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Trajectory of risky decision making for potential gains and losses from ages 5 to 85
Author(s) -
Weller Joshua A.,
Levin Irwin P.,
Denburg Natalie L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of behavioral decision making
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0771
pISSN - 0894-3257
DOI - 10.1002/bdm.690
Subject(s) - psychology , neuropsychology , developmental psychology , trajectory , risk aversion (psychology) , frontal lobe , loss aversion , function (biology) , value (mathematics) , early adulthood , sensitivity (control systems) , cognitive psychology , risk seeking , young adult , cognition , social psychology , economics , computer science , neuroscience , expected utility hypothesis , microeconomics , financial economics , physics , astronomy , evolutionary biology , machine learning , electronic engineering , engineering , biology
The ability to make advantageous decisions in the face of uncertainty is an essential human skill, yet the development of such abilities over the lifespan is still not well understood. In the current study, from childhood through older adulthood, we tracked the developmental trajectory of risk taking for gains and losses, and expected value (EV) sensitivity in risky choices. In the gain domain, risk‐taking decreased consistently across the lifespan. In the loss domain, risk‐taking was relatively constant across ages, a result we attribute to the pervasiveness of loss aversion. EV sensitivity showed an inverted‐U‐shaped function, increasing from childhood to adulthood but then decreasing for the elderly, which occurred for both risky gains and risky losses. This finding is consistent with neuropsychological and neuroanatomical evidence concerning the role of the frontal lobe in decision making, which is relatively late to develop during childhood but may degrade earlier in the later years. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.