Anxious Individuals Are Impulsive Decision-Makers in the Delay Discounting Task: An ERP Study.

Lisheng Xia,Ruolei Gu,Yuejia Luo,Dandan Zhang

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00005

Abstract

Impulsivity, which is linked to a wide range of psychiatric disorders, is often characterized by a preference for immediate but smaller rewards over delayed but larger rewards. However, debate exists on the relationship between anxiety and impulsivity. Here we use event-related potential (ERP) components as biomarkers in the temporal discounting task to examine the effect of anxiety on inter-temporal decision-making. Our behavioral results indicated that the high trait anxiety (HTA) group made significantly more immediate choices than the low trait anxiety (LTA) group. Compared with the LTA group, shorter response time was associated with immediate rewards in the HTA group. Furthermore, previous studies have demonstrated three ERP components that are associated with impulsivity and/or delay discounting. First, the N1 is an early sensory component involved in selective attention and attention processing for goal-directed actions. Second, the reward positivity (RewP) reflects reward-related dopaminergic activity and encodes reward values. Third, the P3 is regarded as a measure of motivational significance in the decision-making literature. Accordingly, this study found in the immediate-option-evoked ERPs that the HTA group had a larger N1 than the LTA group did. For the delayed-option-evoked ERPs, the HTA group had larger N1 and RewP for the immediate choice than the LTA group did, while the LTA group had a larger P3 for the delayed choice than the HTA group did. These results support the notion that anxiety individuals are impulsive decision-makers in the Delay Discounting Task.

Highlights

Anxiety, an unpleasant emotional state that often directs an individual’s response to threat-related information, plays a significant role in our everyday life (Clark, 1999)
Debate exists on the relationship between trait anxiety and impulsive behavior
The speed needed for choosing the immediate option was shorter in the high trait anxiety (HTA) group than in the low trait anxiety (LTA) group, while this Response Time (RT) difference was not significant when the delayed option was chosen

Summary

Introduction

An unpleasant emotional state that often directs an individual’s response to threat-related information, plays a significant role in our everyday life (Clark, 1999). Anxiety interrupts daily functions such as attention, working memory, and social skills, resulting in behavioral and cognitive biases (Bishop, 2007). Exploring the cognitive and emotional components associated with anxiety is beneficial for both clinical and non-clinical studies (Grupe and Nitschke, 2013). This study focuses on the relationship between anxiety and impulsive behavior (i.e., a range of non-rational tendencies such as difficulties in inhibiting voluntary responses, deficits in delaying gratification, and a low threshold for response). The extreme forms of impulsive behavior include aggressive or delinquent behaviors, substance dependence, and suicide attempts (Askénazy et al, 2003)

Methods

Results

Conclusion