A Computer Adaptive Measure of Delay Discounting

Abstract

Delay discounting has been linked to important behavioral, health, and social outcomes, including academic achievement, social functioning and substance use, but thoroughly measuring delay discounting is tedious and time consuming. We develop and consistently validate an efficient and psychometrically sound computer adaptive measure of discounting. First, we develop a binary search-type algorithm to measure discounting using a large international data set of 4,190 participants. Using six independent samples ( N = 1,550), we then present evidence of concurrent validity with two standard measures of discounting and a measure of discounting real rewards, convergent validity with addictive behavior, impulsivity, personality, survival probability; and divergent validity with time perspective, life satisfaction, age and gender. The new measure is considerably shorter than standard questionnaires, includes a range of time delays, can be applied to multiple reward magnitudes, shows excellent concurrent, convergent, divergent, and discriminant validity-by showing more sensitivity to effects of smoking behavior on discounting.

Temporal discounting across adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

“…There were several studies that reported multiple measurements of discounting for each individual, either under different conditions or in separate sessions ( N = 7; Eppinger et al, 2018; Hampton et al, 2018; Johnson et al, 2015; Li et al, 2013; Liu et al, 2016; Mahalingam et al, 2018; Whelan & McHugh, 2009). In these instances, we calculated the average effect size across all conditions/sessions.…”

Delay discounting in aging: The influence of cognitive and psychological variables.

“…Nonetheless, no significant age effects were reported for an analogous condition with a 1-month delay. Moreover, other studies did not observe age-related effects on temporal discounting (Chao et al, 2009;Mahalingam et al, 2018;Sheffer et al, 2016).…”

Aportaciones De La Economía Conductual a La Evaluación, La Prevención Y El Tratamiento Psicológico en Adicciones

“…Se dispone de distintos procedimientos para evaluar el DD, desde el más tradicional consistente en la presentación de pares de elecciones de forma sistemática por el experimentador (Reed y Martens, 2011) (Mahalingam, Palkovics, Kosinski, Cek y Stillwell, 2016), el más utilizado en la actualidad.…”