Zhou Yan-Bang, Li Qiang, Li Qiu-Yue, Liu Hong-Zhi
Department of Social Psychology, Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Laboratory of Behavioral Economics and Policy Simulation, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Front Psychol. 2022 Apr 14;13:865598. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.865598. eCollection 2022.
Time preference reversals refers to systematic inconsistencies between preferences and valuations in intertemporal choice. When faced with a pair of intertemporal options, people preferred the smaller-sooner option but assign a higher price to the larger-later one. Different hypotheses postulate that the differences in evaluation scale or output format between the choice and the bid tasks cause the preference reversal. However, these hypotheses have not been distinguished. In the present study, we conducted a hybrid task, which shares the same evaluation scale with the bid task and shares the same output format with the choice task. By comparing these three tasks, we can figure out the key reason for time preference reversal. The eye-tracking measures reflecting attention allocation, cognitive effort and information search pattern were examined. Results showed that participants' time preference and eye-tracking measures in the hybrid task were similar to those in the choice task, but different from those in the bid task. Our findings suggest that the output format is the core reason for time preference reversal and may deepen our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie time preference reversal.
时间偏好逆转是指跨期选择中偏好与估值之间的系统性不一致。当面对一对跨期选项时，人们更喜欢较小且较早的选项，但却为较大且较晚的选项赋予更高的价格。不同的假设认为，选择任务和出价任务之间评估尺度或输出格式的差异导致了偏好逆转。然而，这些假设尚未得到区分。在本研究中，我们进行了一项混合任务，它与出价任务具有相同的评估尺度，与选择任务具有相同的输出格式。通过比较这三个任务，我们可以找出时间偏好逆转的关键原因。我们考察了反映注意力分配、认知努力和信息搜索模式的眼动测量指标。结果表明，参与者在混合任务中的时间偏好和眼动测量指标与选择任务中的相似，但与出价任务中的不同。我们的研究结果表明，输出格式是时间偏好逆转的核心原因，可能会加深我们对时间偏好逆转潜在机制的理解。
