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

Differential discounting of past and future gains and losses in individuals in recovery from substance use disorder

Individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) show consistently higher delay discounting (DD) rates than controls for both future and past outcomes, as well as for gains and losses. However, differences in these DD effects (e.g., tense and sign) among individuals in SUD recovery have yet to be explored. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to (a) investigate differences in discounting of past and future gains and losses among individuals in SUD recovery and (b) examine differences in these DD effects between individuals in different stages of remission (i.e., not in remission, in early remission, or in sustained remission). Our results indicate that individuals in recovery discount past and future gains, but not losses, symmetrically. Additionally, individuals in recovery discount gains more than losses (i.e., sign effect) for the future but not for the past. Finally, those in sustained remission showed significantly lower DD rates than those not in remission, regardless of the DD task. Thus, other discounting tasks might provide a similarly accurate measure of DD and can be employed to assess differences in discounting between those in remission and those not in remission. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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.

Is impulsivity related to attentional bias in cigarette smokers? An exploration across levels of nicotine dependency and deprivation

Research has largely focused on how attentional bias to smoking-related cues and impulsivity independently influence the development and maintenance of cigarette smoking, with limited exploration of the relationship between these mechanisms. The current experiments systematically assessed relationships between multiple dimensions of impulsivity and attentional bias, at different stages of attention, in smokers varying in nicotine dependency and deprivation. Nonsmokers (NS; n  = 26), light-satiated smokers (LS; n  = 25), heavy-satiated smokers (HS; n  = 23) and heavy 12-hour nicotine-deprived smokers (HD; n  = 30) completed the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, delayed discounting task, stop-signal task, information sampling task and a visual dot-probe assessing initial orientation (200 ms) and sustained attention (2000 ms) toward smoking-related cues. Sustained attention to smoking-related cues was present in both HS and LS, while initial orientation bias was only evident in HS. HS and LS also had greater levels of trait motor and nonplanning impulsivity and heightened impulsive choice on the delay discounting task compared with NS, while heightened trait attentional impulsivity was only found in HS. In contrast, in HD, nicotine withdrawal was associated with no attentional bias but heightened reflection impulsivity, poorer inhibitory control and significantly lower levels of impulsive choice relative to satiated smokers. Trait and behavioral impulsivity were not related to the extent of attentional bias to smoking-related cues at any stage of attention, level of nicotine dependency or state of deprivation. Findings have both clinical and theoretical implications, highlighting the unique and independent roles impulsivity and attentional bias may play at different stages of the nicotine addiction cycle.

The impact of past temporal discounting on mental health: Opposite effects of positive and negative event aftertastes over time: Aftertaste and time

Background

Time frees people from bereavement, but also fades childhood happiness, these dynamics can be understood through the framework of past temporal discounting (PTD), which refers to the gradual decrease in affect intensity elicited by recalling positive or negative events over time. Despite its importance, measuring PTD has been challenging, and its impact on real-life outcomes, such as mental health remains unknown.

Method

Here, we employed a longitudinal tracking approach to measure PTD in healthy participants (N = 210) across eight time points. We recorded changes in affect intensity for positive and negative events and examined the impact of PTD on mental health outcomes, including general mental well-being, depression, stress sensitivity, and etc.

Results

The results of Bayesian multilevel modeling indicated that the affect intensity for positive and negative events discounted over time at a gradually decelerating rate. Furthermore, we found that maintaining good mental health heavily depended on rapid PTD of negative events and slow PTD of positive events.

Conclusions

These results provide a comprehensive characterization PTD and demonstrate its importance in maintaining mental health.

Are the attention checks embedded in delay discounting tasks a valid marker for data quality?

To ensure good quality delay discounting (DD) data in research recruiting via crowdsourcing platforms, including attention checks within DD tasks have become common. These attention checks are typically identical in format to the task questions but have one sensical answer (e.g., "Would you prefer $0 now or $100 in a month?"). However, the validity of these attention checks as a marker for DD or overall survey data quality has not been directly examined. To address this gap, using data from two studies (total N = 700), the validity of these DD attention checks was tested by assessing performance on other non-DD attention checks and data quality measures both specific to DD and overall survey data (e.g., providing nonsystematic DD data, responding inconsistently in questionnaires). We also tested whether failing the attention checks was associated with degree of discounting or other participant characteristics to screen for potential bias. While failing the DD attention checks was associated with a greater likelihood of nonsystematic DD data, their discriminability was inadequate, and failure was sometimes associated with individual differences (suggesting that data exclusion might introduce bias). Failing the DD attention checks was also not associated with failing other attention checks or data quality indicators. Overall, the DD attention checks do not appear to be an adequate indicator of data quality on their own, for either the DD task or surveys overall. Strategies to enhance the validity of DD attention checks and data cleaning procedures are suggested, which should be evaluated in future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

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.

Choice Bundling Increases Valuation of Delayed Losses More Than Gains in Cigarette Smokers

Choice bundling, in which a single choice produces a series of repeating consequences over time, increases valuation of delayed monetary and non-monetary gains. Interventions derived from this manipulation may be an effective method for mitigating the elevated delay discounting rates observed in cigarette smokers. No prior work, however, has investigated whether the effects of choice bundling generalize to reward losses. In the present study, an online panel of cigarette smokers (N = 302), recruited using survey firms Ipsos and InnovateMR, completed assessments for either monetary gains or losses (randomly assigned). In Step 1, participants completed a delay-discounting task to establish Effective Delay 50 (ED50), or the delay required for an outcome to lose half of its value. In Step 2, participants completed three conditions of an adjusting-amount task, choosing between a smaller, sooner (SS) adjusting amount and a larger, later (LL) fixed amount. The bundle size (i.e., number of consequences) was manipulated across conditions, where a single choice produced either 1 (control), 3, or 9 consequences over time (ascending/descending order counterbalanced). The delay to the first LL amount in each condition, as well as the intervals between all additional SS and LL amounts (where applicable), were set to individual participants’ ED50 values from Step 1 to control for differences in discounting of gains and losses. Results from Step 1 showed significantly higher ED50 values (i.e., less discounting) for losses compared to gains (p < 0.001). Results from Step 2 showed that choice bundling significantly increased valuation of both LL gains and losses (p < 0.001), although effects were significantly greater for losses (p < 0.01). Sensitivity analyses replicated these conclusions. Future research should examine the potential clinical utility of choice bundling, such as development of motivational interventions that emphasize both the bundled health gains associated with smoking cessation and the health losses associated with continued smoking.

Intertemporal preference reversals are associated with early activation of insula and sustained preferential processing of immediate rewards in visual cortex

Decision makers tend to give magnified significance to immediately available rewards which leads to intertemporal preference reversals, which is a form of self-control failure. The objective of the present study was to understand the cognitive and neural underpinnings of this phenomenon using event-related potentials (ERP) and their source localization using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography analysis (sLORETA). Twenty-four participants performed a money choice task, where they made choices between a smaller-sooner and a larger-later reward, which included trials with and without an immediately available option, while their electroencephalography (EEG) activity was recorded. Trials with and without immediacy were identical except that the latter involved a front-end delay added to both the rewards. Results showed that presence of immediacy made the choices significantly more impulsive. Presence of immediate reward elicited larger visual P2 and late positive potential (LPP), indicating enhanced capture of automatic and sustained attention respectively, and smaller N2, indicative of diminished engagement of cognitive control processes. Source localization revealed increased activity in the visual cortex in the presence of immediacy, signifying higher valuation. Higher activation of areas of insula during P2-suggesting increased awareness of visceral signals-predicted larger impulsive preference reversals. The results suggest that presence of immediate reward biases the choice very early during the decision making process by precipitating visceral states that triggers approach behaviour, and highlight the need to adopt strategies like precommitment to counter the effect.

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.