How context shapes neural decision processing across the lifespan: evidence from an event-related potential study.
Objectives Understanding how aging shapes neural mechanisms of decision-making across diverse contexts is critical to promote adaptive choices throughout the lifespan. To this purpose, we examined how age and decision context influence neural processes preceding and following decisions. Methods Seve...
| Publicado en: | Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences Vol. 61; no. 6; pp. 1 - 14 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Oxford University Press / USA
Jun2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=194432340&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 194432340 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10795014 JGB jtl: Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences issn: 10795014 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 61 iid: 6 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 194432340 10.1093/geronb/gbag074 ppf: 1 ppct: 13 formats: tig: atl: How context shapes neural decision processing across the lifespan: evidence from an event-related potential study. aug: au: Fernandes, Carina Macedo, Inês Mata, Rui Danese, Giuseppe Barbosa, Fernando Marques-Teixeira, João affil: Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, PortugalMolecular Oncology and Viral Pathology Group, Research Center of IPO Porto (CI-IPOP) & RISE@CI-IPOP (Health Research Network), Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto (IPO Porto)/Porto Comprehensive Cancer Center (Porto.CCC), Porto, Portugal Laboratory of Neuropsychophysiology, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal Center for Cognitive and Decision Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland Department of Economics and Management 'Marco Fanno', University of Padua, Padua, Italy su: Psychological aspects of aging Motor ability Task performance Decision making Uncertainty Analysis of variance Research funding Data analysis Evoked potentials (Electrophysiology) Electroencephalography Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Statistics Data analysis software sug: subj: Psychological aspects of aging Motor ability Task performance Decision making Uncertainty Analysis of variance Research funding Data analysis Evoked potentials (Electrophysiology) Electroencephalography Descriptive statistics Chi-squared test Statistics Data analysis software ab: Objectives Understanding how aging shapes neural mechanisms of decision-making across diverse contexts is critical to promote adaptive choices throughout the lifespan. To this purpose, we examined how age and decision context influence neural processes preceding and following decisions. Methods Seventy-five healthy adults (20–80 years) performed three versions of the Monetary Incentive Delay task while EEG was recorded: a standard risk-based task, a social variant (outcomes benefiting another person), and an uncertainty variant (cue–outcome contingencies learned through feedback). We analyzed event-related potentials (ERPs) indexing anticipatory processing (Cue-P3), motor preparation (CNV), motivated action (Target-P3), earlier feedback appraisal (FRN), and later evaluative outcome processing (Feedback-P3). Results Older adults exhibited attenuated Cue-P3 and Target-P3 amplitudes relative to younger adults across decision contexts. In the remaining ERP components, the overall ERP amplitudes were preserved, but the differentiation between incentivized and neutral conditions was reduced in older adults. Decision context modulated neural responses across all groups: social and uncertainty contexts elicited enhanced Cue-P3, Target-P3, and Feedback-P3 amplitudes compared to the risk context, indicating greater attention and motivational engagement. Notably, context effects were consistent across age groups, with no significant interactions between age and context, highlighting preserved sensitivity to social and learning demands in older adults. Discussion These findings suggest that while aging selectively reduces affective processing of incentives, neural responsiveness to contextual factors may remain robust across adulthood, underscoring the potential of socially meaningful and learning-rich environments to sustain decision engagement in later life. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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