Clinical trial NCT05110716: Effects of Choice Bundling on Valuation of Delayed Gains and Losses in Cigarette Smokers
Official title: Effects of Choice Bundling on Valuation of Delayed Gains and Losses in Cigarette Smokers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Cigarette Smoking
Keywords: Behavior
Smoking
Cigarette
Tobacco
Delay discounting
Intertemporal choice
Lead sponsor: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
name: University of Minnesota
First posted: 2021-11-08
Enrollment: 308
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 21
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Participants are randomly assigned to either a gains or losses group and subsequently complete conditions at bundle-sizes 1, 3, and 9 (within-subjects, order counterbalanced).
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The present study will investigate the effects of choice bundling, in which a single choice produces a series of repeating consequences, on valuation of delayed monetary gains and losses in an online panel of cigarette smokers.

Detailed description: Choice bundling, in which a single choice produces a series of repeating consequences, has been shown to increase valuation of delayed monetary and non-monetary gains. Interventions derived from this manipulation may be an effective method for mitigating the elevated delay discounting rates observed in cigarette smokers. No prior work, however, has investigated whether effects of choice bundling generalize to reward losses. In the present study, an online panel of cigarette smokers, recruited using Ipsos, will complete assessments for either monetary gains or losses (randomly assigned). In Step 1, participants will complete a delay-discounting task to establish Effective Delay 50 (ED50), or the delay required for a monetary outcome to lose half of its value. In Step 2, participants will complete three conditions of an adjusting-amount task, choosing between a smaller, sooner (SS) adjusting amount and a larger, later (LL) fixed amount. The bundle size (i.e., number of consequences) will be manipulated across conditions, where a single choice will produce either 1 (control), 3, or 9 consequences over time (ascending/descending order counterbalanced). The delay to the first LL amount in each condition, as well as the intervals between all additional SS and LL amounts (where applicable), will be set to individual participants' ED50 values from Step 1 to control for differences in discounting of gains and losses.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* currently smoke at least 10 cigarettes per day
* have smoked at least 100 cigarettes (lifetime), and
* are 21 years of age or older.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Inaccurate identification of usual brand cigarette's as menthol or non-menthol

Primary outcomes:
measure: Indifference points
timeFrame: 1 day (same session)
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Roanoke
country: United States
facility: Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC
state: Virginia
Study officials:
affiliation: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
name: Warren K Bickel, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: