White matter tract changes link to phishing risk in older adults

In a study of 51 younger adults and 46 cognitively healthy older adults, researchers examined how age-related changes in brain white matter relate to susceptibility to deception. Participants completed diffusion-weighted MRI scans alongside the PHishing Internet Task, a behavioral test measuring real-life susceptibility to email phishing. Investigators measured white matter integrity metrics, including fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity, across four tract systems involved in social cognition: the cingulum, uncinate fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, and superior longitudinal fasciculus. Older age was associated with higher phishing task scores. In mediation models controlling for sex, education, general cognition, and global white matter metrics, higher mean diffusivity in the right anterior thalamic radiation and lower fractional anisotropy in the left uncinate fasciculus partially mediated this age-related susceptibility.