Burghoorn Floor, Scheres Anouk, Roelofs Karin, Figner Bernd
Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2025 Aug 11. doi: 10.3758/s13415-025-01326-9.
Previous research has found the anticipation of immediate (compared with delayed) rewards to enhance instrumental approach behaviour and interfere with instrumental inhibition. This so-called intertemporal Pavlovian bias has been proposed as a mechanism contributing to impatient actions. In the present preregistered study, we aimed to replicate this intertemporal Pavlovian bias effect, and examined whether individual differences in the strength of this bias were associated with mental health symptoms characterized by increased or decreased intertemporal impatience. A sample of 389 participants completed an intertemporal go/no-go learning task, as well as questionnaires that assessed symptoms of alcohol use disorder, nicotine dependence, depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), disordered eating, impulsivity, and body mass index. We replicated the intertemporal Pavlovian bias effect on the probability of go responding (a response bias), and reinforcement learning models again pointed to a Pavlovian cue-response bias as computational mechanism driving this effect. Contrary to our expectations, the response bias was not associated with mental health symptoms. We also observed an intertemporal Pavlovian bias effect on the vigour of correct go responses, with faster responses in anticipation of immediate rewards (a response time or RT bias). A stronger RT bias was associated with ADHD hyperactivity/impulsivity and nonplanning impulsivity symptoms, while a reversed RT bias (with faster incorrect go responses in anticipation of delayed rewards) was associated with eating disorder symptoms and total and motor impulsivity. Together, our results support the robustness of the intertemporal Pavlovian response bias and point towards the possible relevance of the RT bias for several mental health problems.
先前的研究发现，预期即时（与延迟相比）奖励会增强工具性趋近行为并干扰工具性抑制。这种所谓的跨期巴甫洛夫偏差已被提出作为导致不耐烦行为的一种机制。在本项预先注册的研究中，我们旨在重复这种跨期巴甫洛夫偏差效应，并检验这种偏差强度的个体差异是否与以跨期不耐烦增加或减少为特征的心理健康症状相关。389名参与者的样本完成了一项跨期Go/No-Go学习任务，以及评估酒精使用障碍、尼古丁依赖、抑郁、焦虑、注意力缺陷多动障碍（ADHD）、饮食失调、冲动性和体重指数症状的问卷。我们重复了跨期巴甫洛夫偏差对Go反应概率（一种反应偏差）的影响，强化学习模型再次指出巴甫洛夫线索-反应偏差是驱动这种效应的计算机制。与我们的预期相反，反应偏差与心理健康症状无关。我们还观察到跨期巴甫洛夫偏差对正确Go反应的活力有影响，预期即时奖励时反应更快（一种反应时间或RT偏差）。更强的RT偏差与ADHD多动/冲动和非计划性冲动症状相关，而相反的RT偏差（预期延迟奖励时错误Go反应更快）与饮食失调症状以及总体和运动冲动性相关。总之，我们的结果支持跨期巴甫洛夫反应偏差的稳健性，并指出RT偏差可能与几种心理健康问题相关。
