Investigation of compulsive buying behavior in elderly consumers in the context of neurochemical structure of the brain with neuropsychometric tests

With this study, it is aimed to present a different perspective from the marketing perspective in terms of understanding the brain-behavior relationship through neuropsychometric measurements in the context of the neurochemical structure of the brain compulsive buying behavior of elderly consumers. The study was conducted in Bursa Uludag University, Faculty of Medicine, Neurology Outpatient Clinic, and included 33 cases and 33 controls aged 50 years and over. Standardized Mini Mental State Examination, Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS-21), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), Yale-Brown Obsession Compulsion Scale (YBOCS), Minnesota Impulse Disorders Interview (MIDI), Stroop Test Capa Version (ST), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Iowa Gambling Test (IGT) were included in the study. Descriptive statistics chi-square test, Shapiro-Wilk test, t-test for normally distributed measurements, and Mann-Whitney U test for non-normal distribution measurements were used to evaluate the data. In the results depression-anxiety-stress, impulsivity and obsession-compulsion levels were statistically significantly different according to the groups. Data on impulse control disorder were found in the case group. A statistically significant difference was found between the case and control groups in the sub-score types of "Total number of mistakes, Number of categories completed, Total number of perseverative responses, Total number of non-perseverative errors, Percentage of perseverative errors, Number of reactions used to complete the first category, Number of conceptual level reactions" of WCST, in the completion times of the first three sections of ST, and in the number of errors and spontaneous corrections. In the IGT, it was observed that the control group generally chose from the advantageous decks and the case group from the disadvantageous decks. Finally, marketing-oriented suggestions are presented with reference to the increasing importance of compulsive buying behavior.