We’re delighted to announce our latest paper, “Perceived Reward Certainty in the Assessment of Delay Discounting,” has been accepted by the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior!
This insightful research, led by Haylee Downey, Alicia Alvarez, Wenyan Ji, Alicia Lozano, Alex Hanlon, and Jeff Stein, examines how perceptions of reward certainty influence decision-making when rewards are delayed. Our findings highlight that delays significantly reduce perceived reward certainty, and although higher perceived certainty is linked to lower impulsivity (delay discounting), explicitly specifying reward certainty does not directly impact delay discounting behaviors.

This work also demonstrates an incredible network of mentorship and collaboration:

  • Drs. Alex Hanlon and Jeff Stein provided senior mentorship, with Dr. Hanlon leading both the summer CUBE (Collaborative Undergraduate Biostatistics Experience) program and the Center for Biostatistics and Health Data Science (CBHDS). 
  • Alicia Lozano, Senior Research Associate at CBHDS, and Wenyan Ji, Research Associate at CBHDS, played significant roles as mentees of Dr. Hanlon.  
  • Haylee Downey is a current doctoral student in Virginia Tech's Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health (TBMH) program, where is she mentored by Dr. Jeff Stein. 
  • Alicia Alvarez, a Summer 2023 CUBE participant, initially analyzed this data under the mentorship of Alicia Lozano and Jeff Stein.

Stay tuned as we continue to uncover critical insights into decision-making, reward perception, and their implications for health behaviors!