B – 103 Neurocognitive Functioning in Relation to Performance on a Novel Measure of Financial Exploitation Risk

Objective The Virtual Economic Simulator and Trust Assessment (VESTA) is a novel method of Financial Exploitation (FE) risk assessment administered through a smartphone application. This study explores how the domains of neurocognitive functioning relate to performance on VESTA. Method Participants (N = 58; M[age] = 71.0; 58.6% Female) were administered VESTA and neuropsychological measures (Attention: Continuous Performance Test-III Detectability, Hit Reaction Time [HRT], and HRT Block Change; Executive Functioning [EF]: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test – Total Errors and Perseverative Responses; Memory: California Verbal Learning Test-II – Short and Long Delay Free Recall [CVLT-SD/LD]; Visuospatial: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV – Block Design [WAIS-BD] and Neuropsychological Assessment Battery – Visual Discrimination and Design Construction). Results Multiple hierarchical regression models (controlling for age and education) estimated VESTA performance. In all models, both Step 1 (demographic controls) and Step 2 (neurocognitive domain representatives) were significant (p < .001). The EF domain (Adj-R2 = .503) showed the highest accounted variance, followed by Visuospatial (Adj-R2 = .366), Attention (Adj-R2 = .352), and Memory (Adj-R2 = .336). WAIS-BD was the only significant predictor in the Visuospatial model (β = 0.42, p = .003). Conclusion Aligning with previous research, EF accounted for the most variance in FE risk. Although long-delayed memory measures are typically stronger predictors of impairment, the CVLT-SD contributed more to the memory domain, suggesting an emphasis on the attentional domain processes that must occur before encoding can take place. Additionally, visuospatial abilities emerged as a stronger predictor of FE risk than previous research suggested compared to other domains (e.g., attention).