Reward discounting as a measure of impulsive behavior in a psychiatric outpatient population

Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2000 May;8(2):155-62. doi: 10.1037//1064-1297.8.2.155.

Abstract

Impulsivity has been operationalized as a choice of an immediate smaller reward over a larger delayed or uncertain reward. This study examined a procedure that measures reward preference under these contingencies in psychiatric outpatients considered either at a high or low risk for engaging in impulsive behavior depending on their psychiatric diagnoses. The participants' rates of delay and uncertainty reward discounting were compared with their performances on a behavioral inhibition task and responses on a self-report personality impulsivity measure. The high-risk participants discounted delayed rewards more sharply and scored higher on the self-report impulsivity measure relative to the low-risk participants. Delay and uncertainty discounting were modestly correlated, but no other relationships were found between the other measures. Results from this study indicate that delay-discounting tasks may be sensitive to at least one form of impulsive behavior.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Impulsive Behavior / psychology*
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders / psychology*
  • Outpatients
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Reward*
  • Risk Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires