THE EFFECT OF SPATIAL REPRESENTATION OF TIME ON INTER-TEMPORAL CHOICE

Last registered on April 06, 2026

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

THE EFFECT OF SPATIAL REPRESENTATION OF TIME ON INTER-TEMPORAL CHOICE

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0018286

Initial registration date

April 04, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

April 06, 2026, 9:38 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

Singapore

Region

Singapore

Primary Investigator

Name

WENHAO CHEN

Affiliation

NTU

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2026-03-30

End date

2026-04-30

Keywords

Behavior

Additional Keywords

spatial representation of time, time preference, inter-temporal choice, multiple price list, behavioral economics

JEL code(s)

D91, C91, D15

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This study investigates how the spatial presentation of time influences people's economic decision-making, specifically their time preferences.In this study, participants will complete a series of inter-temporal choices. The primary objective is to examine whether different spatial representations of time can alter the discount rates people apply to future rewards. The findings will contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychological and environmental factors that shape patient versus impatient financial behaviors.

External Link(s)

the Qualtrics link of the survey

Registration Citation

Citation

CHEN, WENHAO. 2026. "THE EFFECT OF SPATIAL REPRESENTATION OF TIME ON INTER-TEMPORAL CHOICE." AEA RCT Registry. April 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.18286-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

This study investigates the effect of spatial representation of time on inter-temporal decision-making. During a standard time preference elicitation task (Multiple Price List), participants will be randomly assigned to different conditions that vary the spatial representation of time. Specifically, the intervention manipulates spatial orientation of time-related visual cues accompanying the choice options. The primary objective is to test whether these variations in visual framing influence participants' discount rates.

Intervention (Hidden)

The intervention employs a between-subjects design where participants are randomly assigned to one of three visual conditions while completing the Multiple Price List (MPL) task. The task requires participants to make a series of choices between a smaller-sooner reward (e.g., "Today") and a larger-later reward (e.g., "In two weeks").

The intervention manipulates the visual cues accompanying these text-based choices:
Condition 1: Left-Right Visual Cues (Treatment A). Participants are presented with a visual arrow pointing from left to right. The present time point ("Today") is visually anchored on the left side of the arrow, and the future time point (e.g., "In two weeks") is anchored on the right side.
Condition 2: Right-Left Visual Cues (Treatment B). Participants are presented with a visual arrow pointing from right to left. The present time point is visually anchored on the right side of the arrow, and the future time point is anchored on the left side.
Condition 3: Non-Visual Cues (Control). Participants complete the standard MPL task with plain text only. No visual arrows or spatial timeline cues are displayed.

To isolate the effect of the visual cues, the payout amounts, time delays, text wording, and the overall vertical layout of the MPL choices remain strictly identical across all three conditions.

Intervention Start Date

2026-04-06

Intervention End Date

2026-04-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Intertemporal choice

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Inter-temporal choice is constructed from participants' choices in a series of binary inter-temporal choice tasks.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This study employs a randomized, between-subjects design conducted online via Prolific and Qualtrics. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of several different visual presentation conditions. In the main task, participants will complete a series of intertemporal choices using the multiple-price list (MPL) method to assess their time preferences. Following the primary choice task, participants will rate their affective responses, and conclude with a post-experimental questionnaire collecting demographic information

Experimental Design Details

The survey will be conducted on Qualtrics with the participants recruited via Prolific.
Participants will first receive standardized experimental instructions. They will be randomly assigned to one of three between-subjects conditions: left-right visual cues, right-left visual cues or non visual cues. In their assigned condition, participants will view the corresponding spatial representation of time and complete a series of inter-temporal choice tasks to assess time preferences, which are developed using the multiple-price list (MPL) method. Following this, all participants will rate their affective responses to the spatial representation of time. Finally, participants will fill out a post-experimental questionnaire collecting demographic information and eliciting their guesses regarding the study’s hypothesis.

Randomization Method

Randomization done in Qualtrics by the randomizer function

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Not applicable. Individual-level randomization.

Sample size: planned number of observations

750 participants

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

250 participants in the control group (non visual cues), 250 participants in the left-right visual cues group, and 250 participants in the right-left visual cues group.

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

We conduct a power calculation assuming a two-sided test with α = 0.05 and power = 0.80. With 250 participants per treatment arm (N = 750), the minimum detectable effect size (MDE) is approximately 0.25 standard deviations for pairwise comparisons between groups. Assuming a standard deviation of the main outcome (discount rate / switching point) normalized to 1, this corresponds to detecting a difference of 0.25 SD between treatment conditions.

Supporting Documents and Materials

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

IRB