Do facets of self-reported impulsivity predict decision-making under ambiguity and risk? Evidence from a community sample

We investigated the links among decision-making assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT), and the four facets of impulsivity (urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking, UPPS) proposed by Whiteside and Lynam (2001) in a sample of 107 healthy volunteers. Hierarchical regressions controlling for age and gender indicated that sensation seeking and urgency were linked to disadvantageous decisions on the GDT while no association was found between IGT performance and the UPPS. Sensation seeking and urgency facets of impulsivity are related in healthy individuals, to decision-making processes where potential consequences of different options and their subsequent probabilities rely on explicit information. In healthy controls, there is little overlap between decision-making influenced by both implicit and explicit information and impulsivity as measured by the UPPS. These findings add evidence to the notion that self-reported trait impulsivity is associated with the decision making process. Decisions made under risk seemed to be differentially associated with specific facets of impulsivity.