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Patt VM, Strang C, Verfaellie M. The sign effect in temporal discounting does not require the hippocampus. Neuropsychologia 2024; 199:108888. [PMID: 38642846 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024]
Abstract
When considering future outcomes, humans tend to discount gains more than losses. This phenomenon, referred to as the temporal discounting sign effect, is thought to result from the greater anticipated emotional impact of waiting for a negative outcome (dread) compared to waiting for a positive outcome (mixture of savoring and impatience). The impact of such anticipatory emotions has been proposed to rely on episodic future thinking. We evaluated this proposal by examining the presence and magnitude of a sign effect in the intertemporal decisions of individuals with hippocampal amnesia, who are severely impaired in their ability to engage in episodic mental simulation, and by comparing their patterns of choices to those of healthy controls. We also measured loss aversion, the tendency to assign greater value to losses compared to equivalent gains, to verify that any reduction in the sign effect in the hippocampal lesion group could not be explained by a group difference in loss aversion. Results showed that participants with hippocampal amnesia exhibited a sign effect, with less discounting of monetary losses compared to gains, that was similar in magnitude to that of controls. Loss aversion, albeit greater in the hippocampal compared to the control group, did not account for the sign effect. These results indicate that the sign effect does not depend on the integrity of hippocampally mediated episodic processes. They suggest instead that the impact of anticipatory emotions can be factored into decisions via semantic future thinking, drawing on non-contextual knowledge about oneself.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Mieke Verfaellie
- Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
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Patt VM, Hunsberger R, Jones DA, Verfaellie M. The Hippocampus Contributes to Temporal Discounting When Delays and Rewards Are Experienced in the Moment. J Neurosci 2023; 43:5710-5722. [PMID: 37463727 PMCID: PMC10401634 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2250-22.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2023] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/06/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Temporal discounting (TD) represents the mental devaluation of rewards that are available after a delay. Whether the hippocampus is critical for TD remains unclear, with marked discrepancies between animal and human studies: although animals with discrete hippocampal lesions display impaired TD, human participants with similar lesions show intact performance on classic intertemporal choice tasks. A candidate explanation for this discrepancy is that delays and rewards are experienced in the moment in animal studies but tend to be hypothetical in human studies. We tested this hypothesis by examining the performance of amnesic participants with hippocampal lesions (one female, six males) on a novel experiential intertemporal choice task that used interesting photographs occluded by thick lines as rewards (Patt et al., 2021). Using a logistic function to model indifference points data, we compared performance to that on a classic intertemporal choice task with hypothetical outcomes. Participants with hippocampal lesions displayed impaired patterns of choices in the experiential task but not in the hypothetical task. Specifically, hippocampal lesions were associated with decreased amplitude of the delay-reward trade-off, with persistent choice of the delayed option despite delay increase. These results help explain previous discrepancies across animal and human studies, indicating that the hippocampus plays a critical role in temporal discounting when the outcomes of decisions are experienced in the moment, but not necessarily when they are hypothetical.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Impaired temporal discounting (TD) has been related to maladaptive behaviors, including substance dependence and nonadherence to medical treatment. There is consensus that TD recruits the brain valuation network but whether the hippocampal memory system is additionally recruited remains unclear. This study examined TD in hippocampal amnesia, providing a unique opportunity to explore the role of the hippocampus in cognition. Whereas most human studies have used hypothetical outcomes, this study used a novel experiential task with real-time delays and rewards. Results demonstrated hippocampal involvement in the experiential task, but not in a classic hypothetical task administered for comparison. These findings elucidate previous discrepancies between animal and human TD studies. This reconciliation is critical as animals serve as models of human neurocognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginie M Patt
- Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts 02130
| | - Renee Hunsberger
- Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts 02130
| | - Dominoe A Jones
- Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts 02130
| | - Mieke Verfaellie
- Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts 02130
- Department of Psychiatry, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02118
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Ballance BC, Tuen YJ, Petrucci AS, Orwig W, Safi OK, Madan CR, Palombo DJ. Imagining emotional events benefits future-oriented decisions. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2022; 75:2332-2348. [PMID: 35225089 PMCID: PMC9619259 DOI: 10.1177/17470218221086637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Revised: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2023]
Abstract
How does imagining future events-whether positive or negative-influence our choices in the present? Prior work has shown the simulation of hypothetical future events, dubbed episodic future thinking, can alter the propensity to engage in delay discounting (the tendency to devalue future rewards) and does so in a valence-specific manner. Some research shows that positive episodic future thinking reduces delay discounting, whereas negative future thinking augments it. However, more recent research indicates that both positive and negative episodic future thinking reduce delay discounting, suggesting an effect of episodic future thinking that is independent of valence. In this study, we sought to replicate and extend these latter findings. Here, participants (N = 604; N = 572 after exclusions) completed an online study. In the baseline task, participants completed a delay discounting task. In the experimental task, they engaged in episodic future thinking before completing a second delay discounting task. Participants were randomly assigned to engage in either positive, neutral, or negative episodic future thinking. In accordance with Bulley et al., we found that episodic future thinking, regardless of valence, reduced delay discounting. Although episodic future thinking shifted decision-making in all conditions, the effect was stronger when participants engaged in positive episodic future thinking, even after accounting for personal relevance and vividness of imagined events. These findings suggest that episodic future thinking may promote future-oriented choices by contextualising the future, and this effect is further strengthened when the future is tied to positive emotion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Braedon C Ballance
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Young Ji Tuen
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Aria S Petrucci
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - William Orwig
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Omran K Safi
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | - Daniela J Palombo
- Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Schüller CB, Wagner BJ, Schüller T, Baldermann JC, Huys D, Kerner auch Koerner J, Niessen E, Münchau A, Brandt V, Peters J, Kuhn J. Temporal discounting in adolescents and adults with Tourette syndrome. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0253620. [PMID: 34143854 PMCID: PMC8213148 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder associated with hyperactivity in dopaminergic networks. Dopaminergic hyperactivity in the basal ganglia has previously been linked to increased sensitivity to positive reinforcement and increases in choice impulsivity. In this study, we examine whether this extends to changes in temporal discounting, where impulsivity is operationalized as an increased preference for smaller-but-sooner over larger-but-later rewards. We assessed intertemporal choice in two studies including nineteen adolescents (age: mean[sd] = 14.21[±2.37], 13 male subjects) and twenty-five adult patients (age: mean[sd] = 29.88 [±9.03]; 19 male subjects) with Tourette syndrome and healthy age- and education matched controls. Computational modeling using exponential and hyperbolic discounting models via hierarchical Bayesian parameter estimation revealed reduced temporal discounting in adolescent patients, and no evidence for differences in adult patients. Results are discussed with respect to neural models of temporal discounting, dopaminergic alterations in Tourette syndrome and the developmental trajectory of temporal discounting. Specifically, adolescents might show attenuated discounting due to improved inhibitory functions that also affect choice impulsivity and/or the developmental trajectory of executive control functions. Future studies would benefit from a longitudinal approach to further elucidate the developmental trajectory of these effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Canan Beate Schüller
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | | | - Thomas Schüller
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Juan Carlos Baldermann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Daniel Huys
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Julia Kerner auch Koerner
- Educational Psychology, Helmut-Schmidt-University, Hamburg, Germany
- Center for Individual Development and Adaptive Education of Children at Risk, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Eva Niessen
- Department of Individual Differences and Psychological Assessment, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Alexander Münchau
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Valerie Brandt
- Center for Innovation in Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom
| | - Jan Peters
- Department of Biology Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jens Kuhn
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic, Johanniter Hospital Oberhausen, EVKLN, Oberhausen, Germany
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