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Delay and probability discounting by drug-dependent cocaine and marijuana users

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Abstract

Rationale

Steep discounting of delayed monetary rewards by substance-dependent individuals is well-established. Less is known, however, about discounting other kinds of outcomes, and very little is known about discounting by marijuana-dependent individuals.

Objectives

To determine how cocaine-dependent individuals and marijuana-dependent individuals discount various delayed and probabilistic outcomes, both positive and negative.

Methods

Marijuana-dependent individuals, cocaine-dependent individuals, and controls performed delay and probability discounting tasks with various hypothetical outcomes.

Results

The cocaine-dependent (but not the marijuana-dependent) group discounted delayed liquid rewards and monetary gains, but not delayed losses, more steeply than the control group. In contrast, the marijuana-dependent group (but not the cocaine-dependent group) discounted delayed monetary losses more steeply than controls. There were no group differences in discounting for any of the probabilistic outcomes. Factor analysis revealed a delayed gain factor, a probabilistic gain factor, and a delayed/probabilistic loss factor. The delayed gain factor scores for the cocaine-dependent group, but not the marijuana-dependent group, differed significantly from those of the control group. The groups did not differ in their probabilistic gain factor scores, and the marijuana-dependent group did not differ from the controls with respect to their loss factor scores.

Conclusions

These results are inconsistent with the idea that steep discounting of both gains and losses and both delayed and probabilistic outcomes reflects a general impulsivity trait, as well as with the idea that all drug-dependent individuals are steep discounters. Rather, differences in discounting appear to be related to both the type of outcome and the specific drug on which individuals are dependent.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by PAPIIT IN305114 to Silvia Morales-Chainé.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no financial relationship or conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Autonomous University of México, México City, Mexico

    Diana Mejía-Cruz, Silvia Morales-Chainé & Javier Nieto

  2. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Leonard Green & Joel Myerson

Authors
  1. Diana Mejía-Cruz
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  2. Leonard Green
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  3. Joel Myerson
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  4. Silvia Morales-Chainé
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  5. Javier Nieto
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Correspondence to Diana Mejía-Cruz.

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Mejía-Cruz, D., Green, L., Myerson, J. et al. Delay and probability discounting by drug-dependent cocaine and marijuana users. Psychopharmacology 233, 2705–2714 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4316-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4316-8

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