Delay discounting, one element which underlies decision-making, can be defined as the depreciation of the value of a reward related to the time that it takes to be released. High rates of delay discounting are found in subjects who are willing to forgo greater rewards available only after some length of time and who show a preference for smaller rewards that are available immediately. Widely used as a measure of impulsiveness, delay discounting can be evaluated using experimental tasks. The present review evaluated tasks of delay discounting, their features, measures of evaluation and anomalies, and some variables that can affect delay discounting results and applications in the study of individual and intra-individual differences.
Choices between immediate and delayed consequences have been studied using mathematical models. Several studies have investigated this delay discounting phenomenon using appetitive stimuli, but few have studied it with aversive stimuli, although the models that describe the appetitive scenario have been suggested to also describe the aversive scenario. The aim of this study was to compare the delay discounting of gains and losses. Participants included 36 volunteers (undergraduate students; age range: 18–28 years) of both sexes. Informed consent was provided by participants. Data collection consisted of a series of hypothetical choices between immediate and delayed monetary amounts that would be earned (gain situation) and paid (loss situation): fixed delayed value of R$1,000 and variable immediate value that could range from R$1−R$1,000. For each of 8 delays, an indifference point was calculated. The analysis of the mathematical models revealed that the models found in the literature failed to describe the data obtained for losses. An alternative model is proposed, in which the aversive value of the delay is modulated by 2 parameters that are added to a hyperbolic with exponent model. Such a model provides a better description of the present data.
Em meu trabalho de mestrado tive a oportunidade de agradecer a todos que contribuíram de maneira direta ou indireta à minha formação, gostaria de reiterar meu agradecimento a todas essas pessoas. Neste momento me reservo o direito de agradecer especificamente àqueles que contribuíram de maneira direta para o presente trabalho. Em primeiro lugar gostaria de agradecer à Juliana Bizeto, minha esposa, por todo companheirismo e apoio ao longo desta quase interminável jornada, além dos comentários e revisões de versões iniciais do texto. Gostaria de agradecer à Professora Maria Teresa Araújo Silva pela orientação e compreensão ao longo do desenvolvimento deste trabalho. Gostaria de agradecer ao Professor Gene M. Heyman pelas sugestões e por ter me apresentado a essa área de estudo que chamo genericamente de desvalorização pelo atraso. Gostaria de agradecer à Professora Elenice S. Hanna pelas sugestões e discussões já na fase final do trabalho. Agradeço ao Professor Cristiano Coelho pelas indicações de leitura e sugestões ao longo do trabalho. Agradeço ao professor José de Oliveira Siqueira pelo apoio durante a fase de análise dos dados. Agradeço à Miriam Garcia-Mijares pelas contribuições na análise dos dados e nas discussões sempre proveitosas. Um agradecimento especial à Cristiane Carezzato, Arão Garcea, Cibele Cacheli e Marcela Gouvêa pela ajuda na coleta dos dados e por permitirem, em muitos momentos visualizar lampejos de futuro na área. Por fim um agradecimento à Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie pelo apoio fundamental, sem o qual esse trabalho não teria sido possível.
When neural events are analyzed as stimuli and responses, functional relations among them and among overt stimuli and responses can be unveiled. The integration of neuroscience and the experimental analysis of behavior is beginning to provide empirical evidence of involvement of neural events in the three-term contingency relating discriminative stimuli, responses, and consequences. This paper is aimed at highlighting exemplar instances in the development of this issue. It has long been known that the electrical stimulation of certain cerebral areas can have a reinforcing function. Extraordinary technological advances in recent years show that neural activity can be selected by consequences. For example, the activity of in vitro isolated neurons that receive dopamine as a reinforcer functions as a cellular analogue of operant conditioning. The in vivo activity of populations of neurons of rats and monkeys can be recorded on an instant-to-instant basis and can then be used to move mechanical arms or track a target as a function of consequences. Neural stimulation acts as a discriminative stimulus for operant responses that are in turn maintained by neural consequences. Together with investigations on the molecular basis of classical conditioning, those studies are examples of possibilities that are being created for the study of behavior-environment interactions within the organism. More important, they show that, as an element in the three-term contingency, neural activity follows the same laws as other events.
Desvalorização pelo atraso (DA) se refere à escolha especialmente influenciada pelo grau de imediaticidade com que um bem é liberado, havendo a diminuição de sua preferência em função do atraso em sua liberação. A DA se relaciona de forma positiva com a impulsividade e está presente em portadores de diversos tipos de dependências químicas e de outros transtornos que envolvem a impulsividade. Este artigo tem como objetivo apresentar a DA e sua relação com a dependência química a partir de revisão de estudos que verificaram a relação entre ambos e a aplicabilidade dos resultados como medida de impulsividade. Os estudos demonstraram que a desvalorização se associa de forma significativa com o consumo de substâncias e revelaram que sua avaliação pode ser uma importante informação no processo de tomada de decisão no uso de substâncias. Apresentam-se também estratégias de intervenção capazes de controlar e modificar a DA.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.