The Iowa Gambling Test is used in decision making assessment. The aim of this study was to investigate if changes in the instrument application procedures interfere in the task execution.Across sectional study was carried out comparing two groups of healthy elderly in two variations of the instrument. Twenty seven participants executed the task without visual reinforcement clues, while 17 participants were submitted to the task with clues. Statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in relation to risk aversion. Results indicate that a clue of visual reinforcement permits the allocation of attention resources and working memory, allowing less risky decisions.
Iowa Gambling Task; cognitive aging; executive functions; decision making
