Human choices between variable and fixed rewards in hypothetical variable-delay and double-reward discounting...

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Economics
• Decision Science
• Psychology

Background:

• Nonhuman animals strongly prefer variable delays to reinforcement over fixed delays.
• This preference is linked to the hyperbolic decrease in a reinforcer's value as delay increases.
• Previous research has not extensively explored this preference in human hypothetical choices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if humans exhibit a preference for variable delays over fixed delays in hypothetical monetary reward choices.
• To test predictions from prominent curvilinear discounting models regarding variability preference.
• To examine the influence of hypothetical, rule-governed decision-making on delay discounting behavior.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments were conducted with participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk.
• Participants made choices between variable-delay and fixed-delay reward schedules.
• A standard delay-discounting task was administered to assess discounting behavior.

Main Results:

• Human participants did not consistently prefer variable over fixed delays in the tested procedures.
• Curvilinear discounting and magnitude effects were observed in the standard delay-discounting task.
• The study found no evidence supporting predictions of variability preference from hyperbola and hyperboloid models.

Conclusions:

• Humans may not exhibit the same preference for variable delays as nonhumans in hypothetical choice scenarios.
• The hypothetical and rule-governed nature of the choices may lead participants to adopt simpler decision strategies.
• Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying delay discounting and variability preference in humans.