Examining the predictive utility of behavioral economic demand indices and subjective effects on the actualized reinforcing value of menthol cigarettes and potential alternatives.

INTRODUCTION: Considering recent and proposed bans on menthol cigarettes, methods are needed to understand the substitutability of potential menthol cigarette alternatives (MCAs) for menthol cigarettes. This study examined the prospective relationship between behavioral economic demand indices and subjective effects of usual brand menthol cigarettes (UBMC) and preferred MCAs with subsequent performance on a laboratory-based concurrent-choice task comparing UBMC and MCAs. METHODS: Eighty participants who typically smoked menthol cigarettes completed this clinical lab study. After sampling each product, participants completed the cigarette purchase task (CPT) and modified cigarette evaluation questionnaire (mCEQ). Following one-week of substituting their preferred MCA for their UBMC, participants completed a 90-min concurrent-choice self-administration task comparing their UBMC and preferred MCA. Linear regression models explored associations between CPT demand indices and mCEQ subjective effects in the lab with subsequent response effort for UBMCs on the concurrent-choice task. RESULTS: Three demand indices for UBMC were positively associated with UBMC response effort: Essential Value (EV; p=.02), Omax (p=.02), and breakpoint (p=.04). Four CPT demand indices for the preferred MCA significantly corresponded with UBMC response effort: EV (p=.03), Pmax (p=.04), Omax (p=.03), and breakpoint (p=.03). Subjective effects captured by the mCEQ were not associated with response effort. CONCLUSIONS: Demand indices reflecting Persistence (i.e., sensitivity to escalating price) predicted effort to obtain UBMC puffs on the concurrent-choice task. Among this sample, the CPT captured information on the relative reinforcing value (i.e., addiction potential) of combustible tobacco products similar to the longer self-administration task. IMPLICATIONS: In an ever-changing product market, assessing the reinforcing efficacy of menthol cigarettes and putative substitutes quickly and with validity is an important methodological tool for understanding abuse liability. Results suggest that behavioral economic demand indices of cigarette purchase task efficiently capture information on the relative reinforcing value of usual brand menthol cigarettes and plausible alternative tobacco products, similar to a 90-min in-laboratory self-administration task.

Identifying Substitute Activities for Alcohol Consumption: A Preliminary Analysis.

Individuals with alcohol use disorder may excessively value alcohol reinforcement over other types of rewards and may seek out environments supportive of alcohol consumption despite negative consequences. Therefore, examining ways to increase engagement in substance-free activities may be useful in treating alcohol use disorder. Past research has focused on preference and frequency of engagement in alcohol-related versus alcohol-free activities. However, no study to-date has examine the incompatibility of such activities with alcohol consumption, an important step in preventing possible adverse consequences during treatment for alcohol use disorder and for ensuring that activities do not function in a complementary fashion with alcohol consumption. The present study was a preliminary analysis comparing a modified activity reinforcement survey with the inclusion of a suitability question to determine the incompatibility of common survey activities with alcohol consumption. Participants recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N=146) were administered an established activity reinforcement survey, questions regarding the incompatibility of the activities with alcohol consumption, and measures of alcohol-related problems. We found that activity surveys may identify activities that are enjoyable without alcohol, but that some of these activities were still compatible with alcohol. For many of the activities examined, participants who rated those activities as suitable with alcohol also reported higher alcohol severity, with the largest effect size differences for physical activity, school or work, and religious activities. The results of this study are an important preliminary analysis for determining how activities may function as substitutes, and may hold implications for harm reduction interventions and public policy.

Leveraging the cigarette purchase task to understand relationships between cumulative vulnerabilities, the relative reinforcing effects of smoking, and response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes.

We examined if the relative-reinforcing effects of smoking increase with greater cumulative vulnerability and whether cumulative vulnerability moderates response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes. Participants were 775 adults from randomized clinical trials evaluating research cigarettes differing in nicotine content (0.4, 2.4, 15.8 mg/g). Participants were categorized as having low (0-1), moderate (2-3), or high (≥4) cumulative vulnerability. Vulnerabilities included rural residence, opioid use disorder, affective disorder, low educational attainment, poverty, unemployment, and physical disability. We used the cigarette purchase task (CPT) to assess the relative-reinforcing effects of participants' usual-brand cigarettes at baseline and study cigarettes during the 12-week trial. The CPT is a behavioral-economic task wherein participants estimate likely smoking (demand) over 24 h under escalating cigarette price. Demand is characterized by two factors: Amplitude (demand volume at zero/minimal price) and Persistence (demand sensitivity to price). Greater cumulative vulnerability was associated with greater demand Amplitude (F[2709] = 16.04,p < .0001) and Persistence (F[2709] = 8.35,p = .0003) for usual-brand cigarettes. Demand Amplitude for study cigarettes increased with increasing cumulative vulnerability (F[2619] = 19.59, p < .001) and decreased with decreasing nicotine content ([4879] = 5.45, p < .001). The only evidence of moderation was on demand Persistence (F[8867] = 2.00,p = .04), with larger reductions at the 0.4 mg/g compared to 15.8 mg/g doses among participants with low compared to moderate or high cumulative vulnerability. The relative-reinforcing effects of smoking clearly increase with greater cumulative vulnerability. Reducing nicotine content would likely reduce demand Amplitude across cumulative-vulnerability levels but reductions in demand Persistence may be more limited among those with greater cumulative vulnerability.

A Rapid Assessment of Sensitivity to Reward Delays and Classwide Token Economy Savings for School-Aged Children.

Delay discounting tasks measure the relation between reinforcer delay and efficacy. The present study established the association between delay discounting and classroom behavior and introduced a brief measure quantifying sensitivity to reward delays for school-aged children. Study 1 reanalyzed data collected by Reed and Martens (J Appl Behav Anal 44(1):1-18, https://doi.org/10.1901/jaba.2011.44-1, 2011) and found that 1-month delay choices predicted student classroom behavior. Study 2 examined the utility of the 1-month delay indifference point in predicting saving and spending behavior of second-grade students using token economies with two different token production schedules. Collectively, results showed (a) the 1-month delay indifference point predicted classroom behavior, (b) children who discounted less and had greater self-regulation, accrued and saved more tokens, and (c) a variable token production schedule better correlated with discounting than a fixed schedule. Implications are discussed regarding utility of a rapid discounting assessment for applied use.

Comparing participant estimated demand intensity on the cigarette Purchase Task to consumption when usual-brand cigarettes were provided free.

Accumulating evidence suggests that the hypothetical Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT), especially its demand Intensity index (i.e., estimated cigarettes participants would smoke if free), is associated with individual differences in smoking risk. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the extent to which hypothetical CPT demand Intensity may differ from consumption when participants are provided with free cigarettes. That topic is the overarching focus of the present study. Participants were 745 adult smokers with co-morbid psychiatric conditions or socioeconomic disadvantage. CPT was administered for usual-brand cigarettes prior to providing participants with seven days of their usual-brand cigarettes free of cost and consumption was recorded daily via an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System. Demand Intensity was correlated with IVR smoking rate (rs 0.670-0.696, ps < 0.001) but estimates consistently exceeded IVR smoking rates by an average of 4.4 cigarettes per day (ps < 0.001). Importantly, both measures were comparably sensitive to discerning well-established differences in smoking risk, including greater cigarettes per day among men versus women (F(1,732) = 18.74, p < 0.001), those with versus without opioid-dependence (F(1,732) = 168.37, p < 0.001), younger versus older adults (F(2,730) = 32.93, p < 0.001), and those with lower versus greater educational attainment (F(1,732) = 38.26, p < 0.001). Overall, CPT demand Intensity appears to overestimate consumption rates relative to those observed when participants are provided with free cigarettes, but those deviations are systematic (i.e., consistent in magnitude and direction, Fs all <1.63; ps > 0.19 for all interactions with subgroups). This suggests that demand Intensity was sensitive to established group differences in smoking rate, supporting its utility as an important measure of addiction potential.

Latent Structure of the Cigarette Purchase Task Among Treatment-Seeking Smokers With Depression and Its Predictive Validity on Smoking Abstinence.

INTRODUCTION: Research has recently shown that nicotine reinforcement is better characterized by a bifactorial latent structure: persistence (insensitivity to cigarette pricing) and amplitude (consumption at inexpensive prices). No study to date has examined its value as a predictor of abstinence. This study aimed to provide new evidence on the latent structure of the cigarette purchase task (CPT) in smokers with depressive symptoms and to examine whether the latent structure performs better as a predictor of continuous abstinence than do the individual indices. METHODS: Participants (n = 205 smokers; 72% female: Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition, M = 24.68, SD = 10.45) were randomized to two smoking cessation treatments for quitting smoking: cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) or CBT + contingency management (CM). A principal-components analysis was conducted to examine the latent structure of the CPT and a set of regression models were performed to assess its predictive validity. RESULTS: The principal-components analysis revealed a bifactorial solution, which was interpreted as persistence (breakpoint, Omax, Pmax, and elasticity) and psychological inertia (intensity and elasticity of demand). Evidence on the convergent validity was obtained through significant associations between the two latent factors and smoking variables (all r values ≥.17). Psychological inertia was negatively related to the number of days of continuous abstinence at the end of treatment regardless of the treatment condition [R2 = .038; F(2, 202) = 4.989, p = .008]. CONCLUSIONS: Psychological inertia informs on which patients benefit less from smoking cessation treatments incorporating CM and CBT. Treatment components that affect individuals' excessive valuation of cigarettes might improve cessation outcomes. IMPLICATIONS: This is the first attempt to examine the latent structure of the CPT in depressed smokers and to yield evidence on its predictive validity. A specific bifactorial solution exists for this population: persistence (breakpoint, Omax, Pmax, and elasticity) and psychological inertia (intensity and elasticity). Isolating demand indices and factors provides a high-resolution characterization of nicotine reinforcement for depressed smokers in that it informs on treatment response. Compared to the individual CPT indices, psychological inertia more effectively predicts which patients benefit most from either CM or CBT. Treatment components that affect individuals' excessive valuation of cigarettes (eg, episodic future thinking) should be integrated into smoking cessation treatments.

Sensitivity of hypothetical purchase task indices when studying substance use: A systematic literature review.

Hypothetical Purchase Tasks (HPTs) simulate demand for a substance as a function of escalating price. HPTs are increasingly used to examine relationships between substance-related correlates and outcomes and demand typically characterized using a common battery of indices (Intensity, Omax, Pmax, Breakpoint, Elasticity). This review examines the relative sensitivity of the HPT indices. Reports were identified using the search term "purchase task" in PubMed and Web of Science. For inclusion, reports had to be original studies in English, examine relationships between HPT indices and substance-related correlates or outcomes, and appear in a peer-reviewed journal through December 2017. Indices were compared using effect sizes (Cohen's d) and the proportion of studies in which statistically significant relationships were observed. The search identified 1274 reports with 114 (9%) receiving full-text review and 82 (6%) meeting inclusion criteria. 41 reports examined alcohol, 34 examined cigarettes/nicotine products, and 10 examined other substances. Overall, statistically significant relationships between HPT indices and substance-related correlates and outcomes were most often reported for Intensity (88.61%, 70/79), followed by Omax (81.16%, 56/69), Elasticity (72.15%, 57/59), Breakpoint (62.12%, 41/66), and Pmax (48.08%; 25/52). The largest effect sizes were observed for Intensity (0.75 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.67-0.84) and Omax (0.64 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.56-0.71), followed by Elasticity (0.44 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.37-0.51), Breakpoint (0.30 ±â€¯0.03, CI 0.25-0.36), and Pmax (0.25 ±â€¯0.04, CI 0.18-0.33). Patterns were largely consistent across substances. In conclusion, HPTs can be highly effective in revealing relationships between demand and substance-related correlates and outcomes, with Intensity and Omax exhibiting the greatest sensitivity.

Response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes among smokers differing in tobacco dependence severity.

This study examines whether tobacco dependence severity moderates the acute effects of reducing nicotine content in cigarettes on the addiction potential of smoking, craving/withdrawal, or smoking topography. Participants (N = 169) were daily smokers with mild, moderate, or high tobacco-dependence severity using the Heaviness of Smoking Index. Following brief abstinence, participants smoked research cigarettes varying in nicotine content (0.4, 2.4, 5.2, 15.8 mg nicotine/g tobacco) in a within-subject design. Results were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of co-variance. No main effects of dependence severity or interactions with nicotine dose were noted in relative reinforcing effects in concurrent choice testing or subjective effects on the modified Cigarette Evaluation Questionnaire. Demand for smoking in the Cigarette Purchase Task was greater among more dependent smokers, but reducing nicotine content decreased demand independent of dependence severity. Dependence severity did not significantly alter response to reduced nicotine content cigarettes on the Minnesota Tobacco Withdrawal Scale nor Questionnaire of Smoking Urges-brief (QSU) Factor-2 scale; dependence severity and dose interacted significantly on the QSU-brief Factor-1 scale, with reductions dependent on dose among highly but not mildly or moderately dependent smokers. Dependence severity and dose interacted significantly on only one of six measures of smoking topography (i.e., maximum flow rate), which increased as dose increased among mildly and moderately but not highly dependent smokers. These results suggest that dependence severity has no moderating influence on the ability of reduced nicotine content cigarettes to lower the addiction potential of smoking, and minimal effects on relief from craving/withdrawal or smoking topography.

The Fuzzy Concept of Applied Behavior Analysis Research.

A seven-dimension framework, introduced by Baer, Wolf, and Risley in an iconic 1968 article, has become the de facto gold standard for identifying "good" work in applied behavior analysis. We examine the framework's historical context and show how its overarching attention to social relevance first arose and then subsequently fueled the growth of applied behavior analysis. Ironically, however, in contemporary use, the framework serves as a bottleneck that prevents many socially important problems from receiving adequate attention in applied behavior analysis research. The core problem lies in viewing the framework as a conjoint set in which "good" research must reflect all seven dimensions at equally high levels of integrity. We advocate a bigger-tent version of applied behavior analysis research in which, to use Baer and colleagues' own words, "The label applied is determined not by the procedures used but by the interest society shows in the problem being studied." Because the Baer-Wolf-Risley article expressly endorses the conjoint-set perspective and devalues work that falls outside the seven-dimension framework, pitching the big tent may require moving beyond that article as a primary frame of reference for defining what ABA should be.

Progress of and Prospects for Hypothetical Purchase Task Questionnaires in Consumer Behavior Analysis and Public Policy.

Based on the conceptual, methodological, and analytical framework of operant behavioral economics, hypothetical purchase task (HPT) questionnaires provide a low cost, scalable, and quantitatively rich source of empirical insights on consumer motivation, preferences, and decision-making. Here, we briefly summarize the history of HPT development and validation in clinically oriented research in addiction through to recent work with more conventional consumer goods and services. We discuss several possible novel applications of HPT methods to consumer behavior analysis for business, marketing, and public policy formulation and evaluation, as well as emerging best practices, limitations, and additional directions for future research and development.

On the Social Acceptability of Behavior-Analytic Terms: Crowdsourced Comparisons of Lay and Technical Language.

Behavior analysis has a marketing problem. Although behavior analysts have speculated about the problems regarding our technical behavior-analytic terminology and how our terminology has hindered the dissemination of behavior analysis to outsiders, few have investigated the social acceptability of the terminology. The present paper reports the general public's reactions to technical behavioral jargon versus non-technical substitute terms that refer to applied behavior-analytic techniques. Two-hundred participants, all non-behavior analysts, were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and completed a survey on the social acceptability of behavioral jargon and non-technical terms. Specifically, participants rated the acceptability of how the six pairs of terms (technical and non-technical) sounded if the treatments were to be implemented for each of 10 potential populations of clients that behavior analysts typically work with. The results show that, overall, members of the general public found non-technical substitute terms more acceptable than technical behavior-analytic terms. The finding suggests that specialized vocabulary of behavior analysis may create hurdles to the acceptability of applied behavior-analytic services. The implication of these findings suggest the importance of a systematic investigation of listener behavior with respect to behavior analysis terms.

Automating Scoring of Delay Discounting for the 21- and 27-Item Monetary Choice Questionnaires.

Delay discounting describes the process wherein rewards lose value as a function of their delayed receipt; how quickly rewards lose value is termed the rate of delay discounting. Rates of delay discounting are robust predictors of much behavior of societal importance. One efficient approach to obtaining a human subject's rate of delay discounting is via the 21- and 27-item Monetary Choice Questionnaires, brief dichotomous choice tasks that assess preference between small immediate and larger delayed monetary outcomes. Unfortunately, the scoring procedures for the Monetary Choice Questionnaires are rather complex, which may serve as a barrier to their use. This report details a freely available Excel-based spreadsheet tool that automatically scores Monetary Choice Questionnaire response sets, using both traditional and contemporary/advanced approaches. An overview of the Monetary Choice Questionnaire and its scoring algorithm is provided. We conclude with general considerations for using the spreadsheet tool.

Robust relation between temporal discounting rates and body mass.

When given the choice between $100 today and $110 in 1 week, certain people are more likely to choose the immediate, yet smaller reward. The present study examined the relations between temporal discounting rate and body mass while accounting for important demographic variables, depressive symptoms, and behavioral inhibition and approach. After having their heights and weights measured, 100 healthy adults completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Behavioral Inhibition Scale/Behavioral Approach Scale. Overweight and obese participants exhibited higher temporal discounting rates than underweight and healthy weight participants. Temporal discounting rates decreased as the magnitude of the delayed reward increased, even when other variables known to impact temporal discounting rate (i.e., age, education level, and annual household income) were used as covariates. A higher body mass was strongly related to choosing a more immediate monetary reward. Additional research is needed to determine whether consideration-of-future-consequences interventions, or perhaps cognitive control interventions, could be effective in obesity intervention or prevention programs.

Determining How, When, and Whether You Should Publish Outside the Box: Sober Advice for Early Career Behavior Analysts.

Publishing outside of behavior analysis is necessary for the field's impact in advancing its science or improving its treatments. As consumers of behavior analysis, we typically only see the success stories in outlets such as the Journal for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and The Behavior Analyst. Lacking from these models is a description of the hard work and occasional missteps that accompany dissemination outside the box. In this paper, I propose that prospective disseminators need to (a) critically evaluate what they have to say, (b) carefully consider the field's interests, and (c) honestly analyze professional and personal contingencies to determine whether publishing outside the box should be a priority, depending on one's stage of professional development. I conclude with some general recommendations to early career behavior analysts aspiring to disseminate outside the field.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of test-retest reliability and stability of delay and probability discounting.

In this meta-analysis, we describe a benchmark value of delay and probability discounting reliability and stability that might be used to (a) evaluate the meaningfulness of clinically achieved changes in discounting and (b) support the role of discounting as a valid and enduring measure of intertemporal choice. We examined test-retest reliability, stability effect sizes (dz; Cohen, 1992), and relevant moderators across 30 publications comprising 39 independent samples and 262 measures of discounting, identified via a systematic review of PsychInfo, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. We calculated omnibus effect-size estimates and evaluated the role of proposed moderators using a robust variance estimation meta-regression method. The meta-regression output reflected modest test-retest reliability, r = .670, p < .001, 95% CI [.618, .716]. Discounting was most reliable when measured in the context of temporal constraints, in adult respondents, when using money as a medium, and when reassessed within 1 month. Testing also suggested acceptable stability via nonsignificant and small changes in effect magnitude over time, dz = 0.048, p = .31, 95% CI [-0.051, 0.146]. Clinicians and researchers seeking to measure discounting can consider the contexts when reliability is maximized for specific cases.

Adaptation of commodity purchase tasks to identify substitutable substance-free alternative activities for alcohol use.

Behavioral economic frameworks emphasize the importance of contextual influences on alcohol use; therefore, identifying relative demand for alcohol versus other commodities is of importance. Cross-commodity purchase tasks allow participants to make choices across multiple concurrently available commodities and can thereby pinpoint interactions among those commodities. These tasks may help identify relevant substance-free alternative activities to target in alcohol treatment by determining whether the activity functions as a substitute for alcohol use. While substance-free activity promotion is a promising behavioral component of alcohol interventions, no research to-date has used behavioral economic methods to assess the substitutability of alternative activities for alcohol use. The present studies were preliminary assessments of novel single- and cross-commodity purchase tasks of various alternative activities (e.g., exercise, hobbies, civic involvement). Participants in Study 1 recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (n = 110) were administered a series of novel activity purchase tasks and an alcohol purchase task. Results showed excellent fit of the exponential demand equation to activity purchase task data and provided initial support for adaptation of purchase task methodology to alternative activity demand. In Study 2, participants recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (n = 108) were administered both single-commodity and cross-commodity purchase tasks of alcohol and exercise. While most participants demonstrate independent consumption of alcohol and exercise, a subset of participants substituted exercise for alcohol as indicated by quantitative cross-price elasticity indices. These response patterns highlight the importance of individual differences and hold implications for recovery efforts that promote alternative activity engagement and public policy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Use of preexposure prophylaxis and condom purchasing decisions.

Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prevents human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but not other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Men who have sex with men (MSM) who take PrEP tend to report reduced condom use, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. For this study, MSM who take PrEP (i.e., PrEP experienced; n = 88) and MSM who do not (i.e., PrEP naïve; n = 113) completed an online study, including the condom purchase task (CoPT). The CoPT assesses decisions to purchase condoms across escalating prices (range: free-$55) for sex with different types of hypothetical partners: those least likely to have an STD (least STD) and those that participants most want to have sex with (most want sex with). When condoms were free, PrEP-experienced MSM had a lower rate of condom purchasing than did PrEP-naïve MSM. For both partner types, PrEP-experienced MSM reached a price break point (i.e., would not buy condoms) at a lower price than did PrEP-naïve pariticipants. For the most-want-sex-with partner at the price at which participants elected not to buy condoms, only 23% of PrEP-experienced MSM chose to abstain from sex when not purchasing condoms versus 53% among PrEP-naïve MSM. Similar patterns were observed for the least-STD partner. The results support the potential utility of the CoPT in identifying behavioral mechanisms related to condom use and PrEP.

Using behavioral economics to optimize safer undergraduate late-night transportation.

Many universities sponsor student-oriented transit services that could reduce alcohol-induced risks but only if services adequately anticipate and adapt to student needs. Human choice data offer an optimal foundation for planning and executing late-night transit services. In this simulated choice experiment, respondents opted to either (a) wait an escalating delay for a free university-sponsored "safe" option, (b) pay an escalating fee for an on-demand rideshare service, or (c) pick a free, immediately available "unsafe" option (e.g., ride with an alcohol-impaired driver). Behavioral-economic nonlinear models of averaged-choice data describe preference across arrangements. Best-fit metrics indicate adequate sensitivity to contextual factors (i.e., wait time, preceding late-night activity). At short delays, students preferred the free transit option. As delays extend beyond 30 min, most students preferred competing alternatives. These data depict a policy-relevant delay threshold to better safeguard undergraduate student safety.

Substance-related cross-commodity purchase tasks: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: In the context of behavioral economics, drug use is a choice to which an individual may allocate responding despite the presence of alternative response possibilities. To examine the demand for a drug in an environment in which other drugs or nondrug alternatives are present, researchers often use a cross-commodity purchase task. These tasks allow participants to make choices across several reinforcers at varied unit prices and may elucidate behavioral economic patterns of substitutability and complementarity. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of cross-commodity purchase task studies with human participants. METHOD: Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, we screened 46 full-text studies (from 456 total records obtained from PsycINFO and PubMed databases and reference list search), yielding a final sample of 35 studies. RESULTS: The drug category with the largest number of studies assessed was tobacco and nicotine products. The most consistent economic relationships found were substitutability of traditional cigarettes by e-cigarettes and e-liquid, and both legal and illegal cannabis for the other; however, other substitutable and complementary relationships were observed (e.g., substitution of food for cigarettes, a complementary relationship between alcohol and cannabis). CONCLUSIONS: We discuss the implications of the results of this review from a treatment and harm reduction standpoint, highlight areas for future research particularly among drug categories with few studies and evaluating ecological validity of hypothetical measures, and make best practice recommendations for future cross-commodity drug-related purchase task research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Reliability and validity of behavioral-economic measures: A review and synthesis of discounting and demand.

This review sought to synthesize the literature on the reliability and validity of behavioral-economic measures of demand and discounting in human research, introduce behavioral-economic research methodologies for studying addictive behaviors, discuss gaps in the current literature, and review areas for future research. A total of 34 studies was included in this review. The discounting literature showed similar responding regardless of whether hypothetical or actual outcomes were used, though people tended to discount the outcome presented first more steeply, suggesting order effects. Although delay-discounting measures seem to show temporal stability, exceptions were found for probability- and experiential-discounting tasks. The demand literature also demonstrated similar responding regardless of outcome type; however, some demand indices showed exceptions. Randomized price sequences tended to show modest increases in Omax and α and modestly higher rates of inconsistent or nonsystematic responses compared with sequential price sequences. Demand indices generally showed temporal stability, although the stability was weaker the larger the time interval between test sessions. Future studies would benefit by examining addictive commodities beyond alcohol, nicotine, and money; examining temporal stability over longer time intervals; using larger delays in discounting tasks; and using larger sample sizes.