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Some versions of the task were easy.

For example, participants saw the first product, then the second product, and were asked to select the better one.

In the more challenging trials, participants were shown the first product, and then had to learn about or 'buy' several unrelated items before being shown the second, competing product and making a decision.

当两张竞争产品的图片依次展示时,这样的测试难度不大；但当两张图片之间插入其他干扰项后,测试会更富挑战性.

Young and old adults made decisions with similar speed and accuracy.

研究发现,老年人作决定的速度和准确度与年轻人不相上下.

In addition to the normal patterns of brain activity, however, older adults used a part of their brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) as memory demand increased.

扫描结果还显示,除了大脑活动的正常模式外,老年人在需要记忆力时,会动用他们大脑的另一个区域——腹内侧前额皮质(the ventromedial prefrontal cortex,简称vmPFC).

The vmPFC is known to be involved in processing risk calculations and it has been shown help people assign values to rewards and emotions.

In this study, the more active the vmPFC was, the better participants performed at the task.

vmPFC在大脑处理风险评估时具有重要作用,并且能帮助人们感知奖励和情绪.研究表明,该区域越活跃,参与者在任务中的表现越好.

The study could point to potential strategies to rehabilitate decision-making deficits in older adults, said Roberto Cabeza, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke, and a member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

杜克大学脑心理学和神经学教授罗伯托·卡贝扎（Roberto Cabeza）认为：研究表明,人们可通过一些潜在的方法,去治疗有决策障碍的老年人.

'For example, future studies could identify the conditions that lead to vmPFC recruitment during decision-making and explore ways of promoting these conditions when older adults make decisions in real life,' Cabeza said.

他说："比如,未来研究中可能会发现让vmPFC活跃的条件,并找出方法去改善老年人的这种条件."