Temporal Discounting and Number Representation

The absence of numbers to express the amount may affect delay discounting with humans

“…Using symbols arguably allows for a differential discount rate of smaller rewards, because they are judged according to a scale that is approximately linear (Alonso, 2013;Dehaene et al, 2008;Gowdy, Rosser & Roy, 2013). Large amounts, however, may be compressed into a logarithmic scale even when expressed with numbers, as suggested by the results reported by Green et al (2013).…”

“…The results suggest that the use of numbers is a necessary condition to observe the magnitude effect and that estimation error increases with stimulus magnitude, at least with the protocols used here. It has been argued that intertemporal choice can result from numerical judgments (Alonso, ). Nevertheless, it is not yet clear how the absence of numbers produces the same discounting rate for large and small rewards.…”

“…They argued that the absence of a magnitude effect results from subjects being more sensitive to changes in the cumulative amount of the reinforcer earned in the small reward condition; with large amounts, subjects are less sensitive to reductions in the cumulative amount of the reinforcer earned. A considerable number of studies suggest that humans and nonhumans share a similar system to estimate small and large numerosities (Alonso, ; Cantlon & Brannon, ; Davis & Pérusse, ; Pica et al, ). The nonsymbolic procedure allows for the influence of this system on the behavior of humans in a similar way to the behavior of rats, pigeons, and monkeys and the use of symbols might facilitate the occurrence of a magnitude effect with nonhumans.…”

“…In conclusion, the present results suggest that the magnitude effect is mediated by the use of symbols. Previously, absence of symbolic signaling was discussed as a possible explanation for asymmetries across species (Jimura et al, ) and logarithmic scaling was suggested to account for temporal discounting results even in traditional procedures (Alonso, ; Takahashi, , ). The present results offer some support for these claims by showing that a choice situation expressed with numbers allows accuracy and that control exerted by large and small rewards is associated with the use of numbers (Shafir et al, ).…”

Neuroeconomía: una revisión basada en técnicas de mapeo científico

“…De otro lado, el consumo de sustancias adictivas promueve el egoísmo y hace más propensos a los consumidores a elegir recompensas más pequeñas e inmediatas, en lugar de recompensas demoradas más grandes (Lawn et al, 2019;Wilson et al, 2015). Alonso (2013), Menciona que las decisiones intertemporales involucran números, debido a que los sujetos deciden entre recompensas, con diferentes demoras y probabilidades. Nacen dos postulados: i) las decisiones intertemporales no son sobre el tiempo sino sobre comparaciones de números, y ii) las decisiones intertemporales son sobre el tiempo, pero con números relevantes comprimidos en su forma logarítmica.…”