Wang Guangrong, Li Jianbiao, Li Shuaiqi, Zhu Chengkang
Neural Decision Science Laboratory, School of Economics and Management, Weifang University, Weifang, China.
School of Economics, Institute for Study of Brain-Like Economics, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 29;11:576460. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.576460. eCollection 2020.
Delay discounting and probability discounting are two important processes, but in daily life there are many more situations that involve delayed risky outcomes. Although neuroscience research has extensively investigated delay and probability discounting in isolation, little research has explored the neural correlates of the combined discounting of delay and probability. Using the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) technique, we designed a novel paradigm to investigate neural processes related to the combined discounting of delay and probability during the evaluation of a delayed risky reward. ERP results suggested distinct temporal dynamics for delay and probability processing during combined discounting. Both the early frontal P200 and the N2 reflected only probability, not delay, while the parietal P300 was sensitive to both probability and delay. Furthermore, the late positive potential (LPP) was sensitive to probability, but insensitive to delay. These results suggest that probability has a prolonged modulatory effect on reward evaluation in the information processing stream. These findings contribute to an understanding of the neural processes underlying the combined discounting of delay and probability. The limitation of this study is to only consider four delay and probability combinations. Future studies can explore the combined discounting of more probability and delay combinations to further test the robustness of the conclusion.
延迟折扣和概率折扣是两个重要的过程，但在日常生活中，有更多情况涉及延迟的风险结果。尽管神经科学研究已经广泛地单独研究了延迟和概率折扣，但很少有研究探讨延迟和概率联合折扣的神经关联。我们使用事件相关脑电位（ERP）技术设计了一种新颖的范式，以研究在评估延迟风险奖励期间与延迟和概率联合折扣相关的神经过程。ERP结果表明，在联合折扣期间，延迟和概率处理具有不同的时间动态。早期额叶P200和N2仅反映概率，而非延迟，而顶叶P300对概率和延迟均敏感。此外，晚期正电位（LPP）对概率敏感，但对延迟不敏感。这些结果表明，概率在信息处理流中对奖励评估具有延长的调节作用。这些发现有助于理解延迟和概率联合折扣背后的神经过程。本研究的局限性在于仅考虑了四种延迟和概率组合。未来的研究可以探索更多概率和延迟组合的联合折扣，以进一步检验该结论的稳健性。
