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Updated: May 25, 2026
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Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task
Published on: January 9, 2016
Preference for immediate reinforcement over delayed reinforcement: relation between delay discounting and health
Shane Melanko1, Kevin T Larkin
1Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, 53 Campus Drive, 1212 Life Sciences Building, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA. Shane.melanko@mail.wvu.edu
Journal of Behavioral Medicine
|February 8, 2012
Summary
Individuals who prioritize immediate rewards over future benefits (delay discounting) engage in fewer health behaviors. This impulsive decision-making tendency is linked to poorer health choices, highlighting the importance of future consequences in health behavior adoption.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Health Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- Delayed reinforcement for health behaviors often leads to preference for immediate gratification from unhealthy behaviors.
- Understanding the link between future discounting and health choices is crucial for public health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between future discounting (impulsivity) and engagement in health behaviors.
- To identify specific measures of impulsive decision-making that predict health behavior adoption.
Main Methods:
- 72 young adults completed self-report questionnaires on health behaviors and impulsivity.
- Laboratory-behavioral measures assessed impulsive decision-making, including an Experiential Discounting Task.
- Regression analyses examined the predictive power of impulsivity measures on health behaviors.
Main Results:
- Only the Experiential Discounting Task, measuring experienced monetary consequences, significantly predicted health behaviors.
- Higher levels of delay discounting (impulsive choice) were associated with fewer health behaviors.
- Actual behavioral measures of discounting were more strongly linked to health behaviors than hypothetical or self-reported measures.
Conclusions:
- Impulsive decision-making, particularly the tendency to discount future rewards, is a significant barrier to engaging in health behaviors.
- The Experiential Discounting Task effectively measures a facet of impulsivity that impacts health choices.
- Interventions aimed at promoting health behaviors may need to address individuals' temporal discounting tendencies.
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