The effect of aging on the (mis)perception of intentionality - an ERP study

ABSTRACT

Despite the accumulated knowledge on moral decision-making in the early stages of development, empirical evidence is still limited in the old-aged adults. The current study contributes to unveil the neural correlates of judgments of moral transgressions as a function of aging, by examining the temporal dynamics of neural activation elicited by intentional and accidental harmful actions in three groups of healthy participants: young adults (18–35), adults (40–55), and older adults (60–75). Older adults were slower and less accurate in rating intentionality, compared to the younger groups. In ERP analysis, the older group showed increased P2 amplitude, which was predicted by poorer performance on neuropsychological tests. Reduced amplitudes were found on critical ERP components to moral cognition (N2 and LPP), namely while processing intentional harmful scenarios. Older adults seem to allocate more attentional resources (P2) to the task, probably to compensate the age-related decline in executive functioning, while younger groups show a pronounced negativity while detecting harm (N2) and increased neural activation to encode the intentions behind the acts (LPP).

KEYWORDS:

• P2
• N2
• LPP
• aging
• moral

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundação BIAL; under a special Grant “The aging social brain”; Carina Fernandes is supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under grant SFRH/BD/112101/2015. We would also like to acknowledge to Programa de Estudos Universitários para Seniores (PEUS) and to Associação de Aposentados Pensionistas e Reformados (APRE) for their help in participant recruitment.

This work was funded by the Fundação BIAL; under a special grant “The aging social brain” awarded to João Marques-Teixeira; Carina Fernandes is supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under grant SFRH/BD/112101/2015

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação Bial [The Aging Social Brain];