The roles of delay and probability discounting in texting while driving: Toward the development of a translational scientific program

Yusuke Hayashi, Heather J. Fessler, Jonathan E. Friedel, Anne M. Foreman, Oliver Wirth

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

A sample of 109 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send or read text messages while driving. In a novel discounting task with a hypothetical scenario in which participants receive a text message while driving, they rated the likelihood of replying to a text message immediately versus waiting to reply until arriving at a destination. The scenario presented several delays to a destination and probabilities of a motor vehicle crash. The likelihood of waiting to reply decreased as a function of both the delay until the destination and the probability of a motor vehicle crash. Self-reported higher frequencies of texting while driving were associated with greater rates of both delay and probability discounting. The degree of delay discounting was altered as a function of the probability of a motor vehicle crash and vice versa. These results suggest that both delay and probability discounting are important underlying mechanisms of drivers' decision to text while driving.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)229-242
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Volume110
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2018

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

Keywords

  • college students
  • delay discounting
  • impulsivity
  • probability discounting
  • texting while driving
  • translational science

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