# Racial Differences in Decision Making among Older Adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA · 2020 · $649,391

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Decision making in financial and health matters is of critical importance for maintaining independence and
wellbeing in old age, and recent work in predominately older White adults suggests decision making worsens
with age. While there is a paucity of knowledge regarding decision making in older Black adults, preliminary
studies suggest there may be differences in decision making by race. Decision making can be viewed as a
complex interaction of externally influenced contextual factors with two internal systems: a cognitive processing
system and an affective processing system. Although racial differences in cognitive processing have been well
documented, little is known about racial differences in other components of decision making, and these could
have profound economic and public health consequences for a diverse range of older adults. The overall goal
of this study is to elucidate racial differences in decision making among older adults and to identify the
contextual factors, affective factors, and neurobiological mechanisms that drive them. Contextual factors, such
as acquired financial and health literacy, socioeconomic status (SES), and perceived discrimination, vary by
race, are often influenced by adverse social and environmental experiences over the life course, and could
have important mediating effects between race and decision making. Life course experiences also shape
internally modulated affective processes. Since differences in decision making are observed when affective
processes interact with cognitive processes, affective factors such as trust, risk aversion, and loneliness could
have important moderating effects on decision making by race. Both contextual and affective factors have
recently been shown to impact the functional architecture of brain networks, revealing important insights into
the neural systems involved in decision making. Regrettably, these findings have been almost exclusively in
White persons; thus there is a dearth of knowledge regarding the neural correlates of decision making in Black
persons. Racial differences in contextual and affective factors experienced over the life course may result in
variability in the organization of functional brain systems. However, it is unknown how or whether any putative
differences in functional neural network architecture may drive racial differences in decision making. Finally,
Black adults are at greater risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Our recent work has implicated poor decision
making as a potential risk factor for AD in White adults; however, it is unknown whether and to what extent
poor decision making is a risk for AD in Black adults. The proposed study will leverage existing clinical data
from nondemented older Blacks and Whites participating in the Minority Aging Research Study
(RF1AG022018), the Rush Clinical Core (P3010161), and an ongoing study of decision making in aging
(R01AG033678) to collect new behavioral decision making and n...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9928875
- **Project number:** 5R01AG055430-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
- **Principal Investigator:** DUKE HAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $649,391
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-07-15 → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9928875

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9928875, Racial Differences in Decision Making among Older Adults (5R01AG055430-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9928875. Licensed CC0.

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