Smog, Cognition and Real-World Decision-Making

Document Type : Perspective

Author

1 Department of Health Policy and Management, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA

2 Yale Department of Economics, New Haven, CT, USA

Abstract

Cognitive functioning is critical as in our daily life a host of real-world complex decisions in high-stakes markets have to be made. The decision-making process can be vulnerable to environmental stressors. Summarizing the growing economic and epidemiologic evidence linking air pollution, cognition performance and real-world decision-making, we first illustrate key physiological and psychological pathways between air pollution and cognition. We then document the main patterns of air pollution affecting cognitive test performance by type of cognitive tests, gender, window of exposure, age profile, and educational attainment. We further extend to a review of real-world decision-making that has been found to be affected by air pollution and the resulting cognitive impairments. Finally, rich implications on environmental health policies are drawn based on existing evaluations of social costs of air pollution.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 8, Issue 2
February 2019
Pages 76-80

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History

  • Receive Date: 19 March 2018
  • Revise Date: 18 October 2018
  • Accept Date: 20 October 2018
  • First Publish Date: 01 February 2019

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