Uncovering and Surveilling Financial Deception Risk in Aging

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Project Summary. Among older adults, sudden and unexpected financial losses as a result of fraud can have devastating consequences. A rapidly aging population, combined with age-related changes in decision-making processes, means that fraudulent activities targeting older adults is a growing public health problem that requires surveillance, education, and intervention. Motivated by theories of cognitive, socioemotional, and neurobiological aging, this proposal investigates behavioral and neural decision-making mechanisms associated with fraud risk in older adulthood. In a more globally connected and computerized world, older adults may constitute particular at-risk targets for highly effective forms of online financial fraud, such as through social engineering in the form of emails containing malicious links or attachments (phishing). Susceptibility to financial deception in aging has been investigated primarily in the context of age-related cognitive decline, while socioemotional and neurophysiological parameters have been largely understudied. Further, there are few effective approaches to characterize, monitor and detect, and eventually prevent, financial deception. The objectives of the proposed research are threefold: Aim 1 will determine financial deception risk across the adult life span. This aim will seek to confirm that age is associated with greater susceptibility to financial deception, online and in person. Aim 2 will characterize cognitive, socioemotional, and neurophysiological mechanisms associated with deception risk. Specifically, this aim will uncover the extent to which cognitive and socioemotional dysfunction, age-related dampening in neurophysiological reactivity, and structural and functional brain changes contribute to increased susceptibility in aging. Aim 3 involves the development and psychometric validation of a novel risk assessment interview and the development of an automated deception warning tool to alert older adults about potential online fraud. Our research design will span three data collection phases comprising healthy young, middle-aged, young-old, and old-old individuals. Leveraging infrastructure developed in our lab, a behavioral field experiment will determine real-life susceptibility to financial fraud via simulated phishing email attacks (Phase I). A comprehensive in-lab assessment of cognitive/socioemotional and neurophysiological mechanisms will follow (Phase II and III, respectively). A data-analytic Phase IV will integrate data collected across Phases I-III using statistical and machine-learning methods. This multidisciplinary approach, encompassing psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and engineering will lay the foundation for building an integrated approach to risk detection and the provision of financial decision-making supports in older adulthood. Findings and methodologies developed as part of this project have the potential to inform real-life decision-supportive interventions that adopt an age-targeted approach towards the long-term goal of financial risk reduction in older individuals.