Chapter 2 - Modeling Cost-Benefit Decision Making in Aged Rodents

Aging can impact choices between alternatives that differ with respect to relative benefits and "costs" (e.g., time delays or risk); however, much remains to be learned about the specific cognitive, affective, and neural factors that govern choice behavior across the life span. Relative to primates, rodents offer both comparatively short life spans that facilitate longitudinal evaluation of cognition, and enhanced tractability of genetic, cellular, and biochemical approaches important for identifying the neurobiological mechanisms that mediate decision making. This chapter will describe approaches for modeling cost-benefit decision making in aged rodents, with a focus on intertemporal and risky choice. In addition, examples will be provided of how these approaches have yielded convergent findings in animal and human subjects, as well as novel data regarding neurobehavioral mechanisms of age-related alterations in decision making and potential directions for future research.

Duke Scholars

Author Gregory Russell Samanez-Larkin Psychology & Neuroscience