Elucidating the role of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in economic decision-making

The ability to make autonomous, reasoned, and informed decisions concerning economic matters is central to independence and financial capacity. Multiple brain regions and cognitive factors have been proposed to be involved in economic decision-making. The ability to make rational decisions is typically studied in older adults because this group is most likely to have difficulties with financial decisions (Agarwal et al., 2009) and make suboptimal economic choices (Agarwal et al., 2009). Indeed, it is often anecdotally reported that older adults are easily scammed and make poor decisions concerning financial matters.