A Model Guided Approach to Evoke Homogeneous Behavior During Temporal Reward and Loss Discounting

Delay discounting of rewards and losses, alcohol use, and the influence of socioeconomic factors: A cross-sectional online study in frequent drinkers

BACKGROUND

Delay discounting describes the devaluation of future outcomes over time and is a popular behavioral construct in addiction research. Prior studies show modest yet consistent associations between problematic alcohol use and delayed reward discounting (DRD). However, the potential confounding influence of socioeconomic status (SES, e.g., income and education) is rarely addressed. In this study, we aimed to investigate the robustness of DRD as a predictor of alcohol use after controlling for socioeconomic and demographic variables. Additionally, we aimed to test the association between delayed loss discounting (DLD) and alcohol use in a sufficiently large sample.

METHODS

We collected data from 341 moderate-to-heavy-drinking participants (27.92 ± 21.12 g alcohol/day, 43.48 ± 11.90 years old, 49.9% female, UK residents) in a cross-sectional online study. DRD and DLD were measured using an intertemporal choice task. Questionnaires encompassed alcohol use (AUDIT, weekly alcohol consumption), education and income, subjective measures of past and present socioeconomic status, and impulsivity.

RESULTS

DRD, but not DLD, was significantly associated with AUDIT scores (r = 0.15) and weekly alcohol consumption (r = 0.12). DRD remained a significant yet weak predictor of AUDIT scores when controlling for education and income, but not when controlling for education and age.

CONCLUSIONS

We replicated a small but robust association between alcohol use and DRD, but not DLD. This association appeared to be confounded by education and age, but not by income. We conclude that socioeconomic and demographic variables should systematically be accounted for in future studies investigating DRD and alcohol use.

The ReCoDe addiction research consortium: Losing and regaining control over drug intake-Findings and future perspectives

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are seen as a continuum ranging from goal-directed and hedonic drug use to loss of control over drug intake with aversive consequences for mental and physical health and social functioning. The main goals of our interdisciplinary German collaborative research centre on Losing and Regaining Control over Drug Intake (ReCoDe) are (i) to study triggers (drug cues, stressors, drug priming) and modifying factors (age, gender, physical activity, cognitive functions, childhood adversity, social factors, such as loneliness and social contact/interaction) that longitudinally modulate the trajectories of losing and regaining control over drug consumption under real-life conditions. (ii) To study underlying behavioural, cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms of disease trajectories and drug-related behaviours and (iii) to provide non-invasive mechanism-based interventions. These goals are achieved by: (A) using innovative mHealth (mobile health) tools to longitudinally monitor the effects of triggers and modifying factors on drug consumption patterns in real life in a cohort of 900 patients with alcohol use disorder. This approach will be complemented by animal models of addiction with 24/7 automated behavioural monitoring across an entire disease trajectory; i.e. from a naïve state to a drug-taking state to an addiction or resilience-like state. (B) The identification and, if applicable, computational modelling of key molecular, neurobiological and psychological mechanisms (e.g., reduced cognitive flexibility) mediating the effects of such triggers and modifying factors on disease trajectories. (C) Developing and testing non-invasive interventions (e.g., Just-In-Time-Adaptive-Interventions (JITAIs), various non-invasive brain stimulations (NIBS), individualized physical activity) that specifically target the underlying mechanisms for regaining control over drug intake. Here, we will report on the most important results of the first funding period and outline our future research strategy.

Model-based experimental manipulation of probabilistic behavior in interpretable behavioral latent variable models

Introduction

Interpretable latent variable models that probabilistically link behavioral observations to an underlying latent process have increasingly been used to draw inferences on cognition from observed behavior. The latent process usually connects experimental variables to cognitive computation. While such models provide important insights into the latent processes generating behavior, one important aspect has often been overlooked. They may also be used to generate precise and falsifiable behavioral predictions as a function of the modeled experimental variables. In doing so, they pinpoint how experimental conditions must be designed to elicit desired behavior and generate adaptive experiments.

Methods

These ideas are exemplified on the process of delay discounting (DD). After inferring DD models from behavior on a typical DD task, the models are leveraged to generate a second adaptive DD task. Experimental trials in this task are designed to elicit 9 graded behavioral discounting probabilities across participants. Models are then validated and contrasted to competing models in the field by assessing the ouf-of-sample prediction error.

Results

The proposed framework induces discounting probabilities on nine levels. In contrast to several alternative models, the applied model exhibits high validity as indicated by a comparably low prediction error. We also report evidence for inter-individual differences with respect to the most suitable models underlying behavior. Finally, we outline how to adapt the proposed method to the investigation of other cognitive processes including reinforcement learning.

Discussion

Inducing graded behavioral frequencies with the proposed framework may help to highly resolve the underlying cognitive construct and associated neuronal substrates.

Comparing Discounting of Potentially Real Rewards and Losses by Means of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Aim

Delay discounting (DD) has often been investigated in the context of decision making whereby individuals attribute decreasing value to rewards in the distant future. Less is known about DD in the context of negative consequences. The aim of this pilot study was to identify commonalities and differences between reward and loss discounting on the behavioral as well as the neural level by means of computational modeling and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). We furthermore compared the neural activation between anticipation of rewards and losses.

Method

We conducted a study combining an intertemporal choice task for potentially real rewards and losses (decision-making) with a monetary incentive/loss delay task (reward/loss anticipation). Thirty healthy participants (age 18-35, 14 female) completed the study. In each trial, participants had to choose between a smaller immediate loss/win and a larger loss/win at a fixed delay of two weeks. Task-related brain activation was measured with fMRI.

Results

Hyperbolic discounting parameters of loss and reward conditions were correlated (r = 0.56). During decision-making, BOLD activation was observed in the parietal and prefrontal cortex, with no differences between reward and loss conditions. During reward and loss anticipation, dissociable activation was observed in the striatum, the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex.

Conclusion

We observed behavior concurrent with DD in both the reward and loss condition, with evidence for similar behavioral and neural patterns in the two conditions. Intertemporal decision-making recruited the fronto-parietal network, whilst reward and loss anticipation were related to activation in the salience network. The interpretation of these findings may be limited to short delays and small monetary outcomes.