跨期选择是指个体对发生在不同时间的成本与收益进行权衡的决策过程。跨期选择的计算模型从经济学的角度用数学模型来建构时间折扣函数，而认知成分模型则从心理学的角度来研究跨期选择中的心理效应与认知成分。跨期选择的神经基础有三种不同的研究取向：双机制加工取向、单机制加工取向、自我控制取向。未来研究应该在跨期选择的认知机制、神经通路及运行机制、跨期选择的应用，以及从进化的角度对人与动物的跨期选择行为进行更深入的研究。

Intertemporal choice is the individual balances costs and benefits of decision-making process which occurred at different times. An important finding in intertemporal choice is time discounting which is that compared to current or recent gains (or losses), people always give less weight on future gains (or losses). The computational model of intertemporal decision-making constructs a mathematical model of the time discounting function from an economic point of view, which contains discounted utility model (DU), hyperbolic discounting model family (including mainly hyperbolic discounting model and quasi-hyperbolic discounting model), subadditive discounting model, “as soon as possible” (ASAP) discounting model. ……