Early impulsivity in youth at familial risk of bipolar disorder

Impulsivity is a core feature of bipolar disorder (BD), and it has even been suggested as a possible cognitive endophenotype of the disorder. Response inhibition is a way to test impulsivity behaviorally. Adults with BD exhibit altered response inhibition in the context of emotionally salient information; however, more studies are needed to determine to what extent youth at risk for BD exhibit altered response inhibition in emotionally salient context. We use the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), Affective Go/No-Go Task (AGN) to measure response inhibition in the context of emotionally salient information, and hypothesized that in comparison to controls, at-risk BD youth will show altered response inhibition on the AGN task.\ud \ud Results indicate younger BD offspring exhibit more commission errors than controls, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses were not driving the results. Our finding supports response inhibition as a marker of risk for BD or future psychopathology; however, current findings suggest this effect occurs in younger at-risk BD youth