This protocol aims to investigate the neural activity related to social comparison and social distance during the processing of intertemporal decision outcomes. Indifference points will be measured using event-related potentials as part of the study.
A subscription to JoVE is required to view this content. Sign in or start your free trial.
Method Article
The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
In This Article
Summary
Abstract
Intertemporal choice plays a crucial role in our daily lives, influencing decisions related to education, health, consumption, and investment. This research proposes an innovative experimental protocol that examines how social comparison and social distance jointly affect the neural processes involved in outcome assessment for intertemporal choices. The study is based on the theoretical framework of cognitive resource competition. This protocol enables researchers to dynamically establish an indifference point for each participant, effectively eliminating the influence of any biased indifference points on the assessment of intertemporal choices. Consequently, the study solely measures the combined impact of social comparison and social distance on how participants evaluate intertemporal choice outcomes. The findings reveal that individuals are more inclined to opt for immediate outcomes under negative unfair conditions. Moreover, compared to the fair and positive unfair conditions, people tend to undervalue delayed outcomes in the negative unfair condition. The strength of this approach lies in its dynamic indifference point setting, making it an effective method to investigate the influence of various external factors (such as social status and power level) on intertemporal decision-making. While the protocol is designed to measure electrophysiological events like event-related potentials, it can also be tailored for use with fMRI.
Introduction
In daily life, people often face the choice of enjoying the present or investing in the future. This decision, known as intertemporal choice, requires individuals to weigh the value of outcomes at different time points1,2,3. Over time, the subjective evaluation of outcomes declines hyperbolically or quasi-hyperbolically4,5,6,7. People tend to prefer small-but-immediate gains over larger-but-later ones8.<....
Access restricted. Please log in or start a trial to view this content.
Protocol
This research scheme was approved by the local and institutional ethics committee and complies with the latest version of the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants provided written informed consent before participating. The participants had normal vision or normal correction and no psychiatric or neurological disorders. The participants did not have drug or psychotropic medication using experience and no perm or hair dyeing history within six months. If subjects had excessive artifacts in the EEG data, they were not included in the subsequent data analysis.
1. Experimental stimuli
- Stimuli of the Delay Discou....
Access restricted. Please log in or start a trial to view this content.
Results
IOS scale result
The IOS scale score30 was used to examine the social distance and self-relevance of the participants to friends and strangers, and it was found that the social distance of the participants to friends (6.20 ± 0.696) was higher than the social distance of the participants to strangers (1.45 ± 0.605), t(19) = 21.978, p < 0.001, 95%, Cl = (4.30 - 5.20), revealing that the social distance manipulation is effective.
Be.......
Access restricted. Please log in or start a trial to view this content.
Discussion
Experimental results and significance
Generally, additional tasks, such as social distance perception and social comparison, compete for cognitive resources with the intertemporal decision-making task at different cognitive stages. Firstly, both social distance and time delay have main effects on N100 amplitude, respectively. The present results indicate that gambling with friends induces a greater N100 amplitude than with strangers. Moreover, immediate outcomes elicit greater N100 amplitude than d.......
Access restricted. Please log in or start a trial to view this content.
Disclosures
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (72001055), the project of Social Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (18JLC219), the project of Postdoctoral Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (LBH-Z18018), the project of Scholars Plan of Northeast Agricultural University (2019), and the Philosophy and Social Science Research Project of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education (2018SJA1089).
We thank all colleagues in Lab 412, especially Zhikai Song and Xinyue Jia, for their assistance in the experiment. We would also like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for th....
Access restricted. Please log in or start a trial to view this content.
Materials
| Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrode caps | Neurosoft Labs, Inc, USA | 64 Ag/AgCl electrodes | with a configuration of the international 10–20 system of electrode |
| E-Prime software | Psychology Software Tools, Inc, USA | 2 | Experimental generation system for computerized behavior research |
| Liquid Crystal Display Monitor | ROYAL PHILIPS, Netherlands | Display experimental procedure | |
| NeuroScan Synamp2 Amplifier | Neurosoft Labs, Inc, USA | bandpass filter 0.05-100 Hz, sampling rate 1000 Hz |
References
- Moreira, D., Pinto, M., Almeida, F., Barros, S., Barbosa, F. Neurobiological bases of intertemporal choices: A comprehensive review. Aggression and Violent Behavior. 26, 1-8 (2016).
- Cherniawsky, A. S., Holroyd, C. B.
Access restricted. Please log in or start a trial to view this content.
Reprints and Permissions
