Time and decision making in humans

Time Pressure Affects the Risk Preference and Outcome Evaluation

It is ubiquitous that food delivery riders do not have unlimited periods of time for deliberation to make decisions. Time pressure plays a significant role in decision-making processes. This study investigated how time pressure affected risk preference and outcome evaluation through behavioral and electrophysiological responses during decision-making. Participants finished a simple gambling task under three different time constraint conditions (high/medium/low). Behavioral and event-related potentials (ERPs) data were recorded during the experiment. The results showed that the decision time of people was shorter under high time pressure than under medium and low time pressures. People tend to make more risky choices when under high time pressure. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitude was smaller in the high time pressure than in medium and low time pressure conditions. These findings provided evidence that time pressure has an impact on the risk decision-making process.

Statistical process control charts for better analysis of sequential data in psychology: The case of illusion of control experiments

Illusion of control (IOC) is a bias in the judgment of personal success with implications to learning theories and health policies; some important questions in the investigation of IOC may be related to traditional measures in the field, namely self-assessment using Likert scales about the sense of control. Statistical process control (SPC) and Shewhart charts are methods developed to monitor and control industrial processes, never applied in psychological studies before. The present two studies investigated the use of the technique of Shewhart charts in the analysis of IOC. The purpose was to explore the use of SPC and Shewhart charts in the analysis of data sequences from psychological experiments; the objective was to analyze the results of reaction time (RT) data sequences plotted in SPC charts, in comparison with self-assessment judgments from an IOC task. Participants were 63 undergraduate students (Study 1) and 103 mine workers (Study 2) instructed to try to control a traffic light on a computer by pressing or not the keyboard. Higher probabilities of the successful outcome generated judgments of illusion and shifts (due to cognitive activity) in the charts of RT; lower probabilities resulted in null illusion and RT presented a random and stable profile. Patterns for different groups emerged in Shewhart charts. SPC can contribute to the analysis of the behavior of sequences of data in psychological studies, so that the charts indicate changes and patterns not detected by traditional ANOVA and other linear models.

'Hobson's choice': a qualitative study of consent in acute surgery

OBJECTIVES

The study aimed to understand through qualitative research what patients considered material in their decision to consent to an acute surgical intervention.

PARTICIPANTS, SETTING AND INTERVENTION

The patients selected aged between 18 and 90, having been admitted to a major trauma centre to undergo an acute surgical intervention within 14 days of injury, where English was their first language. Data saturation point was reached after 21 patients had been recruited. Data collection and analysis were conducted simultaneously, through interviews undertaken immediately prior to surgery. The data were coded using NVIVO V.12 software.

RESULTS

The key theme that originated from the data analysis was patients were unable to identify any individual risk that would modify their decision-making process around giving consent. The patient's previous experience and the experience of others around them were a further theme. Patients sensed that there were no non-operative options for their injuries.

CONCLUSION

This is the first study investigating what patient considered a material risk in the consent process. Patients in this study did attribute significance to past experiences of friends and family as material, prompting us to suggest that the surgeon asks about these experiences as part of the consent process. Concern about functional recovery was important to patients but insufficient to stop them from consenting to surgery, thus could not be classified as material risk.

Restricting future time perspective reduces failure to act after a missed opportunity

Inaction inertia occurs when missing an attractive opportunity (vs. not having been offered it) decreases the likelihood of acting on another similar opportunity. We experimentally manipulated future time perspective to reduce inaction inertia. Middle-aged and older adults from the Health and Retirement Study were randomly assigned to imagining restricted or expansive time left to live, or to no instructions. Across age, imagining a restricted future (vs. the other two instructions) reduced inaction inertia and future time perspective. Imagining living longer increased future time perspective among relatively younger participants. Consequences of restricted time perspective for decisions and life regrets are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Age Differences in Self-Continuity: Converging Evidence and Directions for Future Research

Life-span development is inherently linked to the perception of time and associated temporal construals. Such concepts are multi-faceted in nature and have important practical implications in areas such as time management, financial planning, or medical choices. A large body of research has documented age-related limitations in global time horizons, but age differences in other aspects of temporal construal are comparatively poorly understood. The present article draws attention to developmental trajectories of self-continuity, defined as perceived associations of one's present self with past and future selves. After considering historical roots and contemporary views on self-continuity, we turn to the life-span developmental literature and review several convergent streams of research that provide indirect evidence for age-related increases in self-continuity. We then consider a small body of recent studies which have directly assessed age differences in self-continuity and summarize our current understanding of this phenomenon including associations between explicit and implicit measures, symmetry between past and future self-continuity, and differentiation from other aspects of time perception. We conclude by highlighting open theoretical questions and considering the practical implications of an increased sense of self-continuity with advancing age.

Strength of Structural and Functional Frontostriatal Connectivity Predicts Self-Control in the Healthy Elderly

Self-regulation refers to the successful use of executive functions and initiation of top-down processes to control one's thoughts, behavior, and emotions, and it is crucial to perform self-control. Self-control is needed to overcome impulses and can be assessed by delay of gratification (DoG) and delay discounting (DD) paradigms. In children/adolescents, good DoG/DD ability depends on the maturity of frontostriatal connectivity, and its decline in strength with advancing age might adversely affect self-control because prefrontal brain regions are more prone to normal age-related atrophy than other regions. Here, we aimed at highlighting the relationship between frontostriatal connectivity strength and DoG performance in advanced age. We recruited 40 healthy elderly individuals (mean age 74.0 ± 7.7 years) and assessed the DoG ability using the German version of the DoG test for adults in addition to the delay discounting (DD) paradigm. Based on diffusion-weighted and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data, respectively, the structural and functional whole-brain connectome were reconstructed based on 90 different brain regions of interest in addition to a 12-node frontostriatal DoG-specific network and the resulting connectivity matrices were subjected to network-based statistics. The 90-nodes whole-brain connectome analyses revealed subnetworks significantly associated with DoG and DD with a preponderance of frontostriatal nodes involved suggesting a high specificity of the findings. Structural and functional connectivity strengths between the putamen, caudate nucleus, and nucleus accumbens on the one hand and orbitofrontal, dorsal, and ventral lateral prefrontal cortices on the other hand showed strong positive correlations with DoG and negative correlations with DD corrected for age, sex, intracranial volume, and head motion parameters. These associations cannot be explained by differences in impulsivity and executive functioning. This pattern of correlations between structural or functional frontostriatal connectivity strength and self-control suggests that, in addition to the importance of the frontostriatal nodes itself, the structural and functional properties of different connections within the frontostriatal network are crucial for self-controlled behaviors in the healthy elderly. Because high DoG/low DD is a significant predictor of willpower and wellbeing in the elderly population, interventions aiming at strengthening frontostriatal connectivity to strengthen self-controlled behavior are needed in the future.

Recent advances in understanding emotion-driven temporal distortions

Emotions are powerful drivers of distortions in time perception. Recent work continues to support arousal and attentional mechanisms of emotion-driven temporal distortions. A possible memory-related mechanism and various modulatory factors, such as age, gender, and psychopathology, have also been implicated in such distortions. Beyond the rich behavioral literature on this topic, neurobiological substrates associated with emotion-driven temporal distortions have begun to be identified and represent an important next step for research within this domain. The study of emotion-driven temporal distortions holds great promise for advancing our understanding of this perceptual phenomenon and how it may play a functional role in mediating changes in cognition, behavior, and emotion.

The effect of time pressure on risky financial decisions from description and decisions from experience

Time pressure has been found to impact decision making in various ways, but studies on the effects time pressure in risky financial gambles have been largely limited to description-based decision tasks and to the gain domain. We present two experiments that investigated the effect of time pressure on decisions from description and decisions from experience, across both gain and loss domains. In description-based choice, time pressure decreased risk seeking for losses, whereas for gains there was a trend in the opposite direction. In experience-based choice, no impact of time pressure was observed on risk-taking, suggesting that time constraints may not alter attitudes towards risk when outcomes are learned through experience.

Temporal horizons in pain management: understanding the perspectives of physicians, physical therapists, and their middle-aged and older adult patients

PURPOSE

The management of chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) involves trade-offs between immediate and delayed consequences of various treatments. Temporal trade-offs may be particularly salient for older adults because of age-related differences in prognosis and perceptions of future time. This study examined how perceptions of time influence the management of CNCP among patients and providers with particular emphasis on age differences.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Focus groups were conducted with 28 CNCP patients (5 groups), 21 physicians (4 groups), and 23 physical therapists (3 groups). Audiotapes were transcribed and analyzed using standard qualitative methods.

RESULTS

Analyses identified multiple aspects of time perceptions that are relevant to the management of CNCP: the long-term prognosis, the time horizon used for concrete treatment planning, and concerns about future side effects. Although there was some overlap, these aspects showed divergent patterns across age groups and between patients and providers. Patients and providers agreed that pain is more stable and chronic in older adults. Time horizons in treatment planning differed between patients who were present-focused and providers who were focused on longer term effects, but treatment horizons did not differ by patient age. Finally, although providers were more concerned about future side effects in older people, patients' concerns did not differ by age.

IMPLICATIONS

Time horizons have practical implications for the quality of the patient-provider relationship and self-management of CNCP. A better understanding of the underlying mechanisms could inform interventions to reduce age disparities in pain care.

Age, time, and decision making: from processing speed to global time horizons

Time and time perceptions are integral to decision making because any meaningful choice is embedded in a temporal context and requires the evaluation of future preferences and outcomes. The present review examines the influence of chronological age on time perceptions and horizons and discusses implications for decision making across the life span. Time influences and interacts with decision making in multiple ways. Specifically, this review examines the following topic areas: (1) processing speed and decision time, (2) internal clocks and time estimation, (3) mental representations of future time and intertemporal choice, and (4) global time horizons. For each aspect, patterns of age differences and implications for decision strategies and quality are discussed. The conclusion proposes frameworks to integrate different lines of research and identifies promising avenues for future inquiry.

Temporal decision making in simultaneous timing

With two experiments it was examined whether one or two clocks operate the timing of two intervals presented simultaneously. The target interval always preceded the distracter interval, and was longer than it. Thus, the distracter was completely embedded within the target interval. The participants used the method of temporal production. The stimuli to be judged differed in modality which allowed for testing the hypothesis of modality-specific internal clocks that operate in parallel and independent from one another when two stimuli were presented at the same time. The main results of this study were as follows. First, production times of the target interval increased proportionally with production times of the distracter interval. Second, the auditory distracter interval was on average produced in less time than the visual distracter interval. Third, a target interval that was accompanied by an auditory distracter interval was on average produced in less time than a target interval that was accompanied by a visual distracter interval. The results obtained support the hypothesis of multiple clocks being involved in the timing of different intervals presented simultaneously.

Imagining the future: degraded representations of future rewards and events in schizophrenia

Over the course of life, most people work toward temporally distant rewards such as university degrees or work-related promotions. In contrast, many people with schizophrenia show deficits in behavior oriented toward long-term rewards, although they function adequately when rewards are more immediately present. Moreover, when asked about possible future events, individuals with schizophrenia show foreshortened future time perspectives relative to healthy individuals. Here, we take the view that these deficits are related and can be explained by cognitive deficits. We compared the performance of participants with schizophrenia (n = 39) and healthy participants (n = 25) on tasks measuring reward discounting and future event representations. Consistent with previous research, we found that relative to healthy participants, those with schizophrenia discounted the value of future rewards more steeply. Furthermore, when asked about future events, their responses were biased toward events in the near future, relative to healthy participants' responses. Although discounting and future representations were unrelated in healthy participants, we found significant correlations across the tasks among participants with schizophrenia, as well as correlations with cognitive variables and symptoms. Further analysis showed that statistically controlling working memory eliminated group differences in task performance. Together these results suggest that the motivational deficits characteristic of schizophrenia relate to cognitive deficits affecting the ability to represent and/or evaluate distant outcomes, a finding with important implications for promoting recovery from schizophrenia.