Equally flexible and optimal response bias in older compared to younger adults.
DOI: 10.1037/pag0000339
archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified
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Summary
This study investigates how aging affects response bias and the flexibility of decision-making thresholds in perceptual tasks. Prior research indicates that older adults exhibit slower decision speeds due to increased response caution (higher evidence thresholds) rather than slower information processing. The authors hypothesized that this heightened caution might impair older adults' ability to flexibly adjust thresholds based on base-rate information (prior probabilities), potentially leading to increased base-rate neglect. Specifically, they questioned whether older adults would struggle more than younger adults to adapt their decision thresholds when base-rate directions changed frequently. To test this, the researchers conducted a binary perceptual discrimination experiment with 20 healthy older adults (ages 63–78) and 20 younger adults (ages 18–28). Participants identified the predominant color in a dynamic grid of blue and orange cells under two conditions: block-wise bias, where the more likely target remained constant across trials, and trial-wise bias, where the more likely target changed randomly from trial to trial. One response option had a 70% probability of being correct. The study utilized the Linear Ballistic Accumulator (LBA) model to analyze response times and accuracy, allowing for the separation of response caution (overall threshold height) from response bias (threshold adjustments for specific options). This modeling approach enabled the authors to benchmark participants’ bias against the level required to optimize accuracy. The results confirmed that older adults were slower overall but slightly more accurate than younger adults, consistent with higher response caution. Both groups exhibited base-rate neglect, failing to bias their decisions as much as required for optimal accuracy, particularly when base-rate directions changed frequently. However, contrary to the hypothesis that aging compromises bias flexibility, older adults demonstrated bias levels closer to optimal than younger adults, especially under constant base-rate conditions. Older participants made greater absolute and equivalent relative adjustments to their evidence thresholds in response to base-rate cues. The findings suggest that while older adults prioritize accuracy over speed, their ability to flexibly control response bias is not significantly impaired by age. The significance of these findings lies in challenging the assumption that age-related cognitive decline uniformly affects all aspects of decision-making control. The study concludes that older adults perform better than younger adults in this context because of their strategic emphasis on accuracy. Furthermore, the data indicate that the neural mechanisms supporting flexible bias control remain largely intact in healthy aging. This implies that age-related slowing is primarily a strategic choice to enhance accuracy rather than a deficit in the cognitive flexibility required to utilize prior probability information.
Key finding
Older adults demonstrated flexible control of response bias that was closer to optimal than that of younger adults, indicating that age-related declines in threshold flexibility are minimal when accuracy is prioritized.
Methodology
lab_experiment
Sample size: 40
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via author_sweep_intake on 2026-05-28.
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | author_sweep | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-28 |
| archive | success | canonical_url | — | — | 11 | 2026-06-06 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | clean | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
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| embed | success | embed | Qwen/Qwen3-Embedding-8B | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-28 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-04 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 15 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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