Exchange delays and impulsive choice in adult humans.
Choice responding by adult humans in a discrete-trial task was examined as a function of conditions that manipulated either the delay to point delivery or the delay between points and their exchange for money. In point-delay conditions, subjects chose between an "impulsive" alternative that provided a small amount of points immediately and a "self-control" alternative that provided a larger amount of points delayed by 15, 30, or 60 s. Points were exchanged for money immediately following the session. Subjects preferred the self-control alternative. In exchange-delay conditions, subjects chose between a small amount of points exchangeable for money immediately following the session and a larger amount of points exchangeable for money after 1 day, 3 weeks, or 6 weeks. A self-control preference observed for all subjects in the 1-day exchange-delay condition reversed to exclusive impulsive preference for 4 of the 6 subjects when choice conditions involved exchange delays of 3 or 6 weeks. These results show that human choice is sensitive to the manipulation of exchange delays and that impulsive preference can be obtained with exchange delays on the order of weeks.
Hyten
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Center for Behavior Analysis, University of North Texas, Denton 76203.
Madden
G J
GJ
Field
D P
DP
D000328:Adult; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule