Are older adults less generous? Age differences in emotion-related social decision making

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

  • Hong Zhou Xu - , Southwest University (Autor:in)
  • Xue Rui Peng - , Technische Universität Dresden, Max-Planck-Institut für Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften, Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI) (Autor:in)
  • Shen Yin Huan - , Southwest University (Autor:in)
  • Jia Jie Xu - , Southwest University (Autor:in)
  • Jing Yu - , Southwest University (Autor:in)
  • Qing Guo Ma - , Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University of Technology (Autor:in)

Abstract

In social interaction, age-related differences in emotional processing may lead to varied social decision making between young and older adults. However, previous studies of social decision making have paid less attention to the interactants' emotions, leaving age differences and underlying neural mechanisms unexplored. To address this gap, the present study combined functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, employing a modified dictator game task with recipients displaying either neutral or sad facial expressions. Behavioral results indicated that although older adults' overall allocations did not differ significantly from those of young adults, older adults' allocations showing a decrease in emotion-related generosity compared to young adults. Using representational similarity analysis, we found that older adults showed reduced neural representations of recipients' emotions and gray matter volume in the right anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC), right insula, and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) compared to young adults. More importantly, mediation analyses indicated that age influenced allocations not only through serial mediation of neural representations of the right insula and left DMPFC, but also through serial mediation of the mean gray matter volume of the right ACC and left DMPFC. This study identifies the potential neural pathways through which age affects emotion-related social decision making, advancing our understanding of older adults' social interaction behavior that they may not be less generous unless confronted with individuals with specific emotions.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummer120756
FachzeitschriftNeuroImage
Jahrgang297
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 15 Aug. 2024
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

PubMed 39074759

Schlagworte

Schlagwörter

  • Aging, Dictator game, Neural pathways, Representational similarity analysis, Social decision making