Impulsive Choices and Delayed Rewards: The Impact of Dopamine Disruptions on Temporal Discounting in Parkinson’s Disease

This review addresses the compelling evidence that dopaminergic function plays a key role in regulating temporal discounting, using Parkinson’s disease (PD) as a model of dopaminergic dysfunction. Based on evidence from pharmacological intervention, neuroimaging studies, and computational modeling we can demonstrate that both dopamine depletion in PD and dopamine replacement therapy significantly impact the valuations patients place on immediate versus delayed rewards. The results offer a nuanced, non-linear interaction between temporal preference and dopamine levels with implications extending beyond PD to the neurobiology of decision-making. These findings support the possibility of using targeted dopaminergic treatments to amend aberrant decision-making behaviors in neuropsychiatric disorders that feature impulsive states and reward deficiency. These findings therefore have the potential to guide more targeted therapeutic approaches aimed at improving decision-making in both PD and other disorders of impulsivity.