Common and distinct effects of age and depression on cognitive effort-based decision-making
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Cognitive control is central to decision-making and goal-directed behavior, but the mental effort it requires is often perceived as costly, especially in the context of aging. Although age-related differences in cognitive effort discounting have primarily been studied in healthy adults, major depressive disorder (MDD), which is associated with altered reward valuation, may modify these patterns. In this preregistered study, we examined whether age was differentially associated with cognitive effort discounting in adults with and without MDD (N=134, ages 35-74). We first estimated subjective value (SV), indexing cognitive effort costs, then assessed choices between options that varied in SV. Replicating prior work, SV declined as cognitive load increased, suggesting less willingness to engage in more effortful tasks. Age-related differences in this discounting pattern were only evident among individuals with MDD but not among healthy controls. Specifically, among individuals with MDD, older age was associated with lower SV at low loads, but a shallower decline in SV as difficulty increased. Across diagnostic groups, the positive association between task accuracy and SV weakened with older age. Finally, the relative SV of the more cognitively demanding task (compared to the less demanding task) predicted the willingness to engage with it. This association was also weakened with age across diagnostic groups, suggesting that as individuals get older, their decisions may be less guided by the SV difference between high- and low-effort options. Together, these findings showcase the combined and distinct effects of aging and MDD in altering the mechanisms of cognitive effort evaluation and decision-making.
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203905625