Exploring Future Thinking Processes in Intertemporal Choice and Delay Discounting

Intertemporal choice, or the decision-making process involving different outcomes over different time periods, is a significant area of research in behavioral economics and psychology. Recent studies have focused on delay discounting, a behavioral economic index that estimates an individual's preference for immediate over delayed gratification. This research has been conducted across various populations, including children, adults, and individuals with specific disorders such as anorexia nervosa, type 1 diabetes, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The current state of knowledge reveals that delay discounting is a potential transdiagnostic marker, with steeper discounting observed among individuals with substance-based and behavioral addictions and multiple psychiatric disorders. However, there are gaps in understanding the role and dynamics of future thinking processes in intertemporal choice across populations and experimental designs.

The primary goal of this research topic is to further investigate the role of future thinking processes in intertemporal choice and delay discounting. This includes exploring the cognitive and individual differences in these processes, with a focus on potential developmental aspects of these processes, as some traits and abilities may emerge relatively late or diminish over time, altering the dynamics of the relationship between future thinking and intertemporal choice. Additionally, the research aims to evaluate the reliability and stability of delay and probability discounting, supporting its role as a valid and enduring measure of intertemporal choice. The research also seeks to understand the influence of reward type, whether primary (e.g., food) or secondary (e.g., money) and varying time scales (i.e., seconds, days, years) on delay discounting.

To gather further insights into the complexities of intertemporal choice and delay discounting, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

- The role of future thinking processes in intertemporal choice and delay discounting.
- The developmental aspects of future thinking processes and their impact on intertemporal choice.
- The reliability and stability of delay and probability discounting as measures of intertemporal choice.
- The influence of reward type, delay time scale, and other experimental design aspects on delay discounting.
- The differences in discounting behavior between primary and secondary rewards.
- The potential use of delay discounting as a transdiagnostic marker across psychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions, and its specificity to particular disorders.
- The influence of socio-demographic variables (e.g., age, sex, socioeconomic status) on delay discounting behavior.
- The neural mechanisms underlying age- or disease-related alterations in delay discounting.
- The potential for interventions to modify delay discounting and their transferability to broader, real-world behaviors in both healthy and clinical populations.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Registered Report
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Intertemporal Choice, Delay Discounting, Future Thinking Processes, Cognitive Processes, Future Thinking, Self-control

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.