%0 Journal Article
%T A general theory of intertemporal decision-making and the perception of time
%A Vijay M. K. Namboodiri
%A Stefan Mihalas
%A Tanya M. Marton
%A Marshall G. Hussain Shuler
%J Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
%D 2014
%I Frontiers Media
%R 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00061
%X Animals and humans make decisions based on their expected outcomes. Since relevant outcomes are often delayed, perceiving delays and choosing between earlier vs. later rewards (intertemporal decision-making) is an essential component of animal behavior. The myriad observations made in experiments studying intertemporal decision-making and time perception have not yet been rationalized within a single theory. Here we present a theory¡ªTraining-Integrated Maximized Estimation of Reinforcement Rate (TIMERR)¡ªthat explains a wide variety of behavioral observations made in intertemporal decision-making and the perception of time. Our theory postulates that animals make intertemporal choices to optimize expected reward rates over a limited temporal window which includes a past integration interval¡ªover which experienced reward rate is estimated¡ªas well as the expected delay to future reward. Using this theory, we derive mathematical expressions for both the subjective value of a delayed reward and the subjective representation of the delay. A unique contribution of our work is in finding that the past integration interval directly determines the steepness of temporal discounting and the non-linearity of time perception. In so doing, our theory provides a single framework to understand both intertemporal decision-making and time perception.
%K decision-making
%K discounting
%K intertemporal choice theory
%K time perception
%K impulsivity
%K scalar timing
%U http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00061/abstract