Variability in Nucleus Accumbens Activity Mediates Age-Related Suboptimal Financial Risk Taking
Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 1426-1434, January 2010
50 Pages Posted: 3 Aug 2010 Last revised: 28 Mar 2016
Date Written: January 27, 2010
Abstract
As human life expectancy continues to rise, financial decisions of aging investors may have an increasing impact on the global economy. In this study, we examined age differences in financial decisions across the adult life span by combining functional neuroimaging with a dynamic financial investment task. During the task, older adults made more suboptimal choices than younger adults when choosing risky assets. This age-related effect was mediated by a neural measure of temporal variability in nucleus accumbens activity. These findings reveal a novel neural mechanism by which aging may disrupt rational financial choice.
Keywords: neuroeconomics, neurofinance, brain, aging, financial risk taking, mistakes, nucleus accumbens, striatum, FMRI, brain imaging
JEL Classification: C91, D81, D83, D87, G11, J14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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