Delay Discounting and Preference Reversals by Cigarette Smokers

Ecological momentary assessment of delay discounting, reward valuation, and craving in very light cigarette users

Heightened delay discounting has been linked to adverse smoking cessation outcomes, including among light cigarette users. Few studies have evaluated delay discounting's proposed mechanism, preference reversal (concurrent increases in valuation of/craving for desired objects), and none have done so in naturalistic settings. We examined how person-level delay discounting moderated the within-person association between cigarette valuation and craving among very light daily cigarette users who were financially incentivized to abstain. Forty participants completed a baseline delay-discounting task and intermittent ratings of cigarette valuation and craving during the incentivized abstinence attempt. Subjects earned monetary rewards for abstinence on a descending schedule (e.g., $20 on Days 1 and 2 and $2.50 on Days 9 and 10). Consistent with preference reversals, there was a positive association between cigarette valuation and craving. This relation was moderated by delay discounting (stronger among those with low discounting rates) and by monetary reinforcement amount (stronger on days with low reinforcement). Additionally, subjects were more likely to report stronger cravings on days with high monetary reinforcement, with this effect moderated by delay discounting (stronger among those with low discounting rates). The results suggest that heightened delay discounting may not confer risk for preference reversal among very light daily cigarette users who are attempting abstinence.

Valuing the future at different temporal points: The role of time framing on discounting

The rate of delay discounting exhibited by individuals has been experimentally altered by manipulating the way in which time is described, a specific application of the framing effect. Previous research suggests that using specific dates to describe delays tends to lower temporal discounting and change the shape of the discounting function. The main purpose of this study was to assess the influence of framing on discounting in different temporal contexts. Participants chose between hypothetical monetary gains (gains group), or between hypothetical monetary losses (losses group). Each group completed eight discounting tasks over two sessions (two choice tasks [SmallNow/SmallSoon] by two time frames [dates/calendar units] by two magnitudes. The results indicate that Mazur's model adequately described the observed discounting functions in most conditions. However, the decrease in discounting rate when both consequences were delayed only occurred when calendar units (but not dates) were used for both gains and losses. These findings suggest that framing affects the influence of a shared delay instead of changing the shape of the discounting function. Our results support the idea that time influences behavior similarly in humans and nonhumans when they choose between two delayed consequences.

Temporal expectations in delay of gratification

We examined how temporal expectations influence preference reversals in a delay of gratification task for rats based on a hypothesis of Rachlin (2000), who suggested that preference for a larger-later reward may shift in favor of a smaller-immediate reward as a result of changes in when that larger reward is expected. To explore Rachlin's hypothesis, we preexposed two groups of rats to the delays associated with a larger-later reinforcer from a delay of gratification task. One group experienced the delays as a function of their choices in an intertemporal choice task and the other group experienced delays yoked from the first group (independent of their behavior) in an exposure training procedure. In addition, we included a third group of rats that were not exposed to delays during preexposure training as a comparison to the other two groups. Overall, the two groups of rats that experienced delays during preexposure training tended to make fewer defection responses than the comparison group during the delay of gratification task. Consistent with Rachlin's hypothesis, our results suggest that temporal learning may influence preference reversals in a delay of gratification task, providing a number of future directions for research in this area.

In Search of the Preference Reversal Zone

A preference reversal is observed when a preference for a larger-later (LL) reward over a smaller-sooner (SS) reward reverses as both rewards come closer in time. Preference reversals are common in everyday life and in the laboratory and are often claimed to support hyperbolic delay-discounting models which, in their simplest form, can model reversals with only one free parameter. However, it is not clear if the temporal location of preference reversals can be predicted a priori. Studies testing model predictions have not found support for them, but they overlooked the well-documented effect of reinforcer magnitude on discounting rate. Therefore, we directly tested hyperbolic and exponential model predictions in a pre-registered study by assessing individual discount rates for two reinforcer magnitudes. We then made individualized predictions about pairs of choices between which preference reversals should occur. With 107 participants, we found (1) little evidence that hyperbolic and exponential models could predict the temporal location of preference reversals, (2) some evidence that hyperbolic models had better predictive performance than exponential models, and (3) in contrast to many previous studies, that exponential models generally produced superior fits to the observed data than hyperbolic models.

Testing delay of gratification in rats using a within-session increasing-delay task

In delay discounting, preference reversals refer to shifts in preference from a larger-later reward to a smaller-sooner reward. Steep hyperbolic discounting predicts a preference reversal when a smaller-sooner and larger-later reward both become temporally proximal; prior research is consistent with this prediction. Hyperbolic discounting does not predict a preference reversal, however, after an individual chooses a larger-later reward over a smaller-immediate reward; prior research is inconsistent with this prediction. We sought to replicate and extend these findings using a delay of gratification task in rats. The task included a defection response which allowed rats to reverse their preference after choosing a larger-later sucrose reinforcer to instead obtain a smaller-immediate sucrose reinforcer. In Experiment 1, we found that rats would defect on their choice of the larger-later reinforcer, systematically replicating prior research. We also found that experience on the delay of gratification task led to decreases in defection responses. In Experiment 2, we found that prior experience on an intertemporal choice task, with no opportunity to defect, also led to few defection responses on the delay of gratification task. We discuss our findings in the context of whether inhibitory control or temporal learning could be involved in delay of gratification.

Effects of Individual Discount Rate and Uncertainty Perception on Compliance with Containment Measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Anti-contagion measures restricting individual freedom, such as social distancing and wearing a mask, are crucial to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Decision-making patterns and attitudes about uncertainty can highly influence the adherence to these restrictive measures. Here we investigated the relationship between risky behavior and individual preferences for immediate vs. delayed reward, as indexed by temporal discounting (TD), as well as the association between these measures and confidence in the future, perceived risk and confidence in the containment measures. These measures were collected through an online survey administered on 353 participants at the end of the more restrictive phase of the first Italian lockdown. The results showed an unexpected inverse relationship between the individual pattern of choice preferences and risky behavior, with an overall greater adherence to containment measures in more discounter participants. These findings were interpreted in terms of a reframing process in which behaviors aimed at protecting oneself from contagion turn into immediate gains rather than losses. Interestingly, an excessive confidence in a better future was correlated with a higher tendency to assume risky behavior, thereby highlighting the downside of an overly and blindly optimistic view.

Uncommitted Commitment: Behavioral Strategy to Prevent Preference Reversals

When both smaller-sooner (SS) and larger-later (LL) rewards are temporally distal, individuals frequently prefer the LL. However, because both outcomes become proximal, individuals frequently switch to preferring the SS. These preference reversals are predicted by hyperbolic delay discounting, and may model the essential challenge of self-control. Using smokers, a population known to have high rates of delay discounting, and thus more vulnerable to preference reversals, this pilot study sought to examine soft commitment as a strategy that may prevent preference reversals. Eleven smokers were assigned to an experimental commitment condition, operationalized as 3 weeks of daily commitment trials indicating preference between an SS and LL. Ten smokers were assigned to a control commitment condition. These 3 weeks were followed by 8 days of daily choice trials indicating preference between an impending SS and LL, for both experimental and control conditions. Though no overall difference of preference was observed between groups during the choice trials, hierarchical linear modeling revealed a decrease in preference for the LL over time by the control group (e.g., increasing trend of preference reversals) but no changes by the experimental group. This pilot study provides an initial indication that soft commitment can facilitate choice persistence and prevent preference reversals.

Past and future preference reversals are predicted by delay discounting in smokers and non-smokers

Delay discounting, the devaluation of delayed reinforcers, is one defining behavioral economic characteristic of cigarette smokers. Attempts at abstinence by smokers that result in relapse are conceptualized in this framework as preference reversals. Despite preference reversals being predicted by delay discounting models, little research has investigated the association between discount rate and preference reversals. The present study extended this research by examining the relation between discounting and preference reversals. Because previous research indicates that cigarette smokers discount at higher rates than controls and that past and future discounting are symmetrical, the present study assessed the relation between these two processes when hypothetical money was distanced in the past and future, respectively. These assessments of delay discounting and preference reversals were adapted from Yi, Matusiewicz, and Tyson (2016) and examined in 68 smokers and 68 nonsmokers using the crowdsourcing program Amazon Mechanical Turk. Smokers discounted both past and future hypothetical money more steeply than demographically matched controls. Smokers switched preference from the smaller-sooner (SS) to the larger-later (LL) outcome more slowly than nonsmokers, consistent with smokers' steeper delay discounting. For each group, significant positive correlations between past and future discount rates and past and future preference reversals was obtained. The overall pattern of results illustrate symmetry between past and future discounting and preference reversals, respectively and that discount rate is positively associated with the timing of preference reversals. Importantly, the results confirm that cigarette smokers discount more and reverse preference from a SS to a LL reward later than controls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

What Is Addiction? How Can Animal and Human Research Be Used to Advance Research, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Alcohol and Other Substance Use Disorders?

The current article highlights key issues in defining, studying, and treating addiction, a concept related to but distinct from substance use disorders. The discussion is based upon a roundtable discussion at the 2017 annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism where Warren K. Bickel and John C. Crabbe were charged with answering a range of questions posed by Kenneth J. Sher. All the presenters highlighted a number of central concerns for those interested in assessing and treating addiction as well as those seeking to conduct basic preclinical research that is amenable to meaningful translation to the human condition. In addition, the discussion illustrated both the power and limitations of using any single theory to explain multiple phenomena subsumed under the rubric of addiction. Among the major issues examined were the important differences between traditional diagnostic approaches and current concepts of addiction, the difficulty of modeling key aspects of human addiction in nonhuman animals, key aspects of addiction that have, to date, received little empirical attention, and the importance of thinking of recovery as a phenomenon that possibly involves processes distinct from those undergirding the development and maintenance of addiction.

Impulsive mechanisms influencing relapse in alcohol drinking

Impulsivity has been related to different features of addictive behaviors. Growing data, generated in separated lines of research, suggest that different processes underlying impulsivity are associated to relapse in alcohol drinking. Considering the evidence, relapse can be understood as an impulsive choice or as an impulsive action. In the first case, the return to drinking behavior is a consequence of insensitive to delayed consequence, that is, to the discounting of delayed rewards. In the second case, relapse is a consequence of failures to inhibit prepotent responses. Nevertheless, conditions that control the action of each mechanism or their interaction to influence relapse still unknown. We hypothesize that both mechanisms interact to produce relapse depending on framing effects, the moments of a drinking episode or context. The implication of the hypothesis is that relapse prevention strategies need to reduce discounting rate, but also to increase behavioral inhibition in the presence of cues related to alcohol.

Will delay discounting predict intention to quit smoking?

Intention to quit cigarette smoking is significantly associated with making quitting attempts and actual quitting. Delay discounting is significantly associated with smoking initiation and success in quitting. To our knowledge, no studies have investigated the relationship between delay discounting and intention to quit smoking. In 2 separate observational, cross-sectional studies, the current investigation examines the relationship between delay discounting and intention to quit smoking within groups of smokers. Experiment 1 used data collected online and an adjusting-delay discounting task; Experiment 2 used data collected in the laboratory and an adjusting-amount discounting task. A total of 242 participants and 142 participants completed the online and on laboratory experiments, respectively. In both studies, participants with higher intention to quit smoking had significantly lower rates of discounting. These associations between intention to quit smoking and rates of delay discounting further support recent characterizations of delay discounting as a candidate behavioral marker of addiction. Understanding cognitive factors affecting treatment initiation such as intention to change, and the effects of delay discounting on these factors, in addition to the mechanisms by which they influence treatment outcomes might be essential to developing, disseminating, and implementing treatment interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record