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An fMRI-based brain marker predicts individual differences in delay discounting

Koban, L.; Lee, S.; Schelski, D. S.; Simon, M.-C.; Lerman, C.; Weber, B.; Kable, J. W.; Plassmann, H.

2021-03-19 neuroscience
10.1101/2021.03.18.435969 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Individual differences in impatience--how much we discount future compared to immediate rewards--are associated with general life outcomes and related to substance use, psychiatric diseases, and obesity. Here, we use machine-learning on fMRI activity during an intertemporal choice task to develop a brain marker of individual differences in delay discounting. Study 1 (N=110) was used as a training and cross-validation set, resulting in significant prediction accuracy (r = 0.49) and suggesting an interplay between brain regions associated with affect, value, and cognitive control. The validity of the brain marker was replicated in an independent data set (Study 2, N=145, r = 0.45). In both studies, responses of the marker significantly differed between overweight and lean individuals. This pattern is a first step towards a generalizable neuromarker of delay discounting and a potentially transdiagnostic phenotype, which can be used as a brain-based target measure in future studies.

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