Associations between laboratory measures of executive inhibitory control and self-reported impulsivity

Personality measures of maladaptive behavior often target the notion of impulsivity, which broadly refers to rapid and ill-considered conduct. The underlying cause of impulsive behavior, however, is not well understood, and there are many conflicting results. It has been suggested that impulsivity arises from inhibitory dyscontrol, a neuropsychological notion that is assessed via behavioral measures. We conducted a preliminary investigation of the association between a common self-report measure of impulsivity, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and four behavioral paradigms of inhibitory control (motor inhibition, stop signal, Stroop, and negative priming) in normal adults (n = 31; age range: 19-51). Stroop conflict correlated significantly with non-planning, attentional, motor, and overall self-reported impulsiveness; motor disinhibition correlated significantly with non-planning impulsiveness; and response variability was associated with motor impulsiveness. Thus, there is evidence to suggest that, among normal adults, impulsivity is associated with some specific measures of inhibitory dyscontrol. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.