Temporal discounting refers to the tendency to attribute higher value to a reward received early than to one received later. We evaluated this tendency in patients with Alzheimer’s Disease. We also evaluated whether temporal discounting is associated with decline in autobiographical memory (i.e., the ability to remember past personal experiences), with executive dysfunction, and/or with general cognitive decline. We invited patients with AD and control participants to answer binary questions involving the choice between receiving a smaller amount of money earlier or a larger one later (e.g., “Which do you prefer, 10 euros in cash right now or 50 euros in a month?”). Results demonstrated higher temporal discounting in patients with AD than in control participants. Temporal discounting was significantly correlated with decline in AM and general cognitive decline but not with executive dysfunction in patients with AD. The tendency to decide based on immediate rewards (i.e., temporal discounting) in AD is related with difficulty in remembering information about experiences of previous decisions, and/or their consequences (i.e., decline in autobiographical memory).

时间折扣是指倾向于将较高的价值归因于较早获得的奖励而不是较晚接受的奖励。我们评估了阿尔茨海默氏病患者的这种趋势。我们还评估了时间折扣是否与自传体记忆的下降（即记忆过去的个人经历的能力），执行功能障碍和/或总体认知下降有关。我们邀请患有AD的患者和对照组参与者回答有关二元问题的问题，这些问题涉及在早些时候收到少量钱还是晚些时候收到较大笔钱之间的选择（例如，“您现在偏爱10欧元现金还是每月50欧元？ ”）。结果表明，AD患者的时间折现率高于对照组。时间折减与AM和一般认知能力下降显着相关，但与AD患者的执行功能不相关。在AD中基于即时奖励（即时间折扣）做出决定的倾向与难以记住有关先前决定的经历和/或后果（即自传记忆力下降）的信息有关。