Comparing individual delay discounting of gains and losses
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2015-06-01
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Choices between immediate and delayed consequences have been studied using mathematical models. Several studies have investigated this delay discounting phenomenon using appetitive stimuli, but few have studied it with aversive stimuli, although the models that describe the appetitive scenario have been suggested to also describe the aversive scenario. The aim of this study was to compare the delay discounting of gains and losses. Participants included 36 volunteers (undergraduate students; age range: 18-28 years) of both sexes. Informed consent was provided by participants. Data collection consisted of a series of hypothetical choices between immediate and delayed monetary amounts that would be earned (gain situation) and paid (loss situation): fixed delayed value of R$1,000 and variable immediate value that could range from R$1 — R$1,000. For each of 8 delays, an indifference point was calculated. The analysis of the mathematical models revealed that the models found in the literature failed to describe the data obtained for losses. An alternative model is proposed, in which the aversive value of the delay is modulated by 2 parameters that are added to a hyperbolic with exponent model. Such a model provides a better description of the present data.
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Aversive control, Choice, Decision making, Delay discounting, Delay of reinforcement
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Psychology and Neuroscience, v. 8, n. 2, p. 267-279, 2015.