Center for Applied Psychological Science (CAPS), Kwansei Gakuin University, Hyogo, Japan.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Oct;38(10):2300-8. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.04.019. Epub 2013 Jun 12.
Organisms prefer to receive rewards sooner rather than later because they excessively discount the subjective value of future rewards, a phenomenon called delay discounting. Recent studies have reported an association between cortisol-which is secreted by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis-and delay discounting. However, no study has examined whether acutely induced psychosocial stress modulates delay discounting. Thus, the present study examined the effect of acute psychosocial stress and its hormonal and inflammatory correlates on the rate of delay discounting. To accomplish this purpose, we assessed the participants' discounting rates using the questionnaire version with inter-temporal choice before and after an acute psychosocial stress task (the Trier Social Stress Test; TSST). The results demonstrated that TSST increased rates of delay discounting in only cortisol responders (not in non-responders), indicating the possible influence of the pathway from the HPA axis to the dopaminergic systems under acute stress. Furthermore, the findings of correlation analysis indicated a U-shaped relationship between baseline level of C-reactive protein and delay discounting rate, suggesting a complex relationship between inflammatory markers and delay discounting rate.
生物更喜欢尽早获得奖励，而不是推迟，因为它们过度低估了未来奖励的主观价值，这种现象被称为延迟折扣。最近的研究报告称，皮质醇（由下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺轴分泌）与延迟折扣之间存在关联。然而，尚无研究检查急性心理社会应激是否调节延迟折扣。因此，本研究检查了急性心理社会应激及其激素和炎症相关性对延迟折扣率的影响。为了实现这一目的，我们在急性心理社会应激任务（Trier 社会应激测试；TSST）前后使用跨时选择问卷版评估了参与者的折扣率。结果表明，TSST 仅在皮质醇反应者（而非非反应者）中增加了延迟折扣率，表明在急性应激下，HPA 轴到多巴胺能系统的途径可能存在影响。此外，相关分析的结果表明，C 反应蛋白的基线水平与延迟折扣率之间呈 U 形关系，表明炎症标志物与延迟折扣率之间存在复杂关系。
