Abstract
Two separate cognitive processes are involved in choosing between rewards available at different points in time. The first is temporal discounting, which consists of combining information about the size and delay of prospective rewards to represent subjective values. The second involves a comparison of available rewards to enable an eventual choice on the basis of these subjective values. While several mathematical models of temporal discounting have been developed, the reward selection process has been largely unexplored. To address this limitation, we evaluated the applicability of the Linear Ballistic Accumulator (LBA) model as a theory of the selection process in intertemporal choice. The LBA model formalizes the selection process as a sequential sampling algorithm in which information about different choice options is integrated until a decision criterion is reached. We compared several versions of the LBA model to demonstrate that choice outcomes and response times in intertemporal choice are well captured by the LBA process. The relationship between choice outcomes and response times that derives from the LBA model cannot be explained by temporal discounting alone. Moreover, the drift rates that drive evidence accumulation in the best-fitting LBA model are related to independently estimated subjective values derived from various temporal discounting models. These findings provide a quantitative framework for predicting dynamics of choice-related activity during the reward selection process in intertemporal choice and link intertemporal choice to other classes of decisions in which the LBA model has been applied.
Highlights
In order to choose between rewards available at different points in time it is often necessary to evaluate the tradeoff between the size of potential rewards and the corresponding delays until their receipt
We have shown that intertemporal choice behavior is consistent with a process of discounted value accumulation instantiated by the Linear Ballistic Accumulator (LBA) model
The LBA model we employed here has been used to explain neural activity during perceptual decision making. Sequential sampling processes such as that implemented by the LBA model provide a direct link between neural dynamics and decision making behavior
Summary
In order to choose between rewards available at different points in time it is often necessary to evaluate the tradeoff between the size of potential rewards and the corresponding delays until their receipt. Deciding whether to save or spend a certain amount of money requires determining whether ensuring greater future wealth is worth delaying the pleasure of spending and consuming When engaged in this form of decision making, a class of decisions known as intertemporal choice, humans and other species discount the value of rewards in proportion to the delay at which they are available. The behavior observed in intertemporal choice experiments reveals preferences consistent with a steep reduction in the value of rewards delayed from the present moment but more modest discounting of rewards delayed from future time points [1]. Subjective valuation is only one of the cognitive processes involved in intertemporal choice behavior [3,4]
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