Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Delay Discounting Procedure: Methodology and Flexibility

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Translational Research Methods for Alcohol Use Disorders

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 201))

  • 241 Accesses

Abstract

Delay discounting (DD) is a well-established method for evaluating behavioral impulsivity. It has been implemented extensively over the past few decades to identify associations between impulsivity and numerous psychopathologies. A valuable aspect of the DD task is its flexibility, allowing more targeted investigations of specific populations or disorders and several methodological factors may be manipulated by the researcher to maximize its utility. This chapter describes the precise methods through which our lab administers the DD task, including computer setup, instructions for participants, and a step-by-step explanation of trial processes which generate indifference points across several delays. Several different elements of the task are also considered, including the use of real or hypothetical rewards, the type of task used, and framing of questions. Each of these factors plays a significant role in the type of data acquired, the population best evaluated, and how it should be interpreted.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Mazur JE (1987) An adjusting procedure for studying delayed reinforcement. Quant Anal Behav 5:55–73

    Google Scholar 

  2. Alessi S, Petry NM (2003) Pathological gambling severity is associated with impulsivity in a delay discounting procedure. Behav Process 64(3):345–354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Johnson MW et al (2020) Sexual discounting: a systematic review of discounting processes and sexual behavior. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000402

  4. Miranda-Olivos R et al (2021) The neural correlates of delay discounting in obesity and binge eating disorder. J Behav Addict 10(3):498–507

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Fields SA, Ramos A, Reynolds BA (2015) Delay discounting and health risk behaviors: the potential role of stress. Curr Opin Psychol 5:101–105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wismans A et al (2021) The role of impulsivity and delay discounting in student compliance with COVID-19 protective measures. Personal Individ Differ 179:110925

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Petry NM (2001) Delay discounting of money and alcohol in actively using alcoholics, currently abstinent alcoholics, and controls. Psychopharmacology 154(3):243–250

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Bickel WK, Odum AL, Madden GJ (1999) Impulsivity and cigarette smoking: delay discounting in current, never, and ex-smokers. Psychopharmacology 146(4):447–454

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Turner JK et al (2021) The phenotype of recovery V: does delay discounting predict the perceived risk of relapse among individuals in recovery from alcohol and drug use disorders. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 45(5):1100–1108

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Sheffer CE et al (2014) Delay discounting rates: a strong prognostic indicator of smoking relapse. Addict Behav 39(11):1682–1689

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Hoffman WF et al (2006) Neuropsychological function and delay discounting in methamphetamine-dependent individuals. Psychopharmacology 188(2):162–170

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Cox DJ et al (2020) Delay and probability discounting in cocaine use disorder: comprehensive examination of money, cocaine, and health outcomes using gains and losses at multiple magnitudes. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 28(6):724

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Kirby KN, Petry NM (2004) Heroin and cocaine abusers have higher discount rates for delayed rewards than alcoholics or non-drug-using controls. Addiction 99(4):461–471

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Kirby KN (2009) One-year temporal stability of delay-discount rates. Psychon Bull Rev 16(3):457–462

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Anokhin AP, Golosheykin S, Mulligan RC (2015) Long-term test–retest reliability of delayed reward discounting in adolescents. Behav Process 111:55–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Anokhin AP et al (2011) Heritability of delay discounting in adolescence: a longitudinal twin study. Behav Genet 41(2):175–183

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Lempert KM, Phelps EA (2016) The malleability of intertemporal choice. Trends Cogn Sci 20(1):64–74

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Bailey AJ, Romeu RJ, Finn PR (2021) The problems with delay discounting: a critical review of current practices and clinical applications. Psychol Med 51:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Johnson MW, Bickel WK (2008) An algorithm for identifying nonsystematic delay-discounting data. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 16(3):264

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Myerson J, Green L, Warusawitharana M (2001) Area under the curve as a measure of discounting. J Exp Anal Behav 76(2):235–243

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Epstein LH et al (2003) Comparison between two measures of delay discounting in smokers. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 11(2):131

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Smith CL, Hantula DA (2008) Methodological considerations in the study of delay discounting in intertemporal choice: a comparison of tasks and modes. Behav Res Methods 40(4):940–953

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. DeHart WB et al (2018) The effects of outcome unit framing on delay discounting. J Exp Anal Behav 110(3):412–429

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Kirby K, Petry N, Bickel W (1999) Monetary choice questionnaire. Retrieved from PsycTESTS. https://www.apa.org/pubs/databases/psyctests/

  25. Mazur JE (1997) Choice, delay, probability, and conditioned reinforcement. Anim Learn Behav 25(2):131–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Xu S et al (2018) Differential effects of real versus hypothetical monetary reward magnitude on risk-taking behavior and brain activity. Sci Rep 8(1):1–9

    Google Scholar 

  27. Isen AM, Patrick R (1983) The effect of positive feelings on risk taking: when the chips are down. Organ Behav Hum Perform 31(2):194–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Hertwig R, Ortmann A (2001) Experimental practices in economics: a methodological challenge for psychologists? Behav Brain Sci 24(3):383–403

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Camerer C, Mobbs D (2017) Differences in behavior and brain activity during hypothetical and real choices. Trends Cogn Sci 21(1):46–56

    Google Scholar 

  30. Johnson MW, Bickel WK (2002) Within‐subject comparison of real and hypothetical money rewards in delay discounting. J Exp Anal Behav 77(2):129–146

    Google Scholar 

  31. Madden GJ et al (2003) Delay discounting of real and hypothetical rewards. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 11(2):139

    Google Scholar 

  32. Madden GJ et al (2004) Delay discounting of potentially real and hypothetical rewards: II. Between-and within-subject comparisons. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 12(4):251

    Google Scholar 

  33. Locey ML, Jones BA, Rachlin H (2011) Real and hypothetical rewards. Judgm Decis Mak 6(6):552

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. Bickel WK et al (2009) Congruence of BOLD response across intertemporal choice conditions: fictive and real money gains and losses. J Neurosci 29(27):8839–8846

    Google Scholar 

  35. Kang MJ et al (2011) Hypothetical and real choice differentially activate common valuation areas. J Neurosci 31(2):461–468

    Google Scholar 

  36. Whiteside SP, Lynam DR (2001) The five factor model and impulsivity: using a structural model of personality to understand impulsivity. Personal Individ Differ 30(4):669–689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Cyders MA et al (2007) Integration of impulsivity and positive mood to predict risky behavior: development and validation of a measure of positive urgency. Psychol Assess 19(1):107

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Weafer J, Baggott MJ, de Wit H (2013) Test–retest reliability of behavioral measures of impulsive choice, impulsive action, and inattention. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 21(6):475

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Reynolds B, Richards JB, de Wit H (2006) Acute-alcohol effects on the experiential discounting task (EDT) and a question-based measure of delay discounting. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 83(2):194–202

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Ortner CN, MacDonald TK, Olmstead MC (2003) Alcohol intoxication reduces impulsivity in the delay-discounting paradigm. Alcohol 38(2):151–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Weafer J, Fillmore MT (2016) Low-dose alcohol effects on measures of inhibitory control, delay discounting, and risk-taking. Curr Addict Rep 3(1):75–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Du W, Green L, Myerson J (2002) Cross-cultural comparisons of discounting delayed and probabilistic rewards. Psychol Rec 52(4):479–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Mitchell SH (1999) Measures of impulsivity in cigarette smokers and non-smokers. Psychopharmacology 146(4):455–464

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Rodzon K, Berry MS, Odum AL (2011) Within-subject comparison of degree of delay discounting using titrating and fixed sequence procedures. Behav Process 86(1):164–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Mazur JE (1988) Estimation of indifference points with an adjusting-delay procedure. J Exp Anal Behav 49(1):37–47

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Reynolds B, Schiffbauer R (2004) Measuring state changes in human delay discounting: an experiential discounting task. Behav Process 67(3):343–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Horan WP, Johnson MW, Green MF (2017) Altered experiential, but not hypothetical, delay discounting in schizophrenia. J Abnorm Psychol 126(3):301

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  48. Jimura K et al (2011) Domain independence and stability in young and older adults’ discounting of delayed rewards. Behav Process 87(3):253–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Sutcliffe KR et al (2019) Relationships among academic procrastination, psychological flexibility, and delay discounting. Behav Anal Res Pract 19:315–326

    Google Scholar 

  50. Macaskill AC, Hunt MJ, Milfont TL (2019) On the associations between delay discounting and temporal thinking. Personal Individ Differ 141:166–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Xu P, González-Vallejo C, Vincent BT (2020) Waiting in intertemporal choice tasks affects discounting and subjective time perception. J Exp Psychol Gen 149:2289–2313

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Stam CH, van der Veen FM, Franken IHA (2022) Individual differences in time estimation are associated with delay discounting and alcohol use. Curr Psychol 41(6):3806–3815

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Witt KM, Macaskill AC (2022) Choices about whether to wait: changes in delay discounting without changes in time perception. Behav Process 200:104696

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Johnson MW (2012) An efficient operant choice procedure for assessing delay discounting in humans: initial validation in cocaine-dependent and control individuals. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 20(3):191

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  55. Koffarnus MN, Bickel WK (2014) A 5-trial adjusting delay discounting task: accurate discount rates in less than one minute. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 22(3):222

    Google Scholar 

  56. Rachlin H, Raineri A, Cross D (1991) Subjective probability and delay. J Exp Anal Behav 55(2):233–244

    Google Scholar 

  57. Johnson PS, Herrmann ES, Johnson MW (2015) Opportunity costs of reward delays and the discounting of hypothetical money and cigarettes. J Exp Anal Behav 103(1):87–107

    Google Scholar 

  58. Chapman GB (1996) Temporal discounting and utility for health and money. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 22(3):771

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Harless DW (1992) Actions versus prospects: the effect of problem representation on regret. Am Econ Rev 82(3):634–649

    Google Scholar 

  60. Green L, Myerson J, McFadden E (1997) Rate of temporal discounting decreases with amount of reward. Mem Cogn 25(5):715–723

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Grace RC, Sargisson RJ, White KG (2012) Evidence for a magnitude effect in temporal discounting with pigeons. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 38(1):102

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Oberlin BG et al (2015) Monetary discounting and ventral striatal dopamine receptor availability in nontreatment-seeking alcoholics and social drinkers. Psychopharmacology 232(12):2207–2216

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  63. Cross CP, Copping LT, Campbell A (2011) Sex differences in impulsivity: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 137(1):97

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Hosseini-Kamkar N, Morton JB (2014) Sex differences in self-regulation: an evolutionary perspective. Front Neurosci 8:233

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  65. Eubig PA et al (2014) Sex differences in response to amphetamine in adult Long–Evans rats performing a delay-discounting task. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 118:1–9

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Smethells JR et al (2016) Sex differences in the reduction of impulsive choice (delay discounting) for cocaine in rats with atomoxetine and progesterone. Psychopharmacology 233(15):2999–3008

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  67. Rosch KS, Mostofsky SH, Nebel MB (2018) ADHD-related sex differences in fronto-subcortical intrinsic functional connectivity and associations with delay discounting. J Neurodev Disord 10(1):1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Ferguson E et al (2021) Sex differences in associations between delay discounting and expectancies for alcohol analgesia. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. https://doi.org/10.1037/pha0000517

  69. Shibata Y (2013) Sex differences in the effects of disinhibition, perceived peer drinking, and delay discounting on drinking among Japanese college students. Personal Individ Differ 55(7):766–770

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Göllner LM et al (2018) Delay of gratification, delay discounting and their associations with age, episodic future thinking, and future time perspective. Front Psychol 8:2304

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  71. Liu L-L et al (2016) Age differences in delay discounting in Chinese adults. Personal Individ Differ 90:205–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Read D, Read NL (2004) Time discounting over the lifespan. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 94(1):22–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Burrow AL, Spreng RN (2016) Waiting with purpose: a reliable but small association between purpose in life and impulsivity. Personal Individ Differ 90:187–189

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. De Luca CR et al (2003) Normative data from the CANTAB. I: development of executive function over the lifespan. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 25(2):242–254

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  75. Jachimowicz JM et al (2017) Community trust reduces myopic decisions of low-income individuals. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114(21):5401–5406

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  76. Kawashima K (2006) The effects of inflation and interest rates on delay discounting in human behavior. Psychol Rec 56(4):551–568

    Article  Google Scholar 

  77. Ostaszewski P, Green L, Myerson J (1998) Effects of inflation on the subjective value of delayed and probabilistic rewards. Psychon Bull Rev 5(2):324–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Peters J, Büchel C (2010) Episodic future thinking reduces reward delay discounting through an enhancement of prefrontal-mediotemporal interactions. Neuron 66(1):138–148

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  79. Lempert KM et al (2019) Can delay discounting deliver on the promise of RDoC? Psychol Med 49(2):190–199

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  80. Naudé GP et al (2018) Temporal framing and the hidden-zero effect: rate-dependent outcomes on delay discounting. J Exp Anal Behav 109(3):506–519

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  81. Read D et al (2005) Four score and seven years from now: the date/delay effect in temporal discounting. Manag Sci 51(9):1326–1335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  82. DeHart WB, Odum AL (2015) The effects of the framing of time on delay discounting. J Exp Anal Behav 103(1):10–21

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  83. Klapproth F (2012) The date-delay framing effect in temporal discounting depends on substance abuse. Behav Process 90(3):420–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  84. Radu PT et al (2011) A mechanism for reducing delay discounting by altering temporal attention. J Exp Anal Behav 96(3):363–385

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  85. Rung JM, Madden GJ (2018) Experimental reductions of delay discounting and impulsive choice: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Exp Psychol Gen 147(9):1349

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  86. Dai Z, Grace RC, Kemp S (2009) Reward contrast in delay and probability discounting. Learn Behav 37(3):281–288

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  87. Robles E, Vargas PA (2008) Parameters of delay discounting assessment: number of trials, effort, and sequential effects. Behav Process 78(2):285–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  88. Dixon MR, Jacobs EA, Sanders S (2006) Contextual control of delay discounting by pathological gamblers. J Appl Behav Anal 39(4):413–422

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  89. Giordano LA et al (2002) Mild opioid deprivation increases the degree that opioid-dependent outpatients discount delayed heroin and money. Psychopharmacology 163(2):174–182

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  90. Phelps EA, Lempert KM, Sokol-Hessner P (2014) Emotion and decision making: multiple modulatory neural circuits. Annu Rev Neurosci 37(1):263–287

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  91. Harman M, Kodak T, McKerchar T (2020) Effects of reward magnitude frames on measures of delay discounting in a hypothetical money scenario. J Exp Anal Behav 114(2):193–202

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  92. Fassbender C et al (2014) The decimal effect: behavioral and neural bases for a novel influence on intertemporal choice in healthy individuals and in ADHD. J Cogn Neurosci 26(11):2455–2468

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  93. Michaelson L et al (2013) Delaying gratification depends on social trust. Front Psychol 4:355

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Drs. Nicholas Grahame and Brandon Oberlin for guidance on DD task parameters and statistical analyses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Meredith Halcomb

Authors
  1. Meredith Halcomb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meredith Halcomb .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Melissa A. Cyders

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this protocol

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this protocol

Halcomb, M. (2023). The Delay Discounting Procedure: Methodology and Flexibility. In: Cyders, M.A. (eds) Translational Research Methods for Alcohol Use Disorders. Neuromethods, vol 201. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3267-3_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3267-3_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3266-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3267-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation