Associations between trait impulsivity and prepotent response inhibition.
This study addresses the relationship between trait impulsivity and inhibitory control, two features known to be impaired in a number of psychiatric conditions. While impulsivity is often measured using psychometric self-report questionnaires, the inhibition of inappropriate, impulsive motor responses is typically measured using experimental laboratory tasks. It remains unclear, however, whether psychometrically assessed impulsivity and experimentally operationalized inhibitory performance are related to each other. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between these two traits in a large sample using correlative and latent variable analysis. A total of 504 healthy individuals completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and a battery of four prepotent response inhibition paradigms: the antisaccade, Stroop, stop-signal, and go/no-go tasks. We found significant associations of BIS impulsivity with commission errors on the go/no-go task and directional errors on the antisaccade task, over and above effects of age, gender, and intelligence. Latent variable analysis (a) supported the idea that all four inhibitory measures load on the same underlying construct termed "prepotent response inhibition" and (b) revealed that 12% of variance of the prepotent response inhibition construct could be explained by BIS impulsivity. Overall, the magnitude of associations observed was small, indicating that while a portion of variance in prepotent response inhibition can be explained by psychometric trait impulsivity, the majority of variance remains unexplained. Thus, these findings suggest that prepotent response inhibition paradigms can account for psychometric trait impulsivity only to a limited extent. Implications for studies of patient populations with symptoms of impulsivity are discussed.
Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany. Desiree.Aichert@med.uni-muechen.de
Désirée S
DS
Aichert
Nicola M
NM
Wöstmann
Anna
A
Costa
Christine
C
Macare
Johanna R
JR
Wenig
Hans-Jürgen
HJ
Möller
Katya
K
Rubia
Ulrich
U
Ettinger
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001244:Association; D001288:Attention; D003657:Decision Making; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D019416:Head Movements; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult