Nature Communications (Jun 2016)

Age differences in learning emerge from an insufficient representation of uncertainty in older adults

  • Matthew R. Nassar,
  • Rasmus Bruckner,
  • Joshua I. Gold,
  • Shu-Chen Li,
  • Hauke R. Heekeren,
  • Ben Eppinger

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11609
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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The ability to learn decreases with old age especially in a dynamically changing environment, however the precise nature of this decline is not understood. Nassar and colleagues report that older adults show a reduced ability to learn from uncertain outcomes compared to younger adults.