Decision Neuroscience and Aging

Until recently we have known little about how core decision processes change with age and how aging may impact the structure and function of corresponding ventromedial frontostriatal neural systems (Samanez-Larkin & Knutson, 2014). The chapter begins by briefly orienting the reader to frontostriatal brain networks, and then reviews age differences in a series of reward-related decision-making contexts. A range of decision-related processes are covered, from adult age differences in basic sensitivity to gains and losses to areas of decision making that require increasing integration of information, and from the qualification of potential benefits with associated costs (such as temporal delays or risk) to the rapid computation and updating of reward signals during feedback-driven learning. Each of the sections that follow first briefly reviews the behavioral evidence, and then reviews the often very limited initial evidence for age differences in neural structure and function associated with the behavioral differences in reward processing and decision making. The studies reviewed focus almost exclusively on monetary incentives, although reference will be made to the few existing studies that examine age differences in other types of rewards. A closing discussion covers how the findings might be organized within emerging frameworks and theories and provides direction for future research