Beschreibung
Learning whom to trust is an important social skill, which can be affected by agingand loneliness. An often-used experimental task to study trust learning is the
repeated trust game (Berg et al., 1995) where participants repeatedly invest money
in another player who can be trustworthy – or not. 50 healthy, neurotypical older
adults (64 to 84 years) and 62 younger adults (age: 20 to 33, see Sladky & Riva et
al., 2022) played the repeated trust game (Figure 1a) while undergoing 3T functional
MRI. We found that trust learning was impaired in older adults, particularly in those
who reported higher levels of loneliness (Figure 1b). We used the hierarchical
Gaussian filter computational model (Mathys et al., 2014) and replicated the effects
from the literature in younger adults (Mikus et al. 2023, Siegel et al. 2018). Older
adults, however, exhibited reduced initial trust and reduced volatility beliefs (Figure
1c). Mikus et al. demonstrate in their study that pharmacologically blocking D2/3
dopamine receptors increases volatility. Older adult showed the opposite effect,
which could be explained by the observed hypoactivation in the dopaminergic
midbrain during the preparation phase (Figure 1d). During outcome evaluation, older
adults exhibited less activation in the posterior hippocampus, anterior insula, while
thalamus, putamen, and caudate nucleus were increased (Figure 1e). Interestingly,
self-reported loneliness increased activation in bilateral locus coeruleus, an effect
that was further amplified in older adults (Figure 1f). Our study demonstrates how
aging and loneliness could affect dopaminergic and noradrenergic mechanisms that
consequently impair successful trust learning.
| Zeitraum | 27 Juni 2024 |
|---|---|
| Ereignistitel | FENS Forum 2024 |
| Veranstaltungstyp | Konferenz |
| Ort | Wien, ÖsterreichAuf Karte anzeigen |
| Bekanntheitsgrad | International |