Delay Discounting Task - Short Term

Script Author: David Nitz (nitz.david@gmail.com), Millisecond.

Last Modified: January 30, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

The Delayed Reward Task by Cherek et al (1997) is a 2-choice procedure for assessing tolerance for delayed rewards. It can be used as a measure of impulsivity.

Cherek, D. R., Moeller, F. G., Dougherty, D. M., & Rhoades, H.(1997). Studies of violent and nonviolent male parolees: II. Laboratory and psychometric measurements of impulsivity. Biological Psychiatry, 41, 523-529.

Related references:

Cherek, D. R., Moeller, F. G., Schnapp, W., & Dougherty, D. M. (1997). Studies of violent and nonviolent male parolees: I. Laboratory and psychometric measurements of aggression. Biological Psychiatry, 41, 514-522.

Moeller, F. G., Dougherty, D. M., Barratt, E. S., Oderinde, V., Mathias, C. W., Harper, R. A., & Swann, A. C. (2002). Increased impulsivity in cocaine dependent subjects independent of antisocial personality disorder and aggression. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 68, 105-111.

Duration

18 minutes

Description

Participants get to choose between an A button (small with small, fixed delay) or a B button (big with large, variable delay).

Procedure

During experimental sessions subjects were provided with two response options: 1) an
impulsive response option (option A); and 2) a self-control response option (option B).

Training Sessions:
At the beginning of the first session, subjects participated in a training session that consisted of 20
trials. During the first 10 trials the letter A was presented on the computer screen, and after
a 5-sec delay the letter A began to flash off and on. A single press of button A removed the
letter from the screen and added 5 cents to the counter (00.05). During the last 10 trials, the
letter B appeared, and 15 sec later the letter began to flash off and on. A single press of
button B removed the letter from the screen and added 15 cents to the counter (00.15). At
the end of the 20 training trials, the screen displayed "Training Over." The purpose of the
training sessions was to give subjects a brief exposure to the different monetary amounts and
delays associated with the letters A and B.

Test Sessions:
During these subsequent regular sessions, both the A and B letters appeared on the screen at
the beginning of each trial. The subject selected a letter by pressing the corresponding button,
either A or B. The selected letter remained on the screen, and the other letter disappeared.
After a delay, the letter began to flash off and on, and single response on that button added a
monetary value (either 5 or 15 cents) to the counter, and the letter disappeared.
The subsequent appearance of the two letters signaled the beginning of the next trial.
The letter A selection resulted in a 5-cent reward after a fixed delay of 5 sec.
The letter B selection resulted in a 15-cent reward after a delay that began each session at
15 sec. The delay for option B varied during the session. Each time the subject selected option
B, the next delay increased by 2 sec. Conversely, each time the subject selected option A, the
next delay for option B decreased by 2 sec. The delay for option B was never less than 7 sec,
and was thus always longer than the delay for option A, which was fixed at 5 sec. Since the
sessions were stopped after 60 trials, the length of the sessions varied depending upon the
choices of the subjects.

Instructions

see section Editable Instructions

Summary Data

File Name: delayedrewardtask_cherek_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

Raw Data

File Name: delayedrewardtask_cherek_raw*.iqdat

Data Fields