Response inhibition in the parametric go/no-go task and its relation to impulsivity and subclinical psychopathy

The current study utilizes the parametric go/no-go task (PGNG), a task that examines changes in inhibitory performance as executive function load increases, to examine the link between psychopathic traits, impulsivity, and response inhibition in a cohort of healthy participants. The results show that as executive function load increased, inhibitory ability decreased. High scores on the Cognitive Complexity subscale of the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS–11) predict poor inhibitory ability in the PGNG. Similarly, high scores on the Psychopathy Personality Inventory–Revised (PPI–R) Blame Externalization subscale predict response inhibition deficits in the PGNG, which loads more on the executive functions than the standard go/no-go task. The remaining BIS–11 as well as PPI–R subscales did not interact with inhibitory performance in the PGNG highlighting the specificity of associations between aspects of personality and impulsivity with inhibitory performance as cognitive load is increased. These data point towards the sensitivity of the PGNG in studying response inhibition in the context of highly impulsive populations and its utility as a measure of impulsivity.     

Temporal preparation,response inhibition and impulsivity

Temporal preparation and impulsivity involve overlapping neural structures (prefrontal cortex) and cognitive functions (response inhibition and time perception), however, their interrelations had not been investigated. We studied such interrelations by comparing the performance of groups with low vs. high non-clinical trait impulsivity during a temporal preparation go no-go task. This task measured, in less than 10 min, how response inhibition was influenced both by temporal orienting of attention (guided by predictive temporal cues) and by sequential effects (produced by repetition/alternation of the duration of preparatory intervals in consecutive trials). The results showed that sequential effects produced dissociable patterns of temporal preparation as a function of impulsivity. Sequential effects facilitated both response speed (reaction times – RTs – to the go condition) and response inhibition (false alarms to the no-go condition) selectively in the low impulsivity group. In the high impulsivity group, in contrast, sequential effects only improved RTs but not response inhibition. We concluded that both excitatory and inhibitory processing may be enhanced concurrently by sequential effects, which enables the temporal preparation of fast and controlled responses. Impulsivity could hence be related to less efficient temporal preparation of that inhibitory processing.     

特质焦虑与青少年冒险行为的关系：基于双系统模型的机制探讨

为了考察特质焦虑与青少年冒险行为的关系并基于双系统模型探究其中的影响机制,本研究采用特质焦虑问卷、简版自我控制量表、感觉寻求量表和青少年多领域冒险行为问卷对1720名12～18岁的青少年进行问卷调查,共回收有效数据1549份。结果发现：（1）特质焦虑能正向预测青少年的冒险行为,自我控制在特质焦虑与冒险行为间的关系中起中介作用;（2）感觉寻求调节了该中介过程的后半路径,即个体的感觉寻求水平越高,自我控制对冒险行为的预测作用越大。     

Interval timing predicts impulsivity in intertemporal choice: combined behavioral and drift-diffusion model evidence

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the relationship between interval timing and impulsivity in intertemporal choice in a healthy population. A duration production task was used to assess interval timing. Choice impulsivity was assessed using a hypothetical money choice task. Results from 134 participants indicated that faster internal clock significantly predicted lower choice impulsivity. A subsequent drift-diffusion model analysis of the behavioural data revealed that in the sub-group of relatively farsighted participants, faster internal clock predicted consideration of more information before making a choice, which in turn was associated with lower choice impulsivity. In the sub-group of relatively impatient participants too, faster internal clock predicted consideration of more information, but which in turn was associated with higher choice impulsivity. It is concluded that among relatively farsighted individuals in a normal population, faster internal clock favours a more deliberate processing of the options at hand, thus eliciting less impulsive choices.     

Trait aggression is related to anger-modulated deficits in response inhibition

The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of emotion-modulated response inhibition in individual difference in the disposition towards aggressive behavior (i.e. trait aggression). One hundred and twelve undergraduate participants completed a behavioral measure of emotion modulated response inhibition (an emotional go/no-go task), self-report measures previously shown to predict aggression (Big-5 traits, impulsivity), and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) as a measure of trait aggression. Results show that deficient inhibition to angry, but not happy, faces were related to trait aggression but not to other traits. These findings provide support for the role of specific top down executive control mechanisms in the regulation of aggressive tendencies and highlight the importance of examining these mechanisms in an emotional context.     

Driving self-regulation and risky driving outcomes

Self-regulation has been associated with risky driving outcomes in the past but there are no available measures to assess driving-specific self-regulatory capacity. The present study assessed the association of a newly developed driving self-regulation measure with driving violations, errors, and lapses. Overall, 330 UK drivers completed measures of risky driving outcomes, driving anger, trait impulsivity, sensation seeking, normlessness, domain-general trait self-regulation plus a new unidimensional measure of Driving Self-Regulation Questionnaire (DSRQ-16). Bivariate correlation analysis indicated that the DSRQ-16 showed expected associations with both driving-related outcomes and factors, as well as with impulsivity traits and general self-regulation. Bootstrapped hierarchical linear regression models showed that the DSRQ-16 was significantly associated with driving violations, errors, and lapses after controlling for the effects of other relevant predictors. This is the first study to demonstrate the association of driving-specific self-regulation with risky driving behaviour, driving anger, impulsivity and related personality traits. Driving-specific self-regulation may present a novel target for road safety interventions, as well as a theoretically relevant component of models of risky driving behaviour.     

Propensity for risk taking and trait impulsivity in the Iowa Gambling Task

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is sensitive to decision making impairments in several clinical groups with frontal impairment. However the complexity of the IGT, particularly in terms of its learning requirements, makes it difficult to know whether disadvantageous (risky) selections in this task reflect deliberate risk taking or a failure to recognise risk. To determine whether propensity for risk taking contributes to IGT performance, we correlated IGT selections with a measure of propensity for risk taking from the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), taking into account potential moderating effects of IGT learning requirements, and trait impulsivity, which is associated with learning difficulties. We found that IGT and BART performance were related, but only in the later stages of the IGT, and only in participants with low trait impulsivity. This finding suggests that IGT performance may reflect different underlying processes in individuals with low and high trait impulsivity. In individuals with low trait impulsivity, it appears that risky selections in the IGT reflect in part, propensity for risk seeking, but only after the development of explicit knowledge of IGT risks after a period of learning.     

Gender differences in social representations of aggression: The phenomenological experience of differences in inhibitory control?

Women are more likely than men to experience acts of aggression as expressive (a loss of self‐control) than as instrumental (control over others). We propose that this might arise from differences in behavioural restraint. If women have better inhibitory control, aggressive behaviour should occur less frequently yet should be experienced as more emotionally ‘out of control’ because women can tolerate higher levels of anger before inhibitory control is breached. Participants (N =606) aged 13–24 completed the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), the State‐Trait Anger Expression Inventory‐2 (STAXI‐2) and Expagg. A more expressive view of aggression was associated with higher levels of STAXI anger control and higher levels of MPQ constraint. However, it was the harm avoidance component of constraint, rather than control versus impulsivity, that was the stronger predictor. While behavioural inhibition is built on an infrastructure of fear, the latter may be more important in explaining gender differences in social representations of aggression.     

The influence of the frequency of cannabis use and of the five impulsivity traits on risky driving behaviors among young drivers

Concerns about road safety are at the forefront of discussions given the recent legalization of cannabis in many areas. Some studies have demonstrated that the frequency of cannabis use is a significant predictor of risky driving among young drivers. However, it is difficult to isolate the specific contribution of substance use from the influence of certain individual personality traits such impulsivity. Indeed, impulsivity traits (i.e., positive urgency, negative urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, sensation seeking) are also correlated with risky driving. The present study examined the effect of the frequency of cannabis use on risky driving while taking into account the effect of five impulsivity traits. A community sample of 209 young drivers (aged 17–25 years) completed self-report questionnaires about their road behaviors, their cannabis use, and their impulsivity traits. The results showed that the frequency of cannabis use was significantly associated with risky driving beyond the five impulsivity traits measured. Positive urgency was the only impulsivity trait that remained significantly associated with risky driving once all covariates were entered into the model. Moreover, the frequency of cannabis use acted as a mediator in the relationship between sensation seeking and risky driving.     

校园排斥对初中生外化问题行为的影响：有调节的中介效应

为考察初中生外化问题行为的心理机制,研究采用青少年行为自陈量表、青少年遭受校园排斥问卷、领悟社会支持量表、冷酷无情特质量表对黑龙江、福建两省的1284名初中生进行调查。结果表明：（1）校园排斥对初中生的外化问题行为具有正向预测作用;（2）冷酷无情特质在校园排斥与外化问题行为之间具有中介作用;（3）领悟社会支持调节了初中生冷酷无情特质对校园排斥与外化问题行为中介过程的后半段路径。研究结果为初中生群体的校园排斥、冷酷无情特质、领悟社会支持和外化问题行为之间的动态关系提供了有效的数据支持。     

Suicidality as a function of impulsivity, callous-unemotional traits, and depressive symptoms in youth

Suicidality represents one of the most important areas of risk for adolescents, with both internalizing (e.g., depression, anxiety) and externalizing-antisocial (e.g., substance use, conduct) disorders conferring risk for suicidal ideation and attempts (e.g., Bridge, Goldstein, & Brent, 2006). However, no study has attended to gender differences in relationships between suicidality and different facets of psychopathic tendencies in youth. Further, very little research has focused on disentangling the multiple manifestations of suicide risk in the same study, including behaviors (suicide attempts with intent to die, self-injurious behavior) and general suicide risk marked by suicidal ideation and plans. To better understand these relationships, we recruited 184 adolescents from the community and in treatment. As predicted, psychopathic traits and depressive symptoms in youth showed differential associations with components of suicidality. Specifically, impulsive traits uniquely contributed to suicide attempts and self-injurious behaviors, above the influence of depression. Indeed, once psychopathic tendencies were entered in the model, depressive symptoms only explained general suicide risk marked by ideation or plans but not behaviors. Further, callous-unemotional traits conferred protection from suicide attempts selectively in girls. These findings have important implications for developing integrative models that incorporate differential relationships between (a) depressed mood and (b) personality risk factors (i.e., impulsivity and callous-unemotional traits) for suicidality in youth.     

The role of consciousness in attentional control differences in trait anxiety

Trait anxiety has long been associated with impaired selective attention to task-irrelevant threat stimuli, both when threat is presented consciously and outside of awareness. However recent research has suggested broader deficits in selective attention, with poorer ability to ignore supraliminal non-emotional information in anxiety. Here, we investigated whether anxiety could equally be associated with poorer selective attention for non-emotional stimuli in a subliminal context. Participants performed a simple arrow discrimination task, where prior incompatible or compatible response primes were presented before targets either unmasked (supraliminal) or masked (subliminal). While distractor interference was evident in both conditions, trait anxiety was associated with increased task-irrelevant processing only in the supraliminal condition; group effects were eliminated when primes were masked. Our findings are in line with traditional accounts suggesting that differences in selective attention and cognitive control solely modulate conscious distractor processing.     

Risky economic choices and frontal EEG asymmetry in the context of Reinforcer-Sensitivity-Theory-5

This study investigated individual risky choice behavior in a gambling task and its relation with traits proposed by the Reinforcer-Sensitivity-Theory-5 (RST-5; Corr & McNaughton in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 36(10), 2339–2354, 2012) as well as with frontal EEG asymmetry. As assumed by the RST-5, the results showed independent influences of approach/avoidance and gain/loss sensitivities on participants’ behavior in risky choices. Individual approach/avoidance sensitivity was predicted by trait measures of the behavioral approach system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), while no such correlation was present for gain/loss sensitivity. EEG recordings revealed relatively stronger left-frontal cortical activity for trials with approach motivation compared to conflict and avoidance motivation. On the individual level, relatively stronger left-frontal cortical activity was associated with trait BAS. In addition, activity changes in frontal EEG asymmetry were associated relatively higher behavioral approach sensitivity. We conclude that frontal EEG asymmetry is an especially useful neuronal marker of BAS sensitivity and that the traits proposed by the RST-5 (measured by frontal EEG asymmetry and self-report) can be used to explain individual differences in risky choice behavior.     

Predicting Risky Sexual Behavior: the Unique and Interactive Roles of Childhood Conduct Disorder Symptoms and Callous-Unemotional Traits

Conduct disorder (CD) symptoms and callous-unemotional (CU) traits have been shown to be uniquely associated with risky sexual behavior (RSB) in adolescence and early adulthood, yet their interactive role in predicting RSB remains largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate the predictive value of CD symptoms and CU traits, as well as their interaction, on several RSB outcomes in adolescence and early adulthood. A total of 683 participants (41.7 % female, 47.4 % African American) were followed annually and self-reported age of first sexual intercourse, frequency of condom use, pregnancy, contraction of sexually transmitted infections, and engagement in sexual solicitation from grade 7 to 2-years post-high school. CD symptoms predicted age of first sexual intercourse, condom use, and sexual solicitation. CU traits predicted age of first sexual intercourse and pregnancy. Their interaction predicted a composite score of these RSBs such that CD symptoms positively predicted the composite score among those with high levels of CU traits but not among those with low levels of CU traits. The current findings provide information regarding the importance of both CD symptoms and CU traits in understanding adolescent and early adulthood RSB, as well as the benefits of examining multiple RSB outcomes during this developmental period. These findings have implications for the development and implementation of preventive efforts to target these risky behaviors among adolescents and young adults.     

Assessment of Psychopathic Traits in Singaporean Adolescents: Validation of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD)

There is little knowledge available concerning psychopathic traits in Asian adolescents; a lack of a suitable measurement instrument for assessing psychopathy in Asian societies may account for this. This study aimed to validate a widely used scale in the West — the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) — in Singaporean school-based and at-risk adolescents. Using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), this study examined the two-factor (i.e., grandiose-manipulative/impulsive traits and callous-unemotional traits) and three-factor (i.e., grandiose-manipulative traits, impulsivity, and callous-unemotional traits) models of the APSD in 1027 school-based and 113 at-risk adolescents. School samples are adolescents from three secondary schools, while at-risk samples are adolescents who manifest different types of delinquent behaviors and are either placed in more structured settings or need closer supervision although they have not violated the law. Gender invariance was further tested in the school-based sample by conducting a multigroup CFA. The convergent validity of the APSD was also investigated in the school-based sample. For the school-based adolescents, the APSD revealed that the three-factor model provided a superior fit over the two-factor model and the factorial invariance across gender. Significant relationships between the three dimensions of the APSD and aggression and delinquency support the convergent validity of the APSD. As for the at-risk adolescents, both the two- and three-factor models were acceptable, but the two-factor model was preferred as it was parsimonious and it aligned with the conceptualized characteristics of psychopathic traits. Findings suggest that the APSD is a reliable and sound instrument for measuring psychopathic traits in Asian school-based and at-risk adolescents.     

The Predictive Utility of Narcissism among Childrenand Adolescents: Evidence for a Distinction betweenAdaptive and Maladaptive Narcissism

We examined the predictive utility of narcissism among a community sample of children and adolescents (N=98) longitudinally. Analyses focused on the differential utility between maladaptive and adaptive narcissism for predicting later delinquency. Maladaptive narcissism significantly predicted self-reported delinquency at one-, two-, and three-year follow-ups. This pattern held even when considering other intrapersonal risk factors for conduct problems (i.e., callous-unemotional traits, impulsivity), parenting practices, and when controlling for earlier conduct problems. In addition, adaptive narcissism was predictive of delinquency in the absence of positive parenting practices, with maladaptive narcissism being particularly predictive of delinquency in the presence of negative parenting. The implications for understanding delinquency in terms of the social and motivational characteristics that are the hallmark of maladaptive narcissism are discussed.     

Impulsivity partially mediates the relationship between BIS/BAS and risky health behaviors

Several theorists have suggested that impulsivity can be understood as a joint function of the behavioral approach (BAS) and behavioral inhibition systems (BIS). After resolving questions concerning the measurement of impulsivity and BAS, this study examined the relationships among risky health behaviors, impulsivity, BIS, and BAS. Utilizing a sample of undergraduates (N = 904), a structural model was tested in which BAS and BIS predicted impulsivity, which, in turn, predicted risky behavior. Fit indices were acceptable, but not good. A modified version of the model showed a statistically significant negative relationship between BAS and risky behaviors. However, the fit indices were not unequivocally supportive of the need to include that path. Overall, the data suggest that impulsivity is the joint result of countervailing motivational forces and that it partially or fully mediates the influence of BIS and BAS on risky health behavior.     

Personality traits of the behavioural approach and inhibition systems: associations with processing of emotional stimuli

This study examined the relationships of the traits associated with Gray's behavioural approach system (BAS) and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) with cognitive processing of emotional information. Initially, participants completed questionnaires covering trait impulsivity and anxiety, and BAS and BIS sensitivities. They were then tested individually. After completing a questionnaire of current positive and negative moods, they completed three tasks measuring processing of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral information. Consistent with Gray’s theory, the results showed that impulsivity and BAS sensitivity were associated with the processing of pleasant information, while anxiety and BIS sensitivity were associated with the processing of unpleasant information. These findings imply that Gray’s BAS–BIS theory can be extended to cognitive processing of emotional information.     

Impulsivity,sensation seeking and reproductive behaviour: A life history perspective

Impulsivity has often been invoked as a proximate driver of different life-history strategies. However, conceptualisations of “impulsivity” are inconsistent and ambiguities exist regarding which facets of impulsivity are actually involved in the canalisation of reproductive strategies. Two variables commonly used to represent impulsivity were examined in relation to reproductive behaviour. Results demonstrated that sensation seeking was significantly related to strategy-based behaviour, but impulsivity (defined as a failure to deliberate) was only weakly correlated. The effect of impulsivity disappeared when sensation seeking was controlled. Sex differences emerged for sensation seeking but not impulsivity. We conclude that “impulsivity” is not a unitary trait and that clearer distinctions should be made between facets of this construct.     

Disinhibitory trait profile and its relation to Cluster B personality disorder features and substance use problems

Certain personality and motivational traits may present vulnerability towards disinhibitory psychopathology (e.g. antisocial personality disorder, substance abuse). Cluster analysis was used to separately group 306 women and 274 men on impulsivity, Constraint, Negative Emotionality, behavioural activation system (BAS), and behavioural inhibition system (BIS) scores. As expected, a ‘disinhibited’ group with low Constraint, high impulsivity, weak BIS, and strong BAS emerged that showed elevated drug use problems, and histrionic and antisocial personality disorder features across gender. A ‘high affectivity’ group with high Negative Emotionality and strong BIS also showed elevated drug use problems and personality disorder features. Results suggested that two different trait profiles are associated with disinhibitory psychopathology and both may present vulnerability toward the development of such disorders. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.