title: Age differences in attention toward decision-relevant information: education matters.
abstract: Previous studies suggested that older adults are more likely to engage in heuristic decision-making than young adults. This study used eye tracking technique to examine young adults' and highly educated older adults' attention toward two types of decision-relevant information: heuristic cue vs. factual cues. Surprisingly, highly educated older adults showed the reversed age pattern-they looked more toward factual cues than did young adults. This age difference disappeared after controlling for educational level. Additionally, education correlated with attentional pattern to decision-relevant information. We interpret this finding as an indication of the power of education: education may modify what are thought to be "typical" age differences in decision-making, and education may influence young and older people's decision-making via different paths.
authors.affiliation: Renmin University of China.
authors.forename: Cai
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Isaacowitz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult