Abstract
Previous research has shown that extended exposure to delayed reinforcement results in less impulsive choice in a subsequent delay-discounting task. Some work also suggests the opposite effect: extended exposure to immediate reinforcement may result in more impulsive choice behavior in a subsequent delay-discounting task. Understanding the impact that learning histories have on impulsive choice is important and clinically relevant because of the relationship between a strong preference for smaller-sooner over larger-later reinforcement (i.e., impulsive choice) and a myriad of other problematic health behaviors, such as substance misuse. In the present experiment, we exposed 24 rats to an immediate reinforcement intervention and 24 rats to a maturation/handle control group, followed immediately by a delay-discounting task. The procedure was designed as a systematic replication that accounted for several limitations from recent similar work. Results indicated that exposure to immediate reinforcement modestly increased impulsive choice in the delay-discounting task, but the effect was not overwhelming. These findings are consistent with previous work and have implications for understanding how experience-based interventions may affect clinically relevant impulsive choice.
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Data Availability
Data and code can be found at https://osf.io/9vt8w/?view_only=a61aa993d1e24d4fbf76275c2155be63.
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Author Note
The author thanks the vivarium staff at SLU for helping take care of the rats, SLU and the Sarah Johnson ’82 Professor in the Sciences Endowed Chair for funding, and the students in the PSYC 401 Lab at SLU during the fall semesters of 2021 and 2022 for help collecting and analyzing data and for many discussions related to the work.
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Fox, A.E. Immediate Reinforcement Training Has Moderate Effect on Delay Discounting Behavior in Rats: A Systematic Replication. Psychol Rec (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-024-00597-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-024-00597-x