The finding, published in the October 15, 2004, issue of Science has broad implications for predicting economic and behavioral health patterns, says Richard Suzman, Ph.D., Associate Director of the NIA's Behavioral and Social Research Program. "This landmark study has the potential to reshape what we should look at as we try to understand how people make both health and economic decisions," Dr. Suzman says. "Since many health and economic decisions involve choosing between short term gratification and long term delays of rewards, this approach and its finding are likely to have a significant impact on our ability to influence health and economic behaviors such as diet, exercise, and saving for retirement."
For the study, a research team which included NIA grantee David Laibson, Ph.D., of Harvard University and the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA, asked 14 participants to choose between receiving money at an earlier or later date. For instance, a participant might be asked to choose between receiving $27.10 today versus $31.25 in a month; or $27.10 in two weeks versus $31.25 in six weeks. As the participants made these choices, their brains were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This imaging tool enables researchers to measure second-by-second brain function in thousands of specific bra
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Contact: Doug Dollemore
dollemod@nia.nih.gov
301-496-1752
NIH/National Institute on Aging
15-Oct-2004