Age and Sex Differences in the Effects of Stress on Decision Making Mara Mather University of Southern California.

Age and Sex Differences in the Effects of Stress on Decision Making

Mara Mather

University of Southern California

Overview

• Age differences in the effects of stress on decision making– Study 1: Driving game

• Sex differences in the effects of stress on decision making– Study 2: Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)– Study 3: fMRI of modified BART

Study 1 Design

Stress – hold hand in ice water for 3 minutes

Control – hold hand in warm water for 3 minutes

Mather, Gorlick, & Lighthall (2009), Psych Science

Study 1 Design

Stress – hold hand in ice water for 3 minutes

Control – hold hand in warm water for 3 minutes

18 minutes later…

Play a brief game involving risky decision making

Mather, Gorlick, & Lighthall (2009), Psych Science

Driving Game

Stressed older adults drove less time during the yellow lights than other participants.

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1

Younger OlderMean proportion of trial spent driving

ControlStress

Mather, Gorlick, & Lighthall (2009), Psych Science

Stressed older adults stopped and restarted more frequently than control older adults.

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Younger OlderMedian number of stops per second spent

driving

ControlStress

Mather, Gorlick, & Lighthall (2009), Psych Science

For younger adults, stress has opposite effects on male and female decision strategies.

Study 1 Study 2 Study 3

Similar brain networks were active during the decision task across the four groups.

Control M Control F Stress M Stress F

Insula (+) X X X X

Cingulate (+) X X X X

MPFC lateral (+) X X X X

Inferior parietal (+) X X X X

vmPFC (-) X X X X

Hippocampus (-) X X X X

But there whether the putamen was involved in the decision network depended on both stress and sex.

Control M Control F Stress M Stress F

Putamen (+) X X

Thalamus (+) X

Precuneus (+) X

Caudate (+) X X

Lighthall, Sakaki, Vasunilashorn, Somayajula, Nga & Mather (in preparation)

Conclusions

• Acute stress affects decision making – but differently depending upon both age and sex.

• In Study 1, stress reduced older adults’ risk taking and increased stops/starts in the driving game.

• In three studies, stress increased sex differences in decision making strategies among younger adults.

• Stress was associated with increased activation in the putamen for males but decreased activation for females.