Scientists from the University of Southern California found that willingness to give away money could be linked to the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
The research is published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and was conducted by Duke Han et al.
To help protect older adults from financial exploitation, researchers are working to understand who is most at risk.
In the study, 67 older adults who did not have dementia or cognitive impairment completed a laboratory task where they decided whether to give money to an anonymous person or keep it for themselves.
They also completed a series of cognitive tests, such as word and story recall.
The team found those who gave away more money performed worse on the cognitive assessments known to be sensitive to Alzheimer’s disease.
They say trouble handling money is thought to be one of the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, and this finding supports that notion.
Earlier research that tested the link between altruism and cognition relied on self-report measures, such as asking older adults whether they would be willing to give money in certain scenarios.
The present study used real money to examine the link.
The team says more research is needed to confirm the nature of the relationship between financial altruism and cognitive health in older adults, including with larger and more representative samples.
Future studies could also collect both behavioral and self-report data on financial altruism to better understand participants’ motivations for giving.
Clarifying these details about the link between altruism and cognition could ultimately improve screening for Alzheimer’s disease and help people protect their loved ones from financial exploitation.
It can also help researchers distinguish between what represents healthy giving behavior versus something that could signify underlying problems.
If you care about Alzheimer’s disease, please read studies about the blood test that can predict dementia, Alzheimer’s 5 years early, and new breakthrough in Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis and treatment.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about personality traits that may protect you from Alzheimer’s disease, and results showing that lack of this stuff could be the key to Alzheimer’s disease.
Copyright © 2022 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
