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Some people are more willing to make immediate, risky, or costly reward-focused choices than others, which has been hypothesized to be associated with individual differences in dopamine (DA) function. In two studies using PET imaging, one empirical (Study 1: N = 144 males and females across 3 samples) and one meta-analytic (Study 2: N = 307 across 12 samples), we sought to characterize associations between individual differences in DA and time, probability, and physical effort discounting in human adults. Study 1 demonstrated that individual differences in DA D2-like receptors were not associated with time or probability discounting of monetary rewards in healthy humans, and associations with physical effort discounting were inconsistent across adults of different ages. Meta-analytic results for temporal discounting corroborated our empirical finding for minimal effect of DA measures on discounting in healthy individuals but suggested that associations between individual differences in DA and reward discounting depend on clinical features. Addictions were characterized by negative correlations between DA and discounting, but other clinical conditions, such as Parkinson's disease, obesity, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, were characterized by positive correlations between DA and discounting. Together, the results suggest that trait differences in discounting in healthy adults do not appear to be strongly associated with individual differences in D2-like receptors. The difference in meta-analytic correlation effects between healthy controls and individuals with psychopathology suggests that individual difference findings related to DA and reward discounting in clinical samples may not be reliably generalized to healthy controls, and vice versa.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Decisions to forgo large rewards for smaller ones due to increasing time delays, uncertainty, or physical effort have been linked to differences in dopamine (DA) function, which is disrupted in some forms of psychopathology. It remains unclear whether alterations in DA function associated with psychopathology also extend to explaining associations between DA function and decision making in healthy individuals. We show that individual differences in DA D2 receptor availability are not consistently related to monetary discounting of time, probability, or physical effort in healthy individuals across a broad age range. By contrast, we suggest that psychopathology accounts for observed inconsistencies in the relationship between measures of DA function and reward discounting behavior.

Every day, humans make countless decisions that require the integration of information about potential benefits (i.e. rewards) with other decision features (i.e. effort required, probability of an outcome or time delays). Here, we examine the overlap and dissociation of behavioral preferences and neural representations of subjective value in the context of three different decision features (physical effort, probability and time delays) in a healthy adult life span sample. While undergoing functional neuroimaging, participants (N = 75) made incentive compatible choices between a smaller monetary reward with lower physical effort, higher probability, or a shorter time delay versus a larger monetary reward with higher physical effort, lower probability, or a longer time delay. Behavioral preferences were estimated from observed choices, and subjective values were computed using individual hyperbolic discount functions. We found that discount rates were uncorrelated across tasks. Despite this apparent behavioral dissociation between preferences, we found overlapping subjective value-related activity in the medial prefrontal cortex across all three tasks. We found no consistent evidence for age differences in either preferences or the neural representations of subjective value across adulthood. These results suggest that while the tolerance of decision features is behaviorally dissociable, subjective value signals share a common representation across adulthood.

Although research on aging and decision making continues to grow, the majority of studies examine decisions made to maximize monetary earnings or points. It is not clear whether these results generalize to other types of rewards. To investigate this, we examined adult age differences in 92 healthy participants aged 22 to 83. Participants completed 9 hypothetical discounting tasks, which included 3 types of discounting factors (time, probability, effort) across 3 reward domains (monetary, social, health). Participants made choices between a smaller magnitude reward with a shorter time delay/higher probability/lower level of physical effort required and a larger magnitude reward with a longer time delay/lower probability/higher level of physical effort required. Older compared with younger individuals were more likely to choose options that involved shorter time delays or higher probabilities of experiencing an interaction with a close social partner or receiving health benefits from a hypothetical drug. These findings suggest that older adults may be more motivated than young adults to obtain social and health rewards immediately and with certainty. (PsycINFO Database Record

Remembering our decisions is crucial – it allows us to learn from past mistakes and construct future behavior. However, it is unclear if age-related memory declines impact the memorability of older adults’ decisions. Here, we compared younger and older adults’ ability to remember their decisions. In Studies 1 and 2, participants made choices between two objects based on their star rating (shopping context) or circle count (neutral context) and later remembered what they chose. while Study 3 tested participants’ memory for active vs. passive decisions. Overall, we found no evidence for age differences in the ability to remember decisions. Furthermore, age did not interact with context – both similarly benefitted from making and remembering their decisions in a more shopping-like context. These results reveal an aspect of cognition that appears to be preserved in healthy aging. Highlighting such aspects can help improve older adults’ self-perceptions and reframe the narrative around aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communicating information about health risks empowers individuals to make informed decisions. To identify effective communication strategies, we manipulated the specificity, self-relevance, and emotional framing of messages designed to motivate information seeking about COVID-19 exposure risk. In Study 1 (N = 221,829), we conducted a large-scale social media field study. Using Facebook advertisements, we targeted users by age and political attitudes. Episodic specificity drove engagement: Advertisements that contextualized risk in specific scenarios produced the highest click-through rates, across all demographic groups. In Study 2, we replicated and extended our findings in an online experiment (N = 4,233). Message specificity (but not self-relevance or emotional valence) drove interest in learning about COVID-19 risks. Across both studies, we found that older adults and liberals were more interested in learning about COVID-19 risks. However, message specificity increased engagement across demographic groups. Overall, evoking specific scenarios motivated information seeking about COVID-19, facilitating risk communication to a broad audience. General Audience Summary: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals have weighed risks and benefits when making choices about everyday activities. Learning about the current local risk of COVID-19 exposure is important for making informed decisions. Social media can be a platform for rapidly disseminating health information, but it can also contribute to misinformation and confirmation bias. Here, we tested strategies for risk communication on social media, targeting users by age and political attitudes. In Study 1, we used Facebook advertisements to motivate users to learn about COVID-19 exposure risk. Users who clicked on an ad were directed to interactive risk assessment tools on a public website. We varied the specificity of the advertisements by describing national ("in the United States"), local ("in your area"), or scenario ("at your favorite restaurant") risks. We also manipulated emotional valence by using positive ("stay safe and healthy") or negative ("avoid danger and illness") language. Specificity drove engagement: In all demographic groups, users were the most likely to click on scenario ads. In Study 2, we replicated and extended our findings in a sample of paid participants. In addition to varying the specificity and valence of the ads, we manipulated self-relevance (e.g., "a restaurant" vs. "your favorite restaurant") and tested an alternative scenario (grocery store instead of restaurant). Consistent with Study 1, specificity (but not valence or self-relevance) drove interest in learning about COVID-19 risk. In both studies, we also found that older adults and liberals were more interested in COVID-19 information, whereas conservatives were less engaged and more likely to feel angry or disgusted. However, scenario ads reliably increased engagement across demographic groups. Overall, we found that evoking specific scenarios motivated information seeking about COVID-19 risks. Health messages with improved specificity can be readily disseminated on social media, reaching a broad audience to support public health goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Facial expressions are powerful social signals that motivate feelings and actions in the observer. Research on face processing has overwhelmingly used static facial images, which have limited ecological validity. Previous research on the age-related positivity effect and age differences in social motivation suggest that older adults might experience different evoked emotional responses to facial expressions than younger adults. Here, we introduce a new method to explore age-related differences in evoked responses to dynamic facial expressions across adulthood. Methods We used dynamic facial expressions which varied by expression type (happy, sad, and angry) and expression magnitude (low, medium, and full) to gather participant ratings on their evoked emotional response to these stimuli along the dimensions of valence (positive vs negative) and arousal. Results As predicted, older adults rated the emotions evoked by positive facial expressions (happy) more positively than younger adults. Furthermore, older adults rated the emotion evoked by negative facial expressions (angry and sad) more negatively than younger adults. Contrary to our predictions, older adults did not differ significantly in arousal to negative expressions compared with younger adults. Across all ages, individuals rated positive expressions as more arousing than negative expressions. Discussion The findings provide some evidence that older adults may be more sensitive to variations in dynamic facial expressions than younger adults, particularly in terms of their estimates of valence. These dynamic facial stimuli that vary in magnitude are promising for future studies of more naturalistic affect elicitation, studies of social incentive processing, and use in incentive-driven choice tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19-related social-distancing measures have dramatically limited physical social contact between individuals and increased monetary and health concerns for individuals of all ages. We wondered how these new societal conditions would impact the choices individuals make about monetary, health, and social rewards, and if these unprecedented conditions would have a differential impact on older individuals. We conducted two online studies to examine temporal discounting of monetary, health, and social rewards; stated preferences for monetary, health, and social rewards; and physical distancing behaviors. Both studies recruited equal numbers of White/Caucasian, Black/African American, and Hispanic/Latinx participants. We found that older adults were more likely to prefer smaller, sooner social and health-related rewards in decision-making tasks. These data further support the assertion that older adults have increased motivation for social and health rewards compared to younger individuals and that these age differences in motivation are important to consider when examining decision-making across the adult life span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]