Summary: New research finds that greater willingness among older adults to give money away correlates with subtle cognitive patterns associated with early Alzheimer’s disease, a link that may help explain increased vulnerability to financial exploitation.
Source: USC
Researchers aim to identify which older adults are most at risk for financial exploitation by examining connections between giving behavior and cognitive health.
A team at the Keck School of Medicine of USC reports new evidence, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, that financial generosity in older adults can be associated with cognitive changes commonly seen in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The study involved 67 community-dwelling older adults without diagnosed dementia or cognitive impairment. In a controlled laboratory task, each participant received $10 and had the option to allocate any portion of that money, in $1 increments, to an anonymous person supposedly participating online. Participants also completed a standard battery of neuropsychological tests that assess memory, language fluency, and related cognitive abilities.
Results showed that participants who gave away larger amounts of money scored lower on neuropsychological measures that are sensitive to early Alzheimer’s disease—particularly tests of delayed memory and verbal fluency. The association persisted after accounting for age, sex, and education. No consistent differences emerged on other cognitive measures not linked to early Alzheimer’s profiles.
“Our goal is to understand why some older adults might be more susceptible than others to scams, fraud or financial exploitation,” said Duke Han, Ph.D., director of neuropsychology in the Department of Family Medicine and a professor at the Keck School of Medicine. “Trouble handling money is thought to be one of the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, and this finding supports that notion.”
Unlike prior studies that relied on self-reported willingness to give money in hypothetical scenarios, this research used real monetary decisions to capture actual behavior. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the relationship using a behavioral economics paradigm, meaning participants made decisions about giving or keeping actual money,” said Gali H. Weissberger, Ph.D., first author of the study and senior lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences at Bar-Ilan University.
Study design and key measures
Participants averaged 69 years of age and had, on average, nearly 16 years of education. The research team collected demographic data and excluded anyone meeting criteria for dementia or cognitive impairment. The neuropsychological battery included word-list learning and delayed recall tasks, a delayed story recall test, and a category (animal) fluency test—measures commonly used to detect the cognitive profile associated with early Alzheimer’s disease.
In multiple linear regression models controlling for age, sex, and education, higher financial altruism was negatively associated with performance on those memory and fluency measures. In other words, those who were more willing to give away money tended to perform worse on cognitive tasks that are sensitive to early Alzheimer’s changes. No significant differences were found on cognitive tests that are less specifically tied to Alzheimer’s disease.
Implications and next steps
The authors emphasize that more research is needed to clarify the direction and mechanisms of this relationship. Larger and more diverse samples, combined behavioral and self-report measures of financial altruism, and longitudinal follow-up can help determine whether increasing generosity signals emerging cognitive decline or reflects stable individual differences in prosocial behavior.
Han, Weissberger and colleagues are currently collecting longitudinal data using the same giving task. Tracking changes in giving behavior over time could reveal whether financial altruism increases as cognitive changes progress, and whether such changes can serve as an early indicator for cognitive decline.
Clarifying how altruism and cognition interact could improve early screening for Alzheimer’s disease and inform strategies to protect older adults from financial exploitation. The researchers caution against equating generosity with pathology: financial giving can be a deliberate and meaningful choice. Rather, the goal is to distinguish healthy, intentional generosity from behavior that might reflect underlying cognitive problems.
About this Alzheimer’s disease research news
Author: Zara Abrams
Source: USC
Contact: Zara Abrams – USC
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Closed access. “Increased Financial Altruism is Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease Neurocognitive Profile in Older Adults” by Gali H. Weissberger et al., Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Abstract
Increased Financial Altruism is Associated with Alzheimer’s Disease Neurocognitive Profile in Older Adults
Background: Older age is associated with increased altruistic behaviors such as charitable giving, yet few studies have examined the cognitive correlates of financial altruism in older adults.
Objective: This study examined the cognitive correlates of financial altruism using an altruistic choice paradigm in a community-based sample of older adults.
Methods: A sample of older adults (N = 67; mean age = 69.21 years; mean education = 15.97 years; 58.2% female; 71.6% Non-Hispanic White) completed a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and an altruistic choice task in which they allocated money between themselves and an anonymous person.
Results: In multiple linear regression analyses controlling for age, education, and sex, greater financial altruism was associated with lower performance on cognitive measures typically sensitive to early Alzheimer’s disease, including word list learning and delayed recall, delayed story recall, and animal fluency.
Conclusion: These findings indicate a negative relationship between financial altruism and cognitive functioning on measures sensitive to Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting a potential link between financial exploitation risk and Alzheimer’s disease in older age.