Class
Article
Department
Psychology
Faculty Mentor
Gregory J. Madden
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
The purpose of the current research is twofold: 1) to identify the causes and typical frequencies of nonsystematic data in three commonly used discounting tasks, and 2) to test and optimize these delay discounting procedures to reduce the amount of non-systematic data that is produced. Experiment 1 will be the first study to explicitly examine the frequency of nonsystematic data obtained across these three procedures, which will identify which method is the most reliable procedure for producing systematic data. While many of these procedures have been widely used, the procedural parameters (e.g., delay range, monetary amounts) have varied greatly across studies so an accurate estimate when these details are held constant is currently unknown. Using participants’ feedback, we will determine the most typical causes of nonsystematic data in these tasks. In Experiment 2, the directions for each task will be modified in accordance with participants’ feedback in Experiment 1. We will then assess discounting rates with these modified procedures to generate a new estimate of the frequency of nonsystematic data. This will allow us to compare the rates of non-systematic data from Experiment 1 to those in Experiment 2 to identify the efficacy of our instructional manipulation in generating the most valid data as possible.
Start Date
4-14-2016 12:00 PM
End Date
4-14-2016 1:15 PM
Included in
Optimizing Delay Discounting Procedures
The purpose of the current research is twofold: 1) to identify the causes and typical frequencies of nonsystematic data in three commonly used discounting tasks, and 2) to test and optimize these delay discounting procedures to reduce the amount of non-systematic data that is produced. Experiment 1 will be the first study to explicitly examine the frequency of nonsystematic data obtained across these three procedures, which will identify which method is the most reliable procedure for producing systematic data. While many of these procedures have been widely used, the procedural parameters (e.g., delay range, monetary amounts) have varied greatly across studies so an accurate estimate when these details are held constant is currently unknown. Using participants’ feedback, we will determine the most typical causes of nonsystematic data in these tasks. In Experiment 2, the directions for each task will be modified in accordance with participants’ feedback in Experiment 1. We will then assess discounting rates with these modified procedures to generate a new estimate of the frequency of nonsystematic data. This will allow us to compare the rates of non-systematic data from Experiment 1 to those in Experiment 2 to identify the efficacy of our instructional manipulation in generating the most valid data as possible.