Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Decision Making

Decision Making

Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive process that involves evaluating alternatives and selecting among them. This process can range from simple choices, such as deciding what to wear, to complex decisions, like choosing a major in college or a career path. The complexity of the decision often dictates the approach we use, which can be broadly categorized into two types: automatic and controlled decision-making.
Automatic decision-making is fast, intuitive, and relies on gut feelings...

Reason and Intuition

Reason and Intuition

The human brain processes information for decision-making using one of two routes: an intuitive system and a rational system (Epstein, 1994; popularized by Kahneman, 2011 as System 1 and System 2, respectively). The intuitive system is quick, impulsive, and operates with minimal effort, relying on emotions or habits to provide cues for what to do next, while the rational system is logical, analytical, deliberate, and methodical. Research in neuropsychology suggests that the...

Timing and Consequences on Behavior

Timing and Consequences on Behavior

In operant conditioning, the timing of reinforcement is crucial. For animals like rats and cats, immediate reinforcement (within a few seconds) is much more effective than delayed reinforcement. For example, a food reward for a rat needs to follow within 30 seconds of pressing a bar to be effective.
Humans, however, can respond to delayed reinforcers. We often make decisions between immediate small rewards and delayed larger rewards. This ability to delay gratification is a significant...

Hindsight Biases

Hindsight Biases

Hindsight bias leads you to believe that the event you just experienced was predictable, even though it really wasn’t. In other words, you knew all along that things would turn out the way they did. Can you relate this to the phrase "Hindsight is 20/20" now?

Decision Making: P-value Method

Decision Making: P-value Method

The process of hypothesis testing based on the P-value method includes calculating the P- value using the sample data and interpreting it.
First, a specific claim about the population parameter is proposed. The claim is based on the research question and is stated in a simple form. Further, an opposing statement to the claim is also stated. These statements can act as null and alternative hypotheses: a null hypothesis would be a neutral statement while the alternative hypothesis can...

The Anchoring-and-Adjustment Heuristic

The Anchoring-and-Adjustment Heuristic

In order to make good decisions, we use our knowledge and our reasoning. Often, this knowledge and reasoning is sound and solid. However, sometimes, we are swayed by biases or by others manipulating a situation. For example, let’s say you and three friends wanted to rent a house and had a combined target budget of $1,600. The realtor shows you only very run-down houses for $1,600 and then shows you a very nice house for $2,000. Might you ask each person to pay more in rent to get the...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A bibliometric analysis of neuroimaging studies on cognitive control in autism spectrum disorder (2000-2025).

Frontiers in psychiatry·2026

Same author

From categorization to quantification: Stage-dependent neural and behavioral mechanisms of facial emotion recognition.

NeuroImage·2026

Same author

Upfront design beats post hoc reliability fixes.

Trends in cognitive sciences·2026

Same author

Revisiting the big five-academic performance association: a one-stage meta-analytic structural equation modeling reanalysis of 84 studies.

Frontiers in psychology·2026

Same author

Revisiting the relationship between the big five personality traits and flow using meta-analytic structural equation modeling: a methodological perspective on Buseyne et al. (2025).

Frontiers in psychology·2026

Same author

Who is responsible for self-AI or others-AI collaboration? The effect of power and task outcome in responsibility attribution.

Acta psychologica·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 4, 2025

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Preference reversal in intertemporal decision making.

Yan-Bang Zhou¹, Kun Zhang¹, Hong-Kun Zhai²

¹Institute of Teacher Education, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, China.

Frontiers in Psychology

|December 19, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Task format significantly impacts intertemporal decision-making, influencing preferences for smaller, sooner (SS) versus larger, later (LL) rewards in both gains and losses. Cognitive load varies between choice and bidding tasks.

Keywords:

gain intertemporal choice loss preference reversal response modes

More Related Videos

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

Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice

Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice

Published on: June 5, 2016

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 4, 2025

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

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

Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice

Errors as a Means of Reducing Impulsive Food Choice

Published on: June 5, 2016

Area of Science:

Behavioral Economics
Cognitive Psychology
Decision Science

Background:

Intertemporal decision-making involves choices about rewards or losses over time.
Asymmetric preference reversals, where choices change based on context, are a key phenomenon.
Understanding how task formats influence these decisions is crucial for behavioral insights.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate asymmetric preference reversals in intertemporal choices.
To compare decision-making in gain and loss contexts using choice and bidding tasks.
To assess the cognitive demands associated with different task formats.

Main Methods:

Comparison of choice tasks versus bidding tasks for intertemporal decisions.
Examination of preferences in both gain and loss scenarios.
Measurement of decision times to infer cognitive load.
Validation using a real-world questionnaire with 370 participants.

Main Results:

In gain contexts, choice tasks favored smaller, sooner (SS) rewards, while bidding tasks favored larger, later (LL) rewards.
In loss contexts, choice tasks favored LL options, and bidding tasks favored SS options.
Bidding tasks consistently showed longer decision times than choice tasks, indicating higher cognitive demand.

Conclusions:

Task format critically influences intertemporal preferences, leading to preference reversals.
Cognitive demands differ significantly between choice and bidding tasks.
Findings have practical implications for behavioral decision-making strategies and applied contexts.