Remediation of Elevated Delay Discounting in Mid-life Individuals: A Stage-II Trial
University of Kansas
Summary
Many health-relevant decisions involve intertemporal (now vs. later) tradeoffs. Extensive literature indicates that many negative health and financial consequences suffered in mid-life are linked to adversity and disadvantage during early developmental periods of life. Individuals who continue to engage in these types of unhealthy behaviors despite awareness of the health consequences are exhibiting an inability to delay gratification. Delay discounting (DD) is quantified in human studies by determining the rate at which an individual discounts a delayed reward, while executive function (EF) is defined as the set of cognitive processes that are responsible for helping individuals manage life tasks and achieve goals. This research will attempt to reduce DD via EF training in a population of mid-life individuals with risk factors established during early-life disadvantage.
Description
Many health-relevant decisions involve intertemporal (now vs. later) tradeoffs, where unhealthy choices involve immediate benefits and delayed costs, compared to healthy choices with immediate costs and delayed benefits. Reinforcement for unhealthy behaviors are immediate, while the reinforcement for healthier alternatives are delayed. Thus individuals who continue to engage in these types of unhealthy behaviors despite awareness of the health consequences are exhibiting an inability to delay gratification. Delay discounting (DD) is quantified in human studies by determining the rate at which…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 40–60 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * Community members in neighborhoods of Baltimore, Maryland * Participants willing to participate in the 5-7 week program Exclusion Criteria: * Participants with a severe substance use disorder according to the DSM-5 with any substance other than tobacco * Participants with any significant medical or psychiatric condition which the training is not designed for (e.g., traumatic brain injury, dementia, significant learning disability, or schizophrenia) * Participants with severe depression
Interventions
- BehavioralSequenced Recall of Digits--Auditory
Auditory digit sequence AT memory component.
- BehavioralSequenced Reverse Recall of Digits--Auditory
Reversed auditory digit sequence AT memory component.
- BehavioralSequenced Recall of Words--Visual
Visual word sequence AT memory component
- BehavioralVerbal Memory--Visual
word recognition AT memory component
Location
- University of Kansas-LawrenceBaltimore, Maryland