Many new technologies, such as smartphones, computers, or public-access systems (like ticket-vending machines), are a challenge for older adults. One feature that these technologies have in common is that they involve underlying, partially observable, structures (state spaces) that determine the actions that are necessary to reach a certain goal (e.g., to move from one menu to another, to change a function, or to activate a new service). In this work we provide a theoretical, neurocomputational account to explain these behavioral difficulties in older adults. Based on recent findings from age-comparative computational- and cognitive-neuroscience studies, we propose that age-related impairments in complex goal-directed behavior result from an underlying deficit in the representation of state spaces of cognitive tasks. Furthermore, we suggest that these age-related deficits in adaptive decision-making are due to impoverished neural representations in the orbitofrontal cortex and hippocampus.

中文翻译：

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人类衰老的递减状态空间理论。

许多新技术，如智能手机、计算机或公共访问系统（如自动售票机），对老年人来说都是一个挑战。这些技术的一个共同特征是它们涉及底层的、部分可观察的结构（状态空间），这些结构决定了达到某一目标所需的操作（例如，从一个菜单移动到另一个菜单、更改功能、或激活新服务）。在这项工作中，我们提供了一个理论上的神经计算解释来解释老年人的这些行为困难。根据年龄比较计算和认知神经科学研究的最新发现，我们提出复杂目标导向行为中与年龄相关的损伤是由认知任务状态空间表示的潜在缺陷造成的。此外，我们认为这些与年龄相关的适应性决策缺陷是由于眶额皮层和海马体的神经表征贫乏造成的。