​We're happy to host at our next DMEP seminar Dr. Liat Hadar of Tel Aviv university.


Aging impairs inhibitory control over incidental cues: A construal level perspective  

By: Liat Hadar (TAU), Yaacov Trope (BYU), Boaz Ben-David (IDC)

 

Age-related changes in decision making have been attributed to deterioration of cognitive skills such as learning and memory. We hypothesize these changes occur, in part, due to older adults’ tendency to give more weight to low-level, subordinate, and goal-irrelevant information, compared to young adults. We propose this shift in mental construal level is driven by age-related decreased ability to inhibit irrelevant information. We find that young adults are willing to pay more for a product (Study 1, N = 200) and are more satisfied with an experience (Study 2, N = 399) superior on end-attributes than on means-attributes. Young adults are also more satisfied with a goal-relevant than with a goal-irrelevant product (Study 3, N = 201). Importantly, these effects attenuate with age. Study 4 demonstrates that inhibitory processes mediate this effect (N = 200). Implications for research on construal level and aging and for policymakers are discussed.



When: Wednesday, 18.11.20, 14:30-15:30