Rate maximization and hyperbolic discounting in human experiential intertemporal decision making

Decisions between differently timed outcomes are a well-studied topic in as diverse academic disciplines as economics, psychology, and behavioral ecology. Humans and other animals have been shown to make these intertemporal choices by hyperbolically devaluing rewards as a function of their delays (‘delay discounting’), thus often deemed to behave myopically. In behavioral ecology, however, intertemporal choices are assumed to meet optimization principles, that is, the maximization of energy or reward rate. Thus far it is unclear how different approaches assuming these two currencies, reward devaluation and reward rate maximization, could be reconciled. Here we investigated the degree at which humans (N = 81) discount reward value and maximize reward rate when making intertemporal decisions. We found that both hyperbolic discounting and rate maximization well approximated the choices made in a range of different intertemporal choice design conditions. Notably, rate maximization rules pro...