Citation

Zheng Y, Tian M, Li Q, Liu X. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018; 194: 159-165.

Affiliation

CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: liux@psych.ac.cn.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.09.027

PMID

30445273

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sensation seeking is a behavioral endophenotype of substance use and is associated with abnormalities in financial reward processing. Previous research suggests that high sensation seekers (HSS) relative to low sensation seekers (LSS) show either an enhanced sensitivity to financial rewards or a reduced sensitivity to financial punishments. However, there are few studies investigating the valuation of financial rewards and punishments as a function of delivery probability and delay, two important aspects of reward processing that influence the valuation.

METHODS: We administrated a probability discounting task and a delay discounting task to 56 HSS and 57 LSS selected from a large sample. Each task was crossed with two factors: valence (gain vs. loss) and amount (Ұ1000 vs. Ұ50000).

RESULTS: For the probability discounting task, HSS discounted probabilistic losses but not gains more steeply than LSS, irrespective of the amount of outcome. For the delay discounting task, HSS discounted delayed losses more steeply than LSS, for the large but not small amount condition. In contrast, both groups exhibited comparable discounting rates for gains across the two amount conditions. These results remained significant when impulsivity levels were controlled for.

CONCLUSIONS: Together, our data strengthen the argument that the dysfunctional valuation in sensation seeking is valence specific, which may be driven by a weaker avoidance system, rather than by a stronger approach system.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Delay discounting; Probability discounting; Sensation seeking; Valuation