Nature v. nurture: decision-making and age

A study to be published in the journal Psychological Science indicates that decision-making improves with age.



Young (college-age) and older (60-80 years) adults were subject to two strategic programs (see the linked article for details). Essentially, the young adults did best when it came to selecting objects that yielded the most points (reflexive, immediate rewards), while the older adults outperformed in tasks that required long-term reward and more strategy.

The researchers argue that this is due to the brain structures used for decision-making in the two groups. Young people are notoriously known for rash decisions, which relies dominantly on the ventral striatum, a reward pathway. On the other hand, this portion of the brain declines in older adults, and the frontal cortex assumes decision-making behaviors.

While the neurobiology behind the study is intriguing and likely accounts for the differences observed, I also wonder whether there is an issue of nature v. nature involved. College-age students, comparatively, have little on their plate: for the most part, they are still covered by their parents' monetary protection and neither deal with nor worry about creating a budget, planning for a family, paying taxes/insurance/mortgage, nor a number of other long-term and strategic issues. On the other hand, the older adults in this study have decades' worth of experience in these matters of planning for the long haul.

Does the frontal cortex take over from the ventral striatum around the age of 30, because the immediate rewards suddenly seem to stop and the need for long-term planning sets in?

Is it possible that if a young adult were to be waited on hand-and-foot for the remainder of their life, living to seek pleasure and with little stress, that their ventral striatum function would not deteriorate as rapidly, or at all?

Is this an issue of stress at all? Is this ability seen in all cultures, or just in the fast-paced American lifestyle?

I find this particularly interesting as I make this transition in life myself.

Photo courtesy 123RF. Originally reported by Medical Xpress.