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Chapter Five - Emotion, Decision Making, and Aging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2025

Angela Gutchess
Angela Gutchess
Affiliation:
Brandeis University, Massachusetts
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Summary

This chapter reviews research on the effects of age on emotion as well as decision making. After reviewing the neural regions involved in emotion, the chapter delves into the topics of emotion identification, emotion regulation, life satisfaction, socioemotional selectivity theory, and emotion and memory. Turning to the research on decision making and reward, the chapter considers how age affects brain activity during tasks involving reward, economic decisions, and gambling. It also discusses economic decision making in a social context and future directions in motivation research.

Keywords

emotiondecision makingrewardemotion regulationmotivationvalence
Type
Chapter
Information
Cognitive and Social Neuroscience of Aging , pp. 125 - 158
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

For Further Reading

Ford, J. H., Morris, J. A., & Kensinger, E. A. (2014). Neural recruitment and connectivity during emotional memory retrieval across the adult life span. Neurobiology of Aging, 35(12), 2770–2784. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2014.05.029.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frank, C. C., & Seaman, K. L. (2023). Aging, uncertainty, and decision making – A review. Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 23, 773–787. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-023-01064-w.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lighthall, N. R., Pearson, J. M., Huettel, S. A., & Cabeza, R. (2018). Feedback-based learning in aging: Contributions and trajectories of change in striatal and hippocampal systems. The Journal of Neuroscience, 38(39), 8453–8462. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0769-18.2018.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mather, M. (2016). The affective neuroscience of aging. Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 213–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Samanez-Larkin, G. R., & Knutson, B. (2015). Decision making in the ageing brain: changes in affective and motivational circuits. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 16(5), 278–289. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3917.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
St. Jacques, P. L., Dolcos, F., & Cabeza, R. (2010). Effects of aging on functional connectivity of the amygdala during negative evaluation: a network analysis of fMRI data. Neurobiology of Aging, 31(2), 315–327.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed

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