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Equally Flexible and Optimal Response Bias in Older Compared to Younger Adults
Citation
Garton, R and Reynolds, AR and Hinder, MR and Heathcote, A, Equally Flexible and Optimal Response Bias in Older Compared to Younger Adults, Psychology and Aging, 34, (6) pp. 821-835. ISSN 0882-7974 (2019) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2019 American Psychological Association.
Abstract
Base-rate neglect is a failure to sufficiently bias decisions toward a priori more likely
options. Given cognitive and neurocognitive model-based evidence indicating that, in
speeded choice tasks, (1) age-related slowing is associated with higher and less flexible
overall evidence thresholds (response caution) and (2) gains in speed and accuracy in relation
to base-rate bias require flexible control of choice-specific evidence thresholds (response
bias), it was hypothesised that base-rate neglect might increase with age due to compromised
flexibility of response bias. We administered a computer-based perceptual discrimination task
to 20 healthy older (63–78 years) and 20 younger (18–28 years) adults where base-rate
direction was either variable or constant over trials and so required more or less flexible bias
control. Using an evidence accumulation model of response times and accuracy (specifically,
the Linear Ballistic Accumulator model; Brown & Heathcote, 2008), age-related slowing was
attributable to higher response caution, and gains in speed and accuracy per base-rate bias
were attributable to response bias. Both age groups were less biased than required to achieve
optimal accuracy, and more so when base-rate direction changed frequently. However, bias
was closer to optimal among older than younger participants, especially when base-rate
direction was constant. We conclude that older participants performed better than younger
participants because of their greater emphasis on accuracy, and that, by making greater
absolute and equivalent relative adjustments of evidence thresholds in relation to base-rate
bias, flexibility of bias control is at most only slightly compromised with age.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | decision-making, healthy ageing, biasing choices |
| Research Division: | Psychology |
| Research Group: | Cognitive and computational psychology |
| Research Field: | Decision making |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in psychology |
| UTAS Author: | Garton, R (Mr Roderick Garton) |
| UTAS Author: | Reynolds, AR (Mr Angus Reynolds) |
| UTAS Author: | Hinder, MR (Associate Professor Mark Hinder) |
| UTAS Author: | Heathcote, A (Professor Andrew Heathcote) |
| ID Code: | 130874 |
| Year Published: | 2019 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (FT150100406) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 6 |
| Deposited By: | Psychology |
| Deposited On: | 2019-02-18 |
| Last Modified: | 2020-02-24 |
| Downloads: | 168 View Download Statistics |
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