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. 2021 Sep 24;16(9):e0256210.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256210. eCollection 2021.

Intolerance of uncertainty and decisions about delayed, probabilistic rewards: A replication and extension of Luhmann, C. C., Ishida, K., & Hajcak, G. (2011)

Luis F Ciria  1 , María J Quintero  2   3 , Francisco J López  2   3 , David Luque  2   4 , Pedro L Cobos  2   3 , Joaquín Morís  1
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Intolerance of uncertainty and decisions about delayed, probabilistic rewards: A replication and extension of Luhmann, C. C., Ishida, K., & Hajcak, G. (2011)

Luis F Ciria et al. PLoS One. .

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Abstract

Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is thought to lead to maladaptive behaviours and dysfunctional decision making, both in the clinical and healthy population. The seminal study reported by Luhmann and collaborators in 2011 [1] showed that IU was negatively associated with choosing a delayed, but more probable and valuable, reward over choosing an immediate, but less probable and valuable, reward. These findings have been widely disseminated across the field of personality and individual differences because of their relevance for the understanding of the role of IU in the development and maintenance of anxiety-related disorders. Given their importance it would be desirable to have replications of this study, but none have been carried out so far. The current study has been designed to replicate and extend Luhmann et al.'s results. Our sample will include 266 healthy participants (more than five times the sample size used by Luhmann et al.) to detect with a power of 95% the effect size that can be detected with a power of 33% in the original study. To increase our chances of getting such a sample size, the experiment will be conducted online, To increase our chances of getting such a sample size, the experiment will be conducted online, adding check trials to the original decision-making task to monitor participants' engagement. Additionally, we will explore the role of impulsivity in the relationship between IU and willingness to wait. This study will add empirical evidence about the role of IU in decision making and, in case of replication of Luhmann et al.'s results, will support the hypothesis that high-IU individuals may engage in inefficient or costly behaviour in exchange for less time enduring an uncertain situation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Sequence of the decision-making task.
Left: Trial in which the immediate choice is selected, but no reward is won. Centre: Trial in which the delayed choice is selected, and the reward is won. Right: Check trial to monitor the participant’s engagement, in which an appropriate response is provided, and the reward is won.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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