title: Working-memory training: effects on delay discounting in male Long Evans rats.
abstract: Delay discounting describes the devaluation of a reward as the delay to the receipt of the reward increases. Because steep delay discounting is robustly correlated with a number of behavioral problems (e.g., substance dependence, gambling) and some evidence suggests steep discounting precedes and predicts drug-taking in humans and rats, this study sought to experimentally reduce rats' delay discounting. Human stimulant-dependent participants given working-memory training reportedly decreased their rates of discounting relative to a sham-training group (Bickel, Yi, Landes, Hill, & Baxter, 2011). To evaluate the cross-species generality of this effect, 38 male Long-Evans rats, matched on pretraining delay-discounting rates, were randomly assigned to receive 140 sessions of working-memory training or sham training (which required no memory of the sample stimulus). Large between-group differences in working memory were observed after training; however, posttraining delay-discounting rates were undifferentiated across groups. Potential explanations for these findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Utah State University.
authors.forename: C Renee
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Renda
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Madden
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D065786:Delay Discounting; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans / Q000523:psychology
keywords: competing neurobehavioral decisions systems theory; delay discounting; executive function; impulsivity; lever press; rats; working-memory training