Many Senior Citizens Fall Prey to Fraud Due to
Neuropsychological Deficit
This medical problem leads to poor decision-making by
elderly
Jan.
14, 2008 - We often read or hear stories about older adults being conned
out of their life savings, but are older individuals really more
susceptible to fraud than younger adults? And, if so, how exactly does
aging affect judgment and decision-making abilities?
Recent work led by University of Iowa
neuroscientist Natalie Denburg, Ph.D., suggests that for a significant
number of older adults, measurable neuropsychological deficits do seem
to lead to poor decision-making and an increased vulnerability to fraud.
The findings also suggest that these individuals may experience
disproportionate aging of a brain region critical for decision-making.
"Our research suggests that elders who fall prey to
fraudulent advertising are not simply gullible, depressed, lonely or
less intelligent. Rather, it is truly more of a medical or neurological
problem," said Denburg, who is an assistant professor of neurology in
the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.
"Our work sheds new light on this problem and
perhaps may lead to a way to identify people at risk of being deceived."
Being able to identify how aging affects judgment
and decision-making abilities could have broad societal implications.
How to combat deceptive advertising targeted at older individuals --
some of whom appear to be particularly vulnerable to fraud -- is one
important area of concern. In addition, older age is a time when
individuals often are faced with many critical life decisions, including
health care and housing choices, investment of retirement income, and
allocation of personal wealth.
"By simply identifying a person as potentially
vulnerable to fraud, family members can be more vigilant and can
implement measures to protect the older adult," Denburg said. "In
addition, a conservator or family member could be involved in
transactions involving large amounts of money."
Denburg's most recent study, published Dec. 2007 in
the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, shows that 35 to 40
percent of a test group of 80 healthy older adults with no apparent
neurological deficits have poor decision-making abilities as tested in a
laboratory experiment known as the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).
The IGT is a computerized decision-making test
where participants draw cards from different decks with the aim of
maximizing their winnings. Some of the decks yield good results in
aggregate, while others yield poor outcomes.
Following the poor decision-makers through several
additional tests, the researchers found that in addition to the poor
performance on the IGT, this subgroup of older adults also were more
likely to fall prey to deceptive advertising.
Using a set of real advertisements that had been
deemed misleading by the Federal Trade Commission and several
counterpart, non-deceptive advertisements, the study showed that the
poor decision-makers are much less able to spot inconsistencies and pick
up on deceptive messages than good decision-makers.
Poor decision-makers also were more likely to
indicate an intention to buy the article advertised in the misleading
advertisement. In contrast, there was no difference in comprehension of
non-deceptive advertisements between the two groups of older adults.
The researchers also measured the amount of palm
sweating for each participant as they performed the Iowa Gambling Task.
Bodily (or autonomic) responses, like sweating, have been shown to play
an important role in decision-making. When these responses are absent or
abnormal, then decision-making also is affected.
Good decision-makers display different anticipatory
responses (amount of sweating) prior to a good or a bad choice, which
appears to help them discriminate between the two options. In contrast,
the older adults with poor decision-making abilities did not sweat more
or less when deciding between a good or bad choice.
Another group of patients who perform poorly on the
IGT and have abnormal bodily responses to the test are individuals with
acquired damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) -- an area
of the brain that appears to be critical for good decision-making.
"Our hypothesis is that older poor decision-makers
have deficits in their prefrontal cortex," Denburg explained.
"The next element of our study will be to complete
structural and functional brain-imaging studies to see if we can
identify differences between poor decision-makers and good
decision-makers either in brain structure or in how the brain functions
during decision-making tasks."
The team already is conducting structural imaging
tests, and Denburg has just received a three-year, $100,00 grant from
the Dana Foundation to do functional imaging studies.
Preliminary analysis of the structural imaging data
suggests there are physical differences between the brains of poor
decision-makers and those of the good decision-makers.
Understanding the neurological basis for impaired
decision-making could also suggest potential medications that might
help. Some studies have suggested that altering neurotransmitter levels
may affect decision-making ability. However, Denburg notes that this
approach is speculative at this time.
Editors Notes:
The current study was funded by a grant from the
National Institute on Aging. In addition to Denburg, the research team
included Michael Hernandez, a UI neurosciences graduate student, and
Torricia Yamada, a UI counseling psychology graduate student; Daniel
Tranel, Ph.D., UI professor of neurology and psychology; Antoine
Bechara, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at
the University of Southern California and UI adjunct associate professor
of neurology; Catherine Cole, Ph.D., professor and head of marketing in
the UI Henry B. Tippie College of Business; and Robert Wallace, M.D.,
professor of epidemiology in the UI College of Public Health.
