Effects of Age and Initial Risk Perception on Balloon Analog Risk Task: The Mediating Role of Processing Speed and Need for Cognitive Closure

The genetic architecture of youth anxiety: a study protocol

BACKGROUND

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric problems among Canadian youth and typically have an onset in childhood or adolescence. They are characterized by high rates of relapse and chronicity, often resulting in substantial impairment across the lifespan. Genetic factors play an important role in the vulnerability toward anxiety disorders. However, genetic contribution to anxiety in youth is not well understood and can change across developmental stages. Large-scale genetic studies of youth are needed with detailed assessments of symptoms of anxiety disorders and their major comorbidities to inform early intervention or preventative strategies and suggest novel targets for therapeutics and personalization of care.

METHODS

The Genetic Architecture of Youth Anxiety (GAYA) study is a Pan-Canadian effort of clinical and genetic experts with specific recruitment sites in Calgary, Halifax, Hamilton, Toronto, and Vancouver. Youth aged 10-19 (n = 13,000) will be recruited from both clinical and community settings and will provide saliva samples, complete online questionnaires on demographics, symptoms of mental health concerns, and behavioural inhibition, and complete neurocognitive tasks. A subset of youth will be offered access to a self-managed Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy resource. Analyses will focus on the identification of novel genetic risk loci for anxiety disorders in youth and assess how much of the genetic risk for anxiety disorders is unique or shared across the life span.

DISCUSSION

Results will substantially inform early intervention or preventative strategies and suggest novel targets for therapeutics and personalization of care. Given that the GAYA study will be the biggest genomic study of anxiety disorders in youth in Canada, this project will further foster collaborations nationally and across the world.

Tools for the Assessment of Risk-Taking Behavior in Older Adults with Mild Dementia: A Cross-Sectional Clinical Study

Diseases such as Alzheimer's cause an alteration of cognitive functions, which can lead to increased daily risk-taking in older adults living at home. The assessment of decision-making abilities is primarily based on clinicians' global analysis. Usual neuropsychological tests such as the MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment) cover most of the cognitive domains and include mental flexibility tasks. Specific behavioral tasks for risk-taking, such as the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) or the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), have been developed to assess risk-taking behavior, particularly in the field of addictology. Our cross-sectional study aims to determine whether the MoCA global cognitive assessment could be used as a substitute for behavioral tasks in the assessment of risky behavior. In the current study, 24 patients (age: 82.1 ± 5.9) diagnosed with mild dementia completed the cognitive assessment (MoCA and executive function assessment) and two behavioral risk-taking tasks (BART, simplified version of the IGT). Results revealed no relationship between scores obtained in the MoCA and behavioral decision-making tasks. However, the two tasks assessing risk-taking behavior resulted in concordant risk profiles. In addition, patients with a high risk-taking behavior profile on the BART had better Trail Making Test (TMT) scores and thus retained mental flexibility. These findings suggest that MoCA scores are not representative of risk-taking behavioral inclinations. Thus, additional clinical tests should be used to assess risk-taking behavior in geriatric settings. Executive function measures, such as the TMT, and behavioral laboratory measures, such as the BART, are recommended for this purpose.

Age differences in the neural basis of decision-making under uncertainty

Humans globally are reaping the benefits of longer lives. Yet, longer life spans also require engaging with consequential but often uncertain decisions well into old age. Previous research has yielded mixed findings with regards to life span differences in how individuals make decisions under uncertainty. One factor contributing to the heterogeneity of findings is the diversity of paradigms that cover different aspects of uncertainty and tap into different cognitive and affective mechanisms. In this study, 175 participants (53.14% females, mean age = 44.9 years, SD = 19.0, age range = 16 to 81) completed functional neuroimaging versions of two prominent paradigms in this area, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and the Delay Discounting Task. Guided by neurobiological accounts of age-related changes in decision-making under uncertainty, we examined age effects on neural activation differences in decision-relevant brain structures, and compared these across multiple contrasts for the two paradigms using specification curve analysis. In line with theoretical predictions, we find age differences in nucleus accumbens, anterior insula, and medial prefrontal cortex, but the results vary across paradigm and contrasts. Our results are in line with existing theories of age differences in decision making and their neural substrates, yet also suggest the need for a broader research agenda that considers how both individual and task characteristics determine the way humans deal with uncertainty.

Enhanced putamen functional connectivity underlies altered risky decision-making in age-related cognitive decline

Risky decision-making is critical to survival and development, which has been compromised in elderly populations. However, the neural substrates of altered financial risk-taking behavior in aging are still under-investigated. Here we examined the intrinsic putamen network in modulating risk-taking behaviors of Balloon Analogue Risk Task in healthy young and older adults using resting-state fMRI. Compared with the young group, the elderly group showed significantly different task performance. Based on the task performance, older adults were further subdivided into two subgroups, showing young-like and over-conservative risk behaviors, regardless of cognitive decline. Compared with young adults, the intrinsic pattern of putamen connectivity was significantly different in over-conservative older adults, but not in young-like older adults. Notably, age-effects on risk behaviors were mediated via the putamen functional connectivity. In addition, the putamen gray matter volume showed significantly different relationships with risk behaviors and functional connectivity in over-conservative older adults. Our findings suggest that reward-based risky behaviors might be a sensitive indicator of brain aging, highlighting the critical role of the putamen network in maintaining optimal risky decision-making in age-related cognitive decline.

Deterministic and probabilistic regularities underlying risky choices are acquired in a changing decision context

Predictions supporting risky decisions could become unreliable when outcome probabilities temporarily change, making adaptation more challenging. Therefore, this study investigated whether sensitivity to the temporal structure in outcome probabilities can develop and remain persistent in a changing decision environment. In a variant of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task with 90 balloons, outcomes (rewards or balloon bursts) were predictable in the task's first and final 30 balloons and unpredictable in the middle 30 balloons. The temporal regularity underlying the predictable outcomes differed across three experimental conditions. In the deterministic condition, a repeating three-element sequence dictated the maximum number of pumps before a balloon burst. In the probabilistic condition, a single probabilistic regularity ensured that burst probability increased as a function of pumps. In the hybrid condition, a repeating sequence of three different probabilistic regularities increased burst probabilities. In every condition, the regularity was absent in the middle 30 balloons. Participants were not informed about the presence or absence of the regularity. Sensitivity to both the deterministic and hybrid regularities emerged and influenced risk taking. Unpredictable outcomes of the middle phase did not deteriorate this sensitivity. In conclusion, humans can adapt their risky choices in a changing decision environment by exploiting the statistical structure that controls how the environment changes.

Altered interaction of physiological activity and behavior affects risky decision-making in ADHD

Background

Adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often associated with risky decision-making behavior. However, current research studies are often limited by the ability to adequately reflect daily behavior in a laboratory setting. Over the lifespan impairments in cognitive functions appear to improve, whereas affective functions become more severe. We assume that risk behavior in ADHD arises predominantly from deficits in affective processes. This study will therefore aim to investigate whether a dysfunction in affective pathways causes an abnormal risky decision-making (DM) behavior in adult ADHD.

Methods

Twenty-eight participants with ADHD and twenty-eight healthy controls completed a battery of questionnaires regarding clinical symptoms, self-assessment of behavior and emotional competence. Furthermore, skin conductance responses were measured during the performance in a modified version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. A linear mixed-effects model analysis was used to analyze emotional arousal prior to a decision and after feedback display.

Results

Results showed higher emotional arousal in ADHD participants before decision-making (β = -0.12, SE = 0.05, t = -2.63, p < 0.001) and after feedback display (β = -0.14, SE = 0.05, t = -2.66, p = 0.008). Although risky behavior was greater in HC than in ADHD, we found a significant interaction effect of group and anticipatory skin conductance responses regarding the response behavior (β = 107.17, SE = 41.91, t = 2.56, p = 0.011). Post hoc analyses revealed a positive correlation between anticipatory skin conductance responses and reaction time in HC, whereas this correlation was negative in ADHD. Self-assessment results were in line with the objective measurements.

Conclusion

We found altered changes in physiological activity during a risky decision-making task. The results confirm the assumption of an aberrant relationship between bodily response and risky behavior in adult ADHD. However, further research is needed with respect to age and gender when considering physiological activities.

Cognitive reflection test: The effects of the items sequence on scores and response time

This paper aims to expand the literature on the determinants of the Cognitive Reflection Test scores, exploring the effects that the items sequence has on (1) Cognitive Reflection Test scores, (2) response time, (3) the relationship between Cognitive Reflection Test scores and response time, and (4) Cognitive Reflection scores, response time, and the relationship between both variables on men and women. The current study also explored the sex differences on Cognitive Reflection Test and response time according to items sequence. The results showed that manipulating the items sequence, the performance on the Cognitive Reflection Test improved significantly, but the response time were not significantly affected, although the results suggest that first items of the sequence could be working as training items. A positive relationship between Cognitive Reflection Test scores and response time was also found, except when the scores were maximized. Finally, some differences between men and women on the results were also found. The implications of these findings are discussed.

The role of anhedonia in predicting risk-taking behavior in university students

There is a growing interest in understanding symptoms of psychological distress, such as anhedonia, not just as related to individual psychological disorders, but transdiagnostically. This broader focus allows for the investigation of the effects of symptoms across disorders, or in non-clinical samples. Previous work has linked anhedonia and risk-taking behavior in clinical samples, though the exploration of this relationship in healthy adolescents and early adults is still a relatively new area of research. The current study explored the relationship between variability in anhedonia and risk-taking behavior by breaking each into separable parts (i.e. anhedonia into deficits in anticipatory and consummatory pleasure; risk-taking into risk propensity, sub-optimal risky behavior, and response to punishment). A sample of 81 university students completed two Chapman scales of anhedonia, the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS), and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Hierarchical linear regression analyses were completed to assess the predictive power of each anhedonia measure on each outcome measure on the BART. TEPS score significantly negatively predicted all three outcome measures, with anticipatory pleasure having more predictive power than consummatory pleasure. Physical anhedonia was also a significant predictor of sub-optimal risky behavior and response to punishment. These findings present a broader and more complex view of the associations between anhedonia and risk than have previously been reported, and merit further study to continue to elucidate how they are related to one another.

Age and Framing Effects in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)

OBJECTIVES

Prior research has documented age differences in risky decisions and indicates that they are susceptible to gain versus loss framing. However, previous studies focused on 'decisions from description' that explicitly spell out the probabilities involved. The present study expands this literature by examining the effects of framing on age differences in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a widely used and ecologically valid measure of experience-based risky decision-making that involves pumping a virtual balloon.

METHOD

In a pre-registered study, younger (aged 18-30, n =129) and older adults (aged 60 and over, n=125) were randomly assigned to either a gain version of the BART, where pumping the balloon added monetary gains, or a loss version, where pumping the balloon avoided monetary losses.

RESULTS

We found a significant age by frame interaction on risk-taking: in the loss frame, older adults pumped more frequently and experienced more popped balloons than younger adults, whereas in the gain frame no significant age differences were found. Total performance on the BART did not vary by age or frame. Supplementary analyses indicated that age differences in pumping rates were most pronounced at the beginning of the BART and leveled off in subsequent trials. Controlling for age differences in motivation, personality, and cognition did not account for age differences in risk-taking.

DISCUSSION

In combination, findings suggest that age differences in risk-taking on the BART are more pronounced when the task context emphasizes avoiding losses rather than achieving gains.

Contextual Factors Affecting Risky Decision Making: The Influence of Music on Task Performance and Perceived Distraction

Previous research has investigated factors that contribute to the development of different risk-taking behaviors, such as can occur on lab-based behavioral risky decision making tasks. On several of the most common tasks, participants must develop an adequate understanding of the relative risks and benefits associated with each decision in order to learn to decide advantageously. However, contextual factors can affect the decision making process and one's ability to weigh the risks and benefits of a decision. The present study investigates the extent to which music may be an additional contextual factor that can disrupt decision making and other executive functions. Across four studies we examine whether having music playing passively in the background or having participants actively listen to music affects performance on measures of risky decision making, working memory, processing speed, and problem solving. Participants reported greater distraction for rock music than classical music in the passive listening studies but did not report any differences in distraction across conditions in the active listening studies. Despite this self-reported increased level of distraction, few significant differences were found in task performance across groups and across studies. The Angling Risk Task (ART) was sensitive to differences in risk by condition, with music leading to greater risk-taking in a passive listening study, but less risk-taking in an active listening study, compared to no music. The extent to which music serves as a contextual factor disrupting performance on measures of risky decision making and other executive functions may depend in part on whether individuals are actively versus passively listening to the music.

Effect of patient-provider communication on patient risk awareness: The moderating role of trust based on scenario experiment

Good patient-provider communication and high level of trust can decrease patients' risk perception and promote their acceptability of medical risks.The extent to which communication can be effective may be distinguished by different levels of trust. The present study examined the effect of patient-provider communication and treatment outcome on patients' risk awareness, and explored the moderating effect of trust. This research adopted a paper-based scenario experiment with a 2 (communication: good vs. poor) × 2 (treatment outcome: good vs. poor) between-subjects design. Three hundred sixteen college students were enrolled. They were randomly assigned to four groups and instructed to read more information about the two independent variables. Finally, all participants finished the manipulation check (eight items), affect- and cognition-based trust scales (10 items), and risk awareness scales (eight items) by questionnaire. The results showed the positive interaction effects between communication and treatment outcome on patients' acceptance of uncertainties. Affect- and cognition-based trust had similar moderating mechanisms on the interaction effect of communication and treatment outcome on uncertainty acceptability, and different moderating mechanisms on patient risk perception. In clinical work, we should develop the strategy to improve patien-provider communication and trust to improve patients' acceptability of uncertainty.

Multivariate morphological brain signatures enable individualized prediction of dispositional need for closure

Need for closure (NFC) reflects stable individual differences in the desire for a quick, definite, and stable answer to a question. A large body of research has documented the association between NFC and various cognitive, emotional and social processes. Despite considerable interest in psychology, little effort has been made to uncover the neural substrates of individual variations in NFC. Herein, we took a data-driven approach to predict NFC trait combining machine learning framework and the whole-brain grey matter volume (GMV) features, which represent a reliable brain imaging measure and have been commonly employed to explore neural basis underlying individual differences of cognition and behaviors. Brain regions contributing to the prediction were then subjected to functional connectivity and decoding analyses for a quantitative inference on their psychophysiological functions. Our results indicated that multivariate patterns of GMV derived from multiple regions across distributed brain systems predicted NFC at individual level. The contributing regions are distributed across the emotional processing network (e.g., striatum), cognitive control network (e.g., lateral prefrontal cortex), social cognition network (e.g., temporoparietal junction) and perceptual processing network (e.g., occipital cortex). The current study provided the first evidence that dispositional NFC is embodied in multiple large-scale brain networks, helping to delineate a more complete picture about the neuropsychological processes that support individual differences in NFC. Beyond these findings, the current interdisciplinary approach to constructing and interpreting neuroimaging-based prediction model of personality traits would be informative to a wide range of future studies on personality.

Neural Activation in Risky Decision-Making Tasks in Healthy Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis of fMRI Data

Decision making is a complex cognitive phenomenon commonly used in everyday life. Studies have shown differences in behavioral strategies in risky decision-making tasks over the course of aging. The development of functional neuroimaging has gradually allowed the exploration of the neurofunctional bases of these behaviors. The purpose of our study was to carry out a meta-analysis on the neural networks underlying risky decision making in healthy older adults. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we systematically searched for fMRI studies of decision making in older adults using risky decision-making tasks. To perform the quantitative meta-analysis, we used the revised version of the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) algorithm. A total of 620 references were selected for initial screening. Among these, five studies with a total of 98 cognitively normal older participants (mean age: 69.5 years) were included. The meta-analysis yielded two clusters. Main activations were found in the right insula, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Despite the limited number of studies included, our meta-analysis highlights the crucial involvement of circuits associated with both emotion regulation and the decision to act. However, in contrast to the literature on young adults, our results indicate a different pattern of hemispheric lateralization in older participants. These activations can be used as a minimum pattern of activation in the risky decision-making tasks of healthy older subjects.

Adaptation to recent outcomes attenuates the lasting effect of initial experience on risky decisions

Both primarily and recently encountered information have been shown to influence experience-based risky decision making. The primacy effect predicts that initial experience will influence later choices even if outcome probabilities change and reward is ultimately more or less sparse than primarily experienced. However, it has not been investigated whether extended initial experience would induce a more profound primacy effect upon risky choices than brief experience. Therefore, the present study tested in two experiments whether young adults adjusted their risk-taking behavior in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task after an unsignaled and unexpected change point. The change point separated early "good luck" or "bad luck" trials from subsequent ones. While mostly positive (more reward) or mostly negative (no reward) events characterized the early trials, subsequent trials were unbiased. In Experiment 1, the change point occurred after one-sixth or one-third of the trials (brief vs. extended experience) without intermittence, whereas in Experiment 2, it occurred between separate task phases. In Experiment 1, if negative events characterized the early trials, after the change point, risk-taking behavior increased as compared with the early trials. Conversely, if positive events characterized the early trials, risk-taking behavior decreased after the change point. Although the adjustment of risk-taking behavior occurred due to integrating recent experiences, the impact of initial experience was simultaneously observed. The length of initial experience did not reliably influence the adjustment of behavior. In Experiment 2, participants became more prone to take risks as the task progressed, indicating that the impact of initial experience could be overcome. Altogether, we suggest that initial beliefs about outcome probabilities can be updated by recent experiences to adapt to the continuously changing decision environment.

Age differences in risk taking: now you see them, now you don't

Older age has often, but not always, been associated with less risk taking. Inconsistencies may be due to diversity in the risk-taking measures used and/or individual differences in cognitive abilities. We investigated the robustness of age differences in risk taking across three measures, and tested whether age differences in risk taking remained after accounting for cognitive abilities. Younger (aged 25-36) and older (aged 60+) adults completed behavioral (i.e., Balloon Analogue Risk Task, BART) and self-report (i.e., framing tasks and Choice Dilemmas Questionnaire) measures of risk, as well as several measures of cognitive ability (i.e., analytic thinking, numeracy, processing speed, memory, and attention). Older adults showed significantly less risk taking than younger adults on the behavioral measure of risk, but not on the two self-report measures. Older adults also had significantly lower analytic thinking, slower processing speed, and worse executive control compared to younger adults. Less risk taking on the BART was associated with lower analytic thinking and numeracy, slower processing speed, and worse shifting of attention. Age differences in risk taking on the BART remained after accounting for older adults' lower scores on tests of cognitive abilities. Implications for measuring age differences in risk taking are discussed.

"Do I have enough food?" How need for cognitive closure and gender impact stockpiling and food waste during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-national study in India and the United States of America

Food waste is considered to be one of the biggest issues affecting individuals around the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic, with the consequent lockdown processes, has recently triggered individuals to stockpile foodstuffs. Recent data shows, however, that individuals have not consumed a good proportion of the stockpiled food, resulting in increasing amounts of products ending up wasted. Using a cross-national survey conducted in the United States and India, we investigate how individuals' levels of need for cognitive closure (NFC) relate to food stockpiling and waste during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a sequential mediation model, we show how individuals high in NFC did not perceive to have enough food at home, ending up buying more food than usual and, eventually, wasting more. Individuals' gender and country of residence moderate such phenomenon, with the effect being more pronounced among Indian (rather than American) women. We discuss how gender roles in different countries can correlate with the stockpiling and food waste processes. We conclude the manuscript by suggesting how public communication and policy making could develop targeted programs to mitigate such issues.

Differential focus on probability and losses between young and older adults in risky decision-making

We examined young and older adults' use of descriptive information about risk (i.e., probability and expected value) in financial decision-making. In Experiment 1, participants chose between lotteries in pairs of bets that offered either two risky gains or one risky gain and one sure gain. Whereas they showed a strong and indiscriminate preference for high-probability gambles in risky-risky pairs, they selected sure options at high rates and risky options at low rates in risky-sure pairs, with slightly stronger effects in older relative to young adults due to age differences in ability. Experiment 2 involved the same task but in terms of losses. Participants, especially older adults, preferred low-probability gambles not accounted for by age differences in ability. Results suggest minimal consideration of expected value and a strong focus on probabilities in decision-making. They also suggest that cognitive ability and chronic goals differentially influence age effects depending on risk context.

A generic brain connectome map linked to different types of everyday decision-making in old age

Making reasonable decisions related to financial and health scenarios is a crucial capacity that can be difficult for older adults to maintain as they age, yet few studies examine neurocognitive factors that are generalizable to different types of everyday decision-making capacity. Here we propose an innovative approach, based on individual risk-taking preference, to identify neural profiles that may help predict older adults' everyday decision-making capacity. Using performance and cognitive arousal information from two gambling tasks, we identified three decision-making preference groups: ambiguity problem-solvers (A), risk-seekers (R), and a control group without strong risk-taking preferences (C). Comparisons of the number of connections within white matter tracts between A vs. C and R vs. C groups resulted in features consistent with the theory of dual neural functional systems involved in decision-making. Unique tracts from the A vs. C contrast were primarily centered in dorsal frontal regions/reflective system; unique tracts from the R vs. C contrast were centered in the ventral frontal regions/impulsive system; and shared tracts from both contrasts were centered in the basal ganglia, coordinating the switch between the two types of decision-making preference. Number of connections from the tracts differentiating A vs. C significantly predicted financial and health/safety decision-making capacity, and the association remained significant after controlling for multiple socioeconomic and cognitive factors. The connectome identified may provide insight into a generic white matter mechanism related to everyday decision-making capacity in older age.

Modern health worries: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

Modern health worries (MHWs) refer to people's concerns about possible harmful effects of modern technologies, and are widespread in the developed countries. The aim of the present work was to provide comprehensive, yet integrated understanding for MHWs and associated factors.

METHODS

Following the PRISMA guideline, a systematic review was conducted based on 48 empirical articles published between 2001 and 2018 (Prospero registration number: CRD42018103756). All empirical studies were included that (1) were published between 2001 and 2018 in peer-reviewed scientific journals in English, German, or Hungarian, (2) used the Modern Health Worries Scale or any of its sub-scales, and (3) assessed associations between MHWs and other constructs and/or compared criterion groups (i.e. purely psychometric studies were excluded).

RESULTS

The results from the review suggest that female gender, age, somatic symptom distress and idiopathic environmental intolerances, holistic thinking, and paranoid beliefs are positively associated with MHWs, whereas educational qualification and the five major dimensions of personality appear not to be.

CONCLUSION

Scientific inquiry on the MHWs phenomenon is still in its descriptive-explorative phase; more rigorously designed studies are needed. The presented theoretical framework integrates illness-related and holistic thinking-related aspects of MHWs as a starting point to guide further research in this area.

The Role of Executive Function in Adolescent Adaptive Risk-Taking on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

The present study examined the role of executive control functions (ECF) in adaptive risk-taking during adolescence. Healthy individuals aged 8-25 were administered ECF measures and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a computerized measure of risk-taking propensity. Findings demonstrated that adolescents who executed a more consistent response strategy evidenced better performance on the BART. Greater working memory (WM) predicted lower response variability and WM capacity mediated the relationship between age and variability. Results suggest that intra-individual response variability may index adaptive risk-taking and that the development of ECF, specifically WM, may play an integral role in adaptive decision making during adolescence and young adulthood.