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.