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Propranolol reduces reference-dependence in intertemporal choice.

Karolina M Lempert¹, Sandra F Lackovic¹, Russell H Tobe²

¹Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

|October 10, 2017

Summary

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People often prefer immediate rewards due to temporal discounting. This study found that reducing arousal with propranolol lessens this bias, making choices less dependent on recent history and more consistent.

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Behavioral Economics
Decision Science

Background:

Temporal discounting describes the preference for immediate over larger delayed rewards.
Previous research suggested emotional arousal drives this bias, but evidence was lacking.
Arousal in intertemporal choice is context-dependent, tracking the subjective value of variable reward options.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the causal relationship between reference-dependent choice and arousal.
To determine if reducing arousal pharmacologically impacts reference-dependence in intertemporal choices.

Main Methods:

Administered propranolol to reduce physiological arousal.
Assessed changes in reference-dependence in an intertemporal choice task.
Measured choice behavior in relation to recent reward history and variance.

Keywords:

emotional arousal intertemporal choice propranolol pupil dilation temporal discounting

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

Propranolol significantly reduced reference-dependence in decision-making.
Choices became less influenced by the recent history of offers after propranolol administration.
Participants exhibited more internally consistent choices, less swayed by contextual variance.

Conclusions:

Pharmacological reduction of arousal causally impacts reference-dependent choice behavior.
Arousal plays a key role in modulating how individuals weigh recent reward history.
Findings suggest a neurobiological basis for reference-dependence in intertemporal decision-making.