Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2026
07:47
Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task
Published on: January 9, 2016
Delayed reward information is underweighted in reinforcement learning with dispersed feedback
Miruna Cotet1,2, David Poensgen3, Ian Krajbich1,4,5
1Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
Plos Computational Biology
|June 29, 2026
Summary
People learning from choices with immediate and delayed reward information overweighted immediate feedback, leading to worse outcomes. This bias persisted even when learning from others, indicating a preference for immediate information over actual reward timing.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Neuroeconomics
- Decision-making
Background:
- Adaptive behavior relies on learning from action outcomes.
- Traditional learning models often assume single outcomes per action.
- Real-world scenarios involve actions with multiple, temporally distributed consequences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how individuals learn when faced with both immediate and delayed reward information.
- To determine if reward timing influences information weighting, irrespective of actual reward delivery.
- To explore the persistence and contributing factors of biased information processing.
Main Methods:
- Utilized behavioral experiments to track learning and decision-making.
- Employed eye-tracking to analyze visual attention towards immediate versus delayed feedback.
- Designed tasks where all rewards were delivered post-experiment to isolate information processing biases.
Main Results:
- Subjects consistently overweighted immediate reward information, despite equivalent reward delivery.
- This bias intensified throughout the experiment and was observed even when learning socially.
- Eye-tracking data showed inconclusive evidence linking gaze patterns to the observed behavioral bias.
Conclusions:
- Individuals exhibit a bias towards prioritizing immediate reward *information*, not just immediate rewards.
- This preference for immediacy in information processing is a cognitive error, distinct from temporal discounting.
- The findings suggest a fundamental mechanism in human learning that can lead to suboptimal decision-making.
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