Department of Counseling and Psychological Services, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104; and
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jul 8;111(27):9786-91. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1408991111. Epub 2014 Jun 23.
People often exert willpower to choose a more valuable delayed reward over a less valuable immediate reward, but using willpower is taxing and frequently fails. In this research, we demonstrate the ability to enhance self-control (i.e., forgoing smaller immediate rewards in favor of larger delayed rewards) without exerting additional willpower. Using behavioral and neuroimaging data, we show that a reframing of rewards (i) reduced the subjective value of smaller immediate rewards relative to larger delayed rewards, (ii) increased the likelihood of choosing the larger delayed rewards when choosing between two real monetary rewards, (iii) reduced the brain reward responses to immediate rewards in the dorsal and ventral striatum, and (iv) reduced brain activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a correlate of willpower) when participants chose the same larger later rewards across the two choice frames. We conclude that reframing can promote self-control while avoiding the need for additional willpower expenditure.
人们经常运用意志力，选择更有价值的延迟奖励，而不是价值较低的即时奖励，但意志力的运用是耗费精力的，而且常常会失败。在这项研究中，我们展示了一种无需额外运用意志力就能增强自我控制能力（即放弃较小的即时奖励，选择较大的延迟奖励）的能力。我们使用行为和神经影像学数据表明，奖励的重新设定：(i) 相对于较大的延迟奖励，降低了较小即时奖励的主观价值；(ii) 增加了在两个真实货币奖励之间选择时选择较大的延迟奖励的可能性；(iii) 减少了腹侧和背侧纹状体中即时奖励的大脑奖励反应；(iv) 当参与者在两个选择框架中选择相同的较大的后期奖励时，减少了背外侧前额叶皮层（意志力的相关物）的大脑活动。我们的结论是，重新设定可以促进自我控制，同时避免额外的意志力消耗。
