Citation

Ren P, Hou G, Ma M, Zhuang Y, Huang J, Tan M, Wu D, Luo G, Zhang Z, Rong H. Sci. Rep. 2023; 13(1): e6619.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-33634-w

PMID

37095127

PMCID

PMC10126002

Abstract

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.

Language: en

Keywords

Aged; Humans; Young Adult; Risk-Taking; Brain; *Decision Making; *Cognitive Dysfunction; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Putamen