Three-month stability of delay and probability discounting measures.

Full Abstract

Psychopharmacologists are interested in delay and probability discounting because the tendency to discount the value of future and uncertain rewards has been linked with drug dependency. However, relatively little is known about the long-term stability of discounting measures typically studied in clinical psychopharmacology. To evaluate the stability of discounting over a 3-month period, the authors compared points of subjective equality (indifference points) with those collected from the same subjects 3 months earlier. Seven delay periods, ranging from 1 week to 25 years, and 7 probability values, ranging from .95 to .05, were assessed in an undergraduate sample (n=22, delay discounting; n=18, probability discounting). The authors examined both differential stability (stability of individual differences) and absolute stability (stability of the group mean) of delay and probability discounting measures as well as their respective indifference points. The results demonstrate that standard delay and probability discounting parameters (e.g., hyperbolic k and area under the curve) had both differential stability and absolute stability across 3 months. Moreover, most indifference points in the delay and probability discounting tasks demonstrated both differential and absolute stability. All together, these results suggest that delay and probability parameters are stable enough to predict future behavior, such as substance abuse. Additional findings indicated that a hyperbolic function fitted the data better than an exponential function and that delay and probability discounting parameters were not significantly correlated.

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Author information

Author/s: Ohmura, Yu (Y); Takahashi, Taiki (T); Kitamura, Nozomi (N); Wehr, Paul (P);

Affiliation: Department of Behavioral Science, Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology (Exp Clin Psychopharmacol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Aug; vol 14 (issue 3) : pp 318-28

Dates: Created 2006/08/08; Completed 2006/12/05;

PMID: 16893275, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Female
Humans

Humans
Male
Probability

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