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 inPsychology and aging Vol. 20; no. 2; p. 220
Main Authors Wood, Stacey, Busemeyer, Jerome, Koling, Andreas, Cox, Cathy R, Davis, Hasker
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.06.2005
Subjects
Adaptation, Psychological
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging - psychology
Cognition
Decision Making
Emotions
Female
Gambling
Humans
Learning
Male
Memory
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
DOI:10.1037/0882-7974.20.2.220