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The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences Advance Access published online on May 25, 2009
The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbp034
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Prosocial Capabilities in Alzheimer's Patients

Antoni Bosch-Domènech1,2, Rosemarie Nagel1,2 and Juan V. Sánchez-Andrés3

1 Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
2 Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, Barcelona, Spain
3 Department of Physiology, Universidad de La Laguna, Spain

Address correspondence to Antoni Bosch-Domènech, PhD, Departament d’Economia i Empresa, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Ramon Trias Fargas 25-27, 08005 Barcelona, Spain. Email: antoni.bosch{at}upf.edu


  Abstract

Objectives: To examine the decision making of Alzheimer's patients in a simple, classic game focusing on their capabilities to implement social norms and common social preferences.

Methods: Patients with Stage I (very mild and mild) Alzheimer's disease (AD) were asked to participate in a dictator game, a type of game in which a subject has to decide how to allocate a certain amount of money between himself and another person.

Results: When we compared the results of treatments involving AD patients (at an early stage) with those of identical treatments involving patients with mild cognitive impairment or healthy elderly controls, with similar ages and social backgrounds, we did not find statistically significant differences.

Discussion: This finding suggests that Stage I AD patients are as capable of making decisions involving basic social norms and preferences as other individuals of their age. Whatever brain structures are affected by the disease, they do not appear to influence, at this early stage, the neural basis for cooperation-enhancing social interactions.

Key Words: Alzheimer patients • Dictator games • Social behavior

Received August 5, 2008; Accepted April 6, 2009

Decision Editor: Kenneth F. Ferraro, PhD


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