Scamming seniors

Why are older people more prone to scams? Two UCLA studies, funded by the National Institute on Aging, concluded that “older people are less adept than younger people at discerning visual clues of dishonesty in others.”

In the first study, 119 older adults (average age 68) and 24 younger adults (average age 23) viewed 30 photographs of faces “intentionally selected to look trustworthy, neutral, or untrustworthy.”

Both groups identified correctly the trustworthy and neutral faces. But younger adults reacted more strongly to the untrustworthy faces.

In the second study, older and younger adults underwent brain scans while looking at the faces. When viewing the untrustworthy photos, the younger participants had a lot of activity in the part of the brain associated with gut feelings. Older brains didn’t light up as much. Becky Nappi, SR

Have you found that you’re more trusting or more skeptical as you age?