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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 6, 2026

Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task

Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task

Published on: January 9, 2016

Temporal discounting in major depressive disorder.

E Pulcu¹, P D Trotter¹, E J Thomas¹

¹School of Medicine, Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit,University of Manchester and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre,Manchester,UK.

Psychological Medicine

|November 2, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) show a greater tendency to devalue future financial rewards, impacting long-term investment decisions. This heightened discounting of delayed rewards is linked to depressive symptoms like hopelessness.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychiatry
Behavioral Economics

Background:

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is linked to altered financial reward processing.
Previous studies show reduced sensitivity to reward frequency, but less is known about temporal reward evaluation.
MDD may involve a negative future outlook, affecting willingness to invest in long-term goals.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how individuals with and without MDD evaluate financial rewards over time.
To explore the relationship between depressive symptoms and the discounting of delayed financial rewards.

Main Methods:

A delay discounting task was administered to 82 participants.
Participants included healthy controls, unmedicated remitted MDD patients, and current MDD patients (some on medication).

Main Results:

Current MDD patients discounted large future rewards significantly more than remitted patients and controls.
MDD patients were insensitive to changes in reward size from medium to large.
Higher discounting rates for large rewards correlated with depressive symptom severity, especially hopelessness.

Conclusions:

Elevated discounting of delayed rewards in MDD appears state-dependent and linked to symptoms like hopelessness.
This behavior suggests a preference for immediate financial options over long-term planning.
Impaired long-term investment decisions in MDD may contribute to functional deficits and impact decision-making processes.