A recent research study conducted by a ‘University of Iowa’ Neuroscientist Dr.Natalie Denburg revealed that significant neuropschychological deficits in older adults generally cause poor decision-making and this state lead them towards the victims of frauds. Such older adults may also experience “disproportionate aging of a brain region critical for decision-making”.
This research bring a new dimension to this problem and makes an attempt to find ways that could help identify such people who bear high risks of deceiving. “Our research suggests that elders who fall prey to fraudulent advertising are not simply gullible, depressed, lonely or less intelligent. Rather, it is truly more of a medical or neurological problem,” said Dr. Natalie Denburg.
According to this study aging affects judgment and impacts on the decision-making capabilities have wide ranging societal implications. The study aims to find means for combating deceptive advertising targeted at older adults. Many of these persons are particularly vulnerable to such deceptive advertising frauds.
