Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34342577›Full record

ArticleeLife2021

The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in reward valuation and future thinking during intertemporal choice.

Elisa Ciaramelli, Flavia De Luca, Donna Kwan, Jenkin Mok, Francesca Bianconi, Violetta Knyagnytska, Carl Craver, Leonard Green, Joel Myerson, R Shayna Rosenbaum

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
3.6field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

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  10. Anhedonia: Current and future treatments.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025
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  11. Delay discounting predicts COVID-19 vaccine booster willingness.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2025
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  13. Predictors of Change in Vaccination Decisions Among the Vaccine Hesitant: Examining the Roles of Age and Intolerance of Uncertainty.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2024
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  17. Anhedonia and Depressive Disorders.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Elisa CiaramelliDipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-4797-8060
Flavia De LucaDipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Donna KwanDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.
Jenkin MokDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.
Francesca BianconiCentro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy.
Violetta KnyagnytskaCentro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy.
Carl CraverDepartment of Philosophy, Washington University, St. Louis, United States.
Leonard GreenDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, United States.
Joel MyersonDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, United States.
R Shayna RosenbaumDepartment of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.
York University · CAWashington University in St. Louis · USIstituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna · ITUniversity of Sussex · GB

Funding

DECISION-MAKING IN YOUNGER AND OLDER ADULTS: A DISCOUNTING FRAMEWORKR01AG058885 · NIA · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI GREEN, LEONARD S, MYERSON, JOEL · 2018 to 2022
$1.7M
NIA NIH HHS R01 AG058885
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Intertemporal choices require trade-offs between short-term and long-term outcomes. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) damage causes steep discounting of future rewards (delay discounting [DD]) and impoverished episodic future thinking (EFT). The role of vmPFC in reward valuation, EFT, and their interaction during intertemporal choice is still unclear. Here, 12 patients with lesions to vmPFC and 41 healthy controls chose between smaller-immediate and larger-delayed hypothetical monetary rewards while we manipulated reward magnitude and the availability of EFT cues. In the EFT condition, participants imagined personal events to occur at the delays associated with the larger-delayed rewards. We found that DD was steeper in vmPFC patients compared to controls, and not modulated by reward magnitude. However, EFT cues downregulated DD in vmPFC patients as well as controls. These findings indicate that vmPFC integrity is critical for the valuation of (future) rewards, but not to instill EFT in intertemporal choice.

Indexed as

Choice BehaviorRewardAgedDelay DiscountingFemaleHumansImaginationMaleMiddle AgedPrefrontal CortexTime Factorsdecision makingdelay discountingepisodic future thinkinghumanneurosciencerewardventromedial prefrontal cortex

Identifiers

PMID34342577
PMCPMC8331177
OpenAlexW3137292939

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.