A translational behavioral model of mood-based impulsivity: Implications for substance abuse

BackgroundLaboratory tasks that measure various facets of impulsivity derived from self-report questionnaires are important for elucidating the behavioral consequences of impulsivity in humans and for back-translating these facets to non-human species. Negative urgency, or mood-based rash action, is a self-report facet of impulsivity linked to problem substance use; however, a valid behavioral task is lacking.MethodsThe current studies were designed to bridge self-report questionnaire and behavioral measures of negative urgency in humans and to determine if this could be back-translated to rats.ResultsHumans scoring high in negative urgency showed greater behavioral responding and increased frustration following unexpected reward omission on a monetary-based task compared to subjects low in negative urgency. Rats also showed elevated responding for either sucrose pellets or intravenous amphetamine following unexpected reward omission.ConclusionThese results suggest that impulsive behavior engendered by unexpected reward omission may represent a valid behavioral model of negative urgency linked to substance abuse.