Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2020 Jan 1;75(1):85-95. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbz097.
Prior research has revealed age differences in the preferred timing of monetary outcomes, but results are inconsistent across studies. The present study examined the role of task type, outcome characteristics, and a range of theoretically implicated covariates that may contribute to variations in age effects.
Two types of intertemporal choice paradigms (temporal discounting and sequence construction) were administered to a diverse life-span sample (n = 287, aged 18-87). The design experimentally manipulated outcome delay (months vs years), amount (hundreds vs thousands), and valence (gain vs loss) while statistically controlling for a range of potential covariates including demographics, affect, personality, time perspective, subjective health, and numeracy.
In the temporal discounting task, no significant age differences were observed and this pattern did not differ by outcome delay, amount, or valence. In the sequence-construction task, age was associated with a preference for sequences of decreasing impact in the gain condition but not in the loss condition, whereas outcome delay and amount did not moderate age effects. Age patterns in discounting and sequences preferences remained unchanged after controlling for covariates.
These findings converge with prior studies reporting weak or null effects of age in temporal discounting tasks and suggest that inconsistent results are not due to variations in outcome valence, delay, or amount across studies. Findings also add to the scarce evidence for age differences sequence-preferences. After discussing methodological limitations, we consider implications for future research and practice.
先前的研究揭示了人们对货币结果的偏好时间存在年龄差异，但不同研究的结果并不一致。本研究考察了任务类型、结果特征以及一系列可能导致年龄效应变化的理论相关协变量的作用。
向一个多样化的生命周期样本（n=287，年龄在 18-87 岁之间）施测了两种跨期选择范式（时间折扣和序列构建）。该设计通过实验操纵了结果延迟（月与年）、数量（数百与数千）和效价（收益与损失），同时统计控制了一系列潜在的协变量，包括人口统计学、情感、人格、时间观、主观健康和计算能力。
在时间折扣任务中，未观察到显著的年龄差异，而且这种模式不受结果延迟、数量或效价的影响。在序列构建任务中，年龄与收益条件下的影响递减序列偏好相关，而在损失条件下则不相关，而结果延迟和数量则没有调节年龄效应。在控制协变量后，折扣和序列偏好的年龄模式保持不变。
这些发现与先前报告在时间折扣任务中年龄效应较弱或为零的研究结果一致，表明不一致的结果不是由于不同研究中结果效价、延迟或数量的变化所致。研究结果还为序列偏好的年龄差异提供了稀缺证据。在讨论了方法学限制之后，我们考虑了对未来研究和实践的影响。
