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PubMed2004

Measuring state changes in human delay discounting: an experiential discounting task.

A new experiential discounting task (EDT) is presented. Unlike existing question-based measures of delay discounting, which rely on imagined consequences during task completion, this EDT requires that participants experience choice consequences (i.e. delays and pseudo consumatory responses) during the measurement period. As a preliminary examination of this task's sensitivity to variability in discounting, 12 participants (six females) completed a timing test (production and reproduction), a question-based measure of delay discounting, and the EDT during non-sleep-deprived (awake 7 h) and sleep-deprived (awake 21 h) conditions. Based on evidence that sleep deprivation increases impulsive behavior, it was hypothesized that participants would underrepresent time intervals in both production and reproduction procedures and discount significantly more with the discounting procedures while sleep deprived. Unfortunately, data from the question-based discounting procedure could not be reported due to invalid task completion. However, as hypothesized, certain production and reproduction intervals were underrepresented on the timing test, and discounting was significantly steeper on the EDT when participants were sleep deprived. Also, rate of discounting on the EDT was better characterized by a hyperbolic function than by exponential function, which is consistent with previous delay-discounting research. These preliminary results suggest this EDT may be a useful measure for assessing state changes in discounting processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Commission error rates on a continuous performance test are related to deficits measured by the Benton Visual Retention Test.

This study is one in a series investigating the relationship between impulsive behavior on a Continuous Performance Test (i.e., the Immediate and Delayed Memory Task) and other cognitive deficits measured by clinical instruments. Forty-two adolescents were selected for two groups, controls and hospitalized patients with disruptive behavior disorders. Each adolescent completed the Immediate and Delayed Memory Task and the Benton Visual Retention Test. Our main findings were that, even when controlling for IQ, the Immediate and Delayed Memory Task commission errors were associated with adverse Benton performance, but only in the patient group. These results may be explained by a shared association between processes of impulsivity and other deficits of executive control that may interfere with successful performance of the Benton.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Laboratory measures of aggression and impulsivity in women with borderline personality disorder.

To characterize how severe negative affect in women is reflected in objective measures of aggression and impulsivity, the aggressive and impulsive behavior of 14 hospitalized women with borderline personality disorder (BPD) was compared with that of 17 controls. In an impulsivity task, subjects experienced two sets of 50 trials during which they could choose a smaller, immediate monetary reward or a larger but progressively delayed reward. In a separate task (PSAP), subjects earned monetary reinforcers with repeated button presses, and were provoked by the subtraction of money which was blamed on a fictitious other participant. Subjects could respond by ostensibly subtracting money from the fictitious subject (the aggressive response). While selection frequency of the short-delay responses was similar in patients and controls, BPD patients responded to avoid longer delay of reward across trials, and had higher Barratt Impulsiveness Scale total scores and attentional subscale scores. BPD patients responded to the money losses with roughly three times as many aggressive responses as controls and had higher Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), Brown History of Violence, and Retrospective Overt Aggression Scale scores than controls. Aggressive responding rates correlated positively with BDHI scores. These results extend previous findings that negative affect in women is reflected in laboratory behavioral measures.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Fluoxetine treatment seems to reduce the beneficial effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy in type B alcoholics.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that, because of abnormalities in serotonergic neurotransmission that may underlie craving and impulsive behavior, fluoxetine treatment differentially affects drinking among type B alcoholics, who are characterized by high levels of both premorbid vulnerability and alcohol-related problems. METHODS: Using a k-means clustering procedure, alcohol-dependent subjects from a placebo-controlled trial of fluoxetine were grouped into low-risk/severity (type A: n = 60) and high-risk/ severity (type B: n = 35) groups. Multivariate analysis of covariance (with pretreatment measures as covariates) evaluated the effects of Alcoholic Subtype, Medication Group, Treatment Completion, and their interactions on measures of drinking, both during the 12-week treatment period and a 6-month follow-up period. RESULTS: Although there were no main effects of Alcoholic Subtype or Medication Group, subjects who completed the treatment trial showed significantly better drinking-related outcomes. There was also an interaction of Alcoholic Subtype by Medication Group during treatment. Among type B subjects, fluoxetine treatment resulted in poorer drinking-related outcomes than placebo treatment. Among type A subjects, there was no effect of Medication Group. This interactive effect did not persist during the 6-month follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Alcoholic subtypes identified by cluster analysis seem to be differentially responsive to the effects of fluoxetine treatment on drinking-related outcomes. Serotonergic abnormalities previously identified among a subgroup of alcoholics who are also characterized by impulsivity and severity of alcohol dependence may help to explain the differential medication effect. Based on these findings, it is recommended that, in the absence of a comorbid mood or anxiety disorder, fluoxetine not be used to maintain abstinence or reduce drinking in high-risk/severity alcoholics.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Acute-alcohol effects on the Experiential Discounting Task (EDT) and a question-based measure of delay discounting.

Alcohol is widely believed to increase impulsive behavior. However, this has been difficult to demonstrate for impulsive choice using existing measures of delay discounting. We hypothesized a new real-time discounting task would be more sensitive to acute effects of alcohol. Measures included were a (a) question-based measure of delay discounting, the (b) Experiential Discounting Task (EDT), the (c) Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), the (d) Stop Task, and the (e) Go/No-Go Task. A three-session, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects design was used. Placebo, 0.4, or 0.8 g/kg alcohol doses were administered in a counterbalanced order over the three testing sessions. Twenty four (13 females) healthy social drinkers between the ages of 21 and 35 participated. Alcohol increased impulsive responding only on the EDT and the Stop Task. On the EDT, participants performed more impulsively after the 0.8 g/kg dose compared to placebo, whereas on the Stop Task, both the 0.4 and 0.8 g/kg doses increased impulsive responding. Alcohol had no significant effects on the other measures. The EDT was more sensitive to the acute effects of alcohol than previously used discounting tasks. Procedural differences between the EDT and question-based measures are discussed in the context of these divergent findings.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The genetics of gambling and behavioral addictions.

Behavioral addictions are considered as the repetitive occurrence of impulsive behaviors without consideration of their potential negative consequences. These addictions represent an increasing cost to society and are an important new field of research in psychiatric genetics. There has been a growing body of evidence on the familial aggregation and genetic influences on the development of behavioral addictions and mainly on pathological gambling. The aim of this article is to critically review findings of family and molecular genetic studies on behavioral addictions, focusing on pathological gambling and commenting on other disorders where appropriate. This review provides a comprehensive approach to genetic studies on behavioral addiction and points out the necessity of expanding the genetic research in this field. Future directions for genetic studies in this field are also discussed.

Behavior, Addictive↗
PubMed2001

Effects of acute sleep restriction on behavior, sustained attention, and response inhibition in children.

This study examined the effects of acute sleep restriction on the day-time behavior and performance of healthy children and adolescents. 82 participants (8 to 15 years of age) completed 5 nights of baseline sleep and were randomly assigned to Optimized (10 hr.) or Restricted (4 hr.) sleep for an overnight lab visit. Behavior, performance, and sleepiness were assessed the following day. Sleep restriction was associated with shorter daytime sleep latency, increased subjective sleepiness, and increased sleepy and inattentive behaviors but was not associated with increased hyperactive-impulsive behavior or impaired performance on tests of response inhibition and sustained attention. Results are discussed in terms of current theories regarding effects of inadequate or disturbed sleep among children and adolescents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Dispositional impulsivity in normal and abnormal samples.

Impulsive behaviors, which can include aggression, substance use and suicide, are common and core features of the DSM Axis II Cluster B personality disorders. The construct of dispositional impulsivity is multidimensional and a number of self-report measures have been created to represent features of this trait (e.g., novelty seeking, behavioral disinhibition, nonplanning). Because these questionnaires are rarely administered together in the same sample, little is known about how they are related to one another. The current study was conducted to examine the structure of dimensional impulsive personality traits in a large normative sample (n=351). Analyses revealed that dispositional impulsivity was represented by three moderately correlated latent factors labeled thrill seeking, nonplanning and disinhibited behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses were also used to examine the extent to which the internal structure of these impulsive personality traits was similar in a sample defined as abnormal (i.e., DSM-III-R Cluster B PD diagnoses; n=70). Results revealed that the structure of these traits was consistent across the two samples in a model that constrained factor loadings and structural covariances (NFI=0.89; CFI=95; RMSEA=0.04). In addition, correlational relationships between the impulsivity factor scores and behavioral and sociodemographic factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, substance use) were consistent across the two samples. These results help to establish a common framework for understanding the multidimensional nature of impulsivity. Results from these analyses also lend support to a large body of work that demonstrates that normal and abnormal personality features are related.

Aggression↗
PubMed2005

Risk factors for suicide completion in major depression: a case-control study of impulsive and aggressive behaviors in men.

OBJECTIVE: Major depression is a major risk factor for suicide. However, not all individuals with major depression commit suicide. Impulsive and aggressive behaviors have been proposed as risk factors for suicide, but it remains unclear whether their effect on the risk of suicide is at least partly explained by axis I disorders commonly associated with suicide, such as major depression. With a case-control design, a comparison of the level of impulsive and aggressive behaviors and the prevalence of associated psychopathology was carried out with control for the presence of primary psychopathology. METHOD: One hundred and four male suicide completers who died during an episode of major depression and 74 living depressed male comparison subjects were investigated with proxy-based interviews by using structured diagnostic instruments and personality trait assessments. RESULTS: The authors found that current (6-month prevalence) alcohol abuse/dependence, current drug abuse/dependence, and cluster B personality disorders increased the risk of suicide in individuals with major depression. Also, higher levels of impulsivity and aggression were associated with suicide. An analysis by age showed that these risk factors were more specific to younger suicide victims (ages 18-40). A multivariate analysis indicated that current alcohol abuse/dependence and cluster B personality disorder were two independent predictors of suicide. CONCLUSIONS: Impulsive-aggressive personality disorders and alcohol abuse/dependence were two independent predictors of suicide in major depression, and impulsive and aggressive behaviors seem to underlie these risk factors. A developmental hypothesis of suicidal behavior, with impulsive and aggressive behaviors as the starting point, is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Reduced punishment sensitivity in neural systems of behavior monitoring in impulsive individuals.

This study measured the response-locked event-related potential during a flanker task with performance-based monetarily rewarding and punishing trials in 37 undergraduate students separated into high- and low-impulsive groups based on a median split on self-reported Barrett Impulsiveness Scale. The high-impulsive group had a smaller medial frontal error-related negativity (ERN) on punishment trials than the low-impulsive group. The medial prefrontal neural system of behavior monitoring, indexed by the ERN, appears less sensitive to punishment signals in normal impulsivity. This reduced punishment sensitivity in impulsivity, a personality variation associated with several mental and personality disorders including ADHD and substance abuse may be related to the tendency to select short-term rewards despite potential long-term negative consequences in these individuals.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

The endophenotype of impulsivity: reaching consilience through behavioral, genetic, and neuroimaging approaches.

Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct with implications for understanding the etiology and treatment of multiple forms of psychopathology. As a multidimensional construct, however, the processes underlying impulsivity, particularly behavioral inhibition, must be separated to allow for investigations into its neurogenetic bases. Evidence from both animal and human studies supports the role of dopamine in impulsivity, and neuroimaging research is elucidating brain regions involved in behavioral inhibition. Evidence is now emerging that suggests an interaction between dopamine system genes and frontal brain regions in underlying individual differences in behavioral inhibition. However, to reach a comprehensive understanding of the neurogenetic bases of behavioral inhibition, an appropriate framework is required. Therefore, it is proposed that by identifying intervening variables more sensitive to the effects of genetic variation, known as an endophenotype approach, we will be able to overcome many of the methodological limitations that prevent a better understanding at present.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The neglected link between eating disturbances and aggressive behavior in girls.

OBJECTIVES: Research has linked eating disturbances with behavioral impulsivity. Little is known, however, about whether eating disturbances and aggressive behavior have a tendency to co-occur in the same girls. This article assesses the eating disturbance-aggressive behavior association and then examines the extent to which these factors confer a risk on drug use and attempted suicide. METHOD: Survey data were gathered from 3,630 girls in grades 6 through 12 in the upper Midwest. Girls responded anonymously to questions regarding binge eating and purging, dietary restriction, aggressive behavior, drug use, and attempted suicide. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the unique contribution of demographic variables, eating disturbances, and aggression on drug use and attempted suicide. RESULTS: Eating disturbances were significantly associated with aggressive behavior. Girls who endorsed binge eating and purging or dietary restriction had odds of aggressive behavior 2 to 4 times higher than girls who did not endorse these items. Logistic regression revealed that eating disturbances and aggressive behavior were significantly associated with both drug use and attempted suicide. CONCLUSIONS: Eating disturbances are significantly associated with aggressive conduct in adolescent girls. The constellation of eating disturbances and aggressive behavior is associated with a greater risk of drug use and attempted suicide.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Newborn minor physical anomalies and problem behavior at age three.

The authors followed up 136 three-year-olds who had high or low scores for minor physical anomalies of face, head, hands, and feet at birth. Interviews with parents revealed that high-anomaly infants were somewhat more likely to have problem behaviors at age three; this was particularly true for hyperactive-impulsive behavior for boys. Preschool teachers' ratings of hyperactivity, however, did not show a significant relationship to anomaly score. The results suggest some congenital contributors to behavior disorders of childhood, but the relationship between anomalies and problem behavior is weak and limits clinical usefulness of this measure when used alone for identifying a high-risk population.

Child Behavior Disorders↗
PubMed1987

Factors affecting the decision to prosecute mental patients for criminal behavior.

Several authors have argued that under certain circumstances it is both necessary and therapeutic to bring criminal charges against psychiatric patients who have committed assaults or manifested other criminal behavior. Others have argued that prosecution may impair therapeutic alliances and may lead to increased litigation by patients. In this paper the authors present four cases in which patients in the public mental health system were prosecuted, and they discuss factors that affect the decision to pursue prosecution. They argue that both clinicians and legal professionals need specific training to help them recognize the differences between behavior that a patient's illness prevents him from controlling and impulsive behavior, stemming from character pathology, that can appropriately be addressed by criminal sanctions.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The relationship of momentary anger and impulsivity to bulimic behavior.

Past research has suggested that negative affect may be a causal factor for eating disordered behaviors. More specifically, research has shown that anger appears to be one aspect of negative affect that is particularly relevant in bulimic patients. Previous studies have also shown that the relationship between negative affect and eating disordered behaviors may partially depend upon personality variables such as impulsivity. The present study examined whether the relationship between anger and eating disordered behaviors is moderated by impulsivity. Subjects completed an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol for an average of 2 weeks. Findings revealed that overall antecedent anger level and the variability of antecedent anger predicted binge-eating episodes and that these relationships were moderated by participants' level of impulsivity. These findings suggest that personality variables impact the way that anger and eating behaviors relate. They also suggest that the variability of antecedent anger may be a fruitful avenue for future research for those interested in causal variables associated with bulimia nervosa.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Acute effects of oral cocaine on inhibitory control of behavior in humans.

Studies of humans show that individuals with histories of cocaine abuse display reduced inhibitory control over behavioral impulses. The present study tested the effects of oral cocaine on the ability to inhibit behavior in humans. Eight adult volunteers (seven men and one woman) with a history of cocaine abuse participated as in-patient volunteers. Response inhibition and response execution were measured by a stop-signal paradigm using a choice reaction time task that engaged subjects in responding to go-signals when stop-signals occasionally informed them to inhibit the response. Subjects' performance on the task was tested just before and 1 h after a randomized, double-blind administration of 0 mg (placebo), 50, 100, and 150 mg of oral cocaine HCl. Cocaine reduced subjects' ability to inhibit responses to stop-signals. By contrast, no effect of cocaine was observed on the ability to execute responses in terms of their speed and accuracy. Subjective and physiological effects of cocaine were also observed. Together, the findings indicate that acute administration of cocaine can impair the ability to inhibit behavioral responses at doses that do not affect the ability to respond. These findings are important because they identify a specific disinhibiting effect of cocaine that could help explain the documented association between long-term cocaine use and poor impulse control.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2006

Endogenous opioid blockade and impulsive responding in alcoholics and healthy controls.

The opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (NTX) is one of few approved treatments for alcoholism, yet the mechanism by which it reduces drinking remains unclear. In rats, NTX reduces morphine-induced impulsive choice bias; however, nothing is known about the drug's effect on discrete aspects of impulsive behavior in humans, such as decision-making and inhibitory control. Here, we used a modified delay discounting procedure to investigate whether NTX improves decision-making or inhibitory control in humans. We measured the effect of acute NTX (50 mg) on choice between smaller sooner (SS) and larger later monetary rewards and on response errors (motor mismatch) in a high conflict condition in a group of abstinent alcoholics (AA) and healthy control subjects (CS). We previously reported that AA selected the SS option significantly more often than did CS in this paradigm. If the choice bias of AA is due to enhanced endogenous opioid signaling in response to potential reward, NTX should reduce such bias in the AA group. We found that NTX did not reliably reduce impulsive choice in the AA group; however, NTX's effect on choice bias across individuals was robustly predictable. NTX's effect on choice bias was significantly correlated with scores on Rotter's Locus of Control (LOC) scale; increasingly internal LOC scores predicted increasing likelihood of impulsive choices on NTX. In addition, we found that NTX significantly enhanced control of motor responses, particularly within the CS group. These results suggest that endogenous opioids may impair response selection during decision-making under conflict, and that NTX's effects on explicit decision-making are personality-dependent. Determining the biological basis of this dependence could have important implications for effective alcoholism treatment.

Adult↗