Impulsivity and decision making

peer reviewedaudience: researcher, professional, studentThe purpose of the present study was to explore the links among the four facets of impulsivity (urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking) proposed by Whiteside and Lynam (2001) and decision-making processes. Thirty undergraduate students completed a self-report questionnaire evaluating impulsivity as well as a task measuring decision-making processes, the Iowa Gambling Task. Zero-order correlations and multilevel analysis revealed that only lack of premeditation was specifically linked to disadvantageous decisions on the Gambling Task. This suggests that premeditation is related to decision making influenced by somatic (or emotional) markers. Copyright © 2005 by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins