Older brains lack access to region for swift decisions

Decision-making takes time when we reach the golden years ? but not necessarily because older people have a more cautious outlook on life. It might just reflect a lack of the connections to a brain area needed for speedy responses.

One explanation for the slowdown is that older people are reluctant to commit the errors associated with a swift response. Birte Forstmann at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, has another theory.

She asked 12 young people ? around 25 years old ? and 12 older people ? average age 65 ? to decide whether most of the dots in a cloud were moving to the right or the left. Even when told to respond more quickly, the older participants couldn't match the speed of the youngsters.

Previous research has shown that increased input from the cortex to a brain area called the striatum allows for faster responses. Brain scans of the volunteers showed that the young people had significantly stronger connections between these two areas. This suggests that the older group might be unable to respond swiftly simply because they cannot make good use of the striatum.

Journal reference: Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0309-11.2011).

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