking
  • Oxygen
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Life Expectancy
  • Individuality
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted