Cox David J, Dallery Jesse
University of Florida, Department of Psychology, 945 Center Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32611-2250, United States.
Behav Processes. 2016 Oct;131:15-23. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.08.002. Epub 2016 Aug 3.
To determine discount rates, researchers typically adjust the amount of an immediate or certain option relative to a delayed or uncertain option. Because this adjusting amount method can be relatively time consuming, researchers have developed more efficient procedures. One such procedure is a 5-trial adjusting delay procedure, which measures the delay at which an amount of money loses half of its value (e.g., $1000 is valued at $500 with a 10-year delay to its receipt). Experiment 1 (n=212) used 5-trial adjusting delay or probability tasks to measure delay discounting of losses, probabilistic gains, and probabilistic losses. Experiment 2 (n=98) assessed combined probabilistic and delayed alternatives. In both experiments, we compared results from 5-trial adjusting delay or probability tasks to traditional adjusting amount procedures. Results suggest both procedures produced similar rates of probability and delay discounting in six out of seven comparisons. A magnitude effect consistent with previous research was observed for probabilistic gains and losses, but not for delayed losses. Results also suggest that delay and probability interact to determine the value of money. Five-trial methods may allow researchers to assess discounting more efficiently as well as study more complex choice scenarios.
为了确定贴现率，研究人员通常会比较即时或确定选项的金额与延迟或不确定选项的金额。由于这种调整金额的方法可能相对耗时，研究人员开发了更高效的程序。其中一种程序是5次试验调整延迟程序，该程序测量一笔钱价值减半时的延迟时间（例如，1000美元在延迟10年收到时价值500美元）。实验1（n = 212）使用5次试验调整延迟或概率任务来测量损失、概率收益和概率损失的延迟贴现。实验2（n = 98）评估了概率和延迟组合的选项。在这两个实验中，我们将5次试验调整延迟或概率任务的结果与传统的调整金额程序的结果进行了比较。结果表明，在七次比较中的六次中，两种程序产生的概率和延迟贴现率相似。对于概率收益和损失，观察到了与先前研究一致的量级效应，但对于延迟损失则没有。结果还表明，延迟和概率相互作用以确定货币的价值。5次试验方法可能使研究人员能够更有效地评估贴现，并研究更复杂的选择情景。
