A strategy to study impulsive behavior is the procedure of discounting. It has been reported that alcohol abusers show steeper delay or probabilistic discounting of a reward compared to people without drinking problems. The present study examined if the delay and probabilistic discounting rates contribute to diagnose the profile of the problem drinkers. A sample of 25 alcohol abusers completed delayed and a probabilistic discounting tasks of a certain amount of money or of their favorite drink. It was found that the delay discounting rate was slightly higher for alcohol than for the money; in the case of the probabilistic discounting task, the rates were similar for both rewards. The results of this study besides extending previous findings about the differences in the value assigned to different rewards based on their probability or delay of delivery also help to clarify the relationship between the various processes involved in the psychological value of a reward.
González, J. C., Ávila, R., & Morales-Chainé, S. (2015). Delay and probabilistic discounting of money and alcohol of users in treatment. Revista De Psicología, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2015.36869
Twitter