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Ikink I, van Duijvenvoorde ACK, Huizenga H, Roelofs K, Figner B. Age differences in intertemporal choice among children, adolescents, and adults. J Exp Child Psychol 2023; 233:105691. [PMID: 37150038 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105691] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2020] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
When choosing between sooner-smaller and later-larger rewards (i.e., intertemporal choices), adults typically prefer later-larger rewards more often than children. Intertemporal choice preferences have been implicated in various impulsivity-related psychopathologies, making it important to understand the underlying mechanisms not only in terms of how reward magnitude and delay affect choice but also in terms of how these mechanisms develop across age. We administered an intertemporal choice paradigm to 60 children (8-11 years), 79 adolescents (14-16 years), and 60 young adults (18-23 years). The paradigm systematically varied amounts and delays of the available rewards, allowing us to identify mechanisms underlying age-related differences in patience. Compared with young adults, both children and adolescents made fewer later-larger choices. In terms of underlying mechanisms, variation in delays, absolute reward magnitudes, and relative amount differences affected choice in each age group, indicating that children showed sensitivity to the same choice-relevant factors as young adults. Sensitivity to both absolute reward magnitude and relative amount differences showed a further monotonic age-related increase, whereas no change in delay sensitivity occurred. Lastly, adolescents and young adults weakly displayed a present bias (i.e., overvaluing immediate vs. future rewards; nonsignificant and trend, respectively), whereas children showed a nonsignificant but opposite pattern, possibly indicating that specifically dealing with future rewards changed with age. These findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the development of patience. By decomposing overt choices, our results suggest that the age-related increase in patience may be driven specifically by stronger sensitivity to amount differences with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Ikink
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Anna C K van Duijvenvoorde
- Developmental and Educational Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands; Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Leiden University, 2333 AK Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Hilde Huizenga
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Amsterdam Brain and Cognition Center, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Research Priority Area Yield, 1018 WS Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Karin Roelofs
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Bernd Figner
- Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
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Schaefer L, Ikink I, Woyke I, Heuvelmans V, Roelofs K, Figner B. No evidence for a causal effect of exogenous testosterone on risky decision-making in women: An experiment and meta-analysis. Decision 2022. [DOI: 10.1037/dec0000192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Ikink I, Engelmann JB, van den Bos W, Roelofs K, Figner B. Time ambiguity during intertemporal decision-making is aversive, impacting choice and neural value coding. Neuroimage 2019; 185:236-244. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2018] [Revised: 09/01/2018] [Accepted: 10/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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