Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Choices we make "in the heat of the moment" are often different from those we make while "cool and collected." Examples include unsafe sex, impulse purchases and ill-considered online behaviour. Does the influence of arousal on decision making change as we get older? Normal aging is associated with decline in the structural and functional integrity of neural networks that support "cold" cognitive functions such as attention and cognitive control. In contrast, brain circuits involved in arousal show relatively little age-related change. Despite significant advances in the growing discipline of "decision neuroscience of aging" in recent years, the field still lacks a comprehensive account of how hot and cold functions shape decisions across the adult lifespan. The proposed studies will be the first to systematically examine the effects of emotional arousal on decisions about financial gains and losses in younger and older adults. Research hypotheses are derived from recent literature indicating that arousal may narrow attention, and that aging may be associated with a reduced arousal response to loss prospects. The studies will use a novel arousal-modulated decision task that confronts decision makers with realistic financial choices. Using a multi-method approach (choice behaviour and subjective ratings; EEG; eye tracking; and functional magnetic resonance imaging), the proposed studies will address four novel research questions: 1) How does arousal affect the influence of key decision factors (temporal delay and risk) on decisions about potential gains and losses in younger and older adults? 2) What are the temporal dynamics of early arousal-modulated decision processes in younger and older adults? 3) How does arousal modulate activity in functional brain networks involved in gain- and loss-related decisions? 4) Do laboratory measures of arousal-biased decision making predict real-world decision making? Answering these fundamental questions will significantly advance knowledge within the decision neuroscience of aging. Findings from the proposed studies will also inform innovation in the design of age-appropriate decision tools, with the potential to support adaptive choices in important domains such as healthcare and finance.