Choices about whether to wait: Changes in delay discounting without changes in time perception

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Delay discounting describes the decrease in a reward's subjective value as its delay increases.
• Discounting rates can vary based on whether waiting is involved or if the choice is about postponement.
• The relationship between temporal perception and delay discounting, particularly during waiting, remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if changes in delay discounting during waiting tasks correlate with alterations in subjective time perception.
• To explore the factors influencing steeper delay discounting observed over time within a session.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted involving participants completing delay discounting tasks.
• Experiment 1 involved repeated completion of an experiential waiting task.
• Experiment 2 included repeated delay discounting tasks alongside a temporal bisection task to measure time perception.

Main Results:

• Participants exhibited steeper delay discounting in later trials of the waiting task in both experiments.
• Subjective time perception, measured by the temporal bisection task, did not significantly change across the session.
• Delay discounting rates were not correlated with subjective time perception.

Conclusions:

• Changes in delay discounting during waiting are not explained by alterations in subjective time perception.
• Contextual or reference effects may account for the observed increase in delay discounting over time.
• Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms behind session-based changes in delay discounting.