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I can't wait! Neural reward signals in impulsive individuals exaggerate the difference between immediate and future rewards
Author(s) -
Schmidt Barbara,
Holroyd Clay B.,
Debener Stefan,
Hewig Johannes
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/psyp.12796
Subject(s) - psychology , impulsivity , delay of gratification , self control , gratification , control (management) , personality , task (project management) , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , management , economics
Waiting for rewards is difficult, and highly impulsive individuals with low self‐control have an especially hard time with it. Here, we investigated whether neural responses to rewards in a delayed gratification task predict impulsivity and self‐control. The EEG was recorded from participants engaged in a guessing game in which on each trial they could win either a large or small reward, paid either now or after 6 months. Ratings confirmed that participants preferred immediate, large rewards over small, delayed rewards. Electrophysiological reward signals reflecting the difference between immediate and future rewards predicted self‐report measures of impulsivity and self‐control. Further, these signals were highly reliable across two sessions over a 1‐week interval, showing high temporal stability like stable personality traits. These results suggest that greater valuation of immediate rewards causes impulsive individuals to redirect control away from delayed rewards, indicating why it is so hard for them to wait.