Why older people easily scammed
Why are some older people more vulnerable to scams than others? Researchers at the University of Iowa have discovered it may be due to a specific area of the brain being deteriorated or damaged. An examination of various forms of brain damage reportedly shows the “precise location” in the human brain which controls belief and doubt.
Man in suit, scam, theft
Why are some older people more vulnerable to scams than others? Researchers at the University of Iowa have discovered it may be due to a specific area of the brain being deteriorated or damaged.
An examination of various forms of brain damage reportedly shows the “precise location” in the human brain, called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which controls belief and doubt.
Researchers claimed this may explain why some people are more gullible than others.
“This specific deficit may explain why highly intelligent patients can fall victim to seemingly obvious fraud schemes,” the researchers wrote in a paper published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
The study looked at a group of 39 who were asked to gauge how much they believed a deceptive television ad and how likely they would be to buy the item advertised if it were available.
Researchers found patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex were about twice as likely to believe the ad, although the disclaimer information indicated it was misleading.
According to the paper’s author, Daniel Tranel, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reportedly begins to deteriorate as people reach 60 years of age and older.
“Instead of saying, ‘How would you do something silly and transparently stupid?’ people may have a better appreciation of the fact older people have lost the biological mechanism allowing them to see the disadvantageous nature of their decisions,” he said in a statement.
