Decision-making under uncertainty in healthy and cognitively impaired aging: A systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Archives of gerontology and geriatrics Vol. 129; p. 105643
• Main Authors: Corbo, Ilaria, Favieri, Francesca, Forte, Giuseppe, Casagrande, Maria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.02.2025
• Subjects: Aging; Decision making under ambiguous conditions; Decision making under risk; Decision making under uncertainty; Decision making, mild cognitive impairment; Aging; Decision making, mild cognitive impairment; Decision making under uncertainty; Decision making under ambiguous conditions; Decision making under risk
• ISSN: 0167-4943; 1872-6976; 1872-6976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2024.105643

•MCI is associated with impaired decision-making in uncertain conditions.•MCI exhibits deficits in decision-making in risky and ambiguous situations.•MCI showed greater difficulties in making advantageous choices.•MCI had a lower ability to manage feedback to make a better choice. Decision-making (DM) is a complex cognitive behavior that involves gathering information and assessing options to identify choices under risky and uncertain conditions. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a construct that includes a constellation of symptoms ranging from behavioral to cognitive impairments. This cluster of symptoms is frequently associated with poor decision-making. This study aimed to examine decision-making in pathological aging, specifically MCI. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate these relationships. According to the PRISMA 2020 Statement, nine studies were selected for the systematic review and eight for the meta-analysis. The results highlighted that MCI is associated with impaired decision-making in risky and ambiguous situations. The systematic review reported that MCI was associated with impaired decision-making in ambiguous and in risky conditions. In contrast, the meta-analysis showed significant differences in overall decision-making and particularly in ambiguous conditions. This difficulty may be due to different impairments that affect MCI. The difficulty in advantageous decision-making could be due to different brain alterations in MCI, which could lead to problems in tasks requiring feedback-based responses. These findings advance our understanding of decision-making in aging and suggest how decision-making alterations in MCI would affect the totality of executive functions and daily activities.