Neural and Behavioral Evidence for a Link Between Mobile Technology Usage and Intertemporal Preference

Mobile electronic devices such as smartphones are playing an increasingly pervasive role in our daily activities. A growing body of literature is beginning to investigate how mobile technology habits might relate to individual differences in cognitive traits. The present study is an investigation into how individual differences in intertemporal preference, impulse control, and reward sensitivity, are predictive of the degree to which people engage with their smartphones, in two separate experiments. Experiment 1 utilized behavioral and self-reported measures for each of the aforementioned cognitive traits to examine their relationships with Mobile Technology Engagement (MTE) as defined in Wilmer & Chein (2016). The results replicated earlier work demonstrating that mobile technology engagement is positively correlated with a tendency to discount delayed rewards. A positive relationship was also observed between MTE and reward sensitivity. In an attempt to investigate the neural origins of the relationship observed in Experiment 1, Experiment 2 examined the association between mobile technology usage and white matter connectivity from the ventral striatum (vSTR) to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), pathways that have been previously implicated as biological markers for individual differences in intertemporal preference. Regression analyses revealed that both pathways predicted delay discounting performance, but only vSTR-vmPFC predicted mobile technology engagement. Taken together, the results of these two experiments provide important foundational evidence for both neural and cognitive factors that predict how individuals engage with mobile technology.

Grantor dc:publisher

Temple University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Wilmer, Henry Hawthorne

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chein, Jason M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Olson, Ingrid R.
• Olino, Thomas
• Steinberg, Laurence D., 1952-
• Weisberg, Robert W.
• Venkatraman, Vinod

• Psychology
• Neurosciences
• Cognition
• Impulse control
• Intertemporal preference
• Mobile technology
• Reward sensitivity
• Smartphones

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/3831

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/3831