People who show a willingness to give away larger-than-normal amounts of their money might be experiencing the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from the University of Southern California and Bar-Ilan University.
The study, published in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, examined the correlation between altruism and cognitive functioning in a sample of older adults without dementia. The goal of the research was to understand who is most at risk of falling victim to financial exploitation and how to best protect them.
The study showed that older adults who choose to give away a larger portion of their money also tended to demonstrate poorer performance on cognitive assessments that are used to detect early Alzheimer’s disease.
Sixty-seven people were selected to participate in the study, with a median age of 69.21. Of the participants, 58.2% were female and 41.8% were male.
How was the study conducted?
In order to assess the participants, the study, led by Dr. Gali Weissberger of the Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, and Prof. Duke Han of the University of Southern California, utilized a behavioral economic measure of financial altruism with real monetary outcomes.
Participants were told that any money they chose to give away would be taken from their study earnings, ensuring that they knew there were real consequences to their decisions, meaning the result would be more accurate.
Each participant was told that $10 had been set aside and that they could choose any amount between $0-$10 to send to an anonymous person. Any amount left over from the $10 would be added to their study earnings. They were instructed to select 10 options in $1 increments to send to the anonymous person. Someone who chose $0 would be considered least altruistic by the study, while someone who chose to send $10 would be considered the most altruistic.
The second part of the study saw participants undergo a battery of neuropsychological assessments covering a range of areas including memory testing, executive functioning, language, attention and working memory.
Following the conclusion of the assessments, the sample group was divided into three categories: “gave more,” “gave less” and “gave equally.”
In the “gave more” group were all the people who gave over half their money to the anonymous person, while the “gave less” group comprised those who kept over half the money and donated less than half. The “gave equally” group was made up of people who kept $5 for themselves and gave $5 away.
Upon dividing the groups, the researchers discovered that every participant in the “gave more” group had donated the entire $10 to the anonymous receiver, keeping none for themselves.
Examining the results of the money experiment next to the results of the neuropsychological assessments, the researchers found that giving away more money was associated with worse performance on a multitude of cognitive tests including story recall, word-list learning and recall, and semantic fluency.
Overall, the participants who scored poorly in the cognitive testing were all in the “gave more” category.
While until now, studies have shown positive relationships between self-reported altruistic behavior and cognitive abilities, this study is the first to show a direct negative relationship between the two.
“Altruism plays an important role in financial decision-making, a function critical for preventing financial exploitation,” explained Weissberger regarding the importance of the study.
"Altruism plays an important role in financial decision making, a function critical for preventing financial exploitation.”
Dr. Gali Weissberger
“Additionally, a growing body of literature suggests that declines in financial decision-making in older adulthood may be an early sign of adverse cognitive outcomes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The findings of this study provide insights into how some adults may become vulnerable to financial exploitation in older age.”