Impulsivity: Comparing Delay Discounting and Go/No-Go Procedures While Assessing Experimental Brevity

Abstract

Impulsivity has been frequently measured using several different procedures. One is termed delay discounting, which describes how reinforcer value is discounted as delays to reinforcer delivery increases. This procedure assesses choice preferences for smaller-sooner over larger-later reinforcers. A second commonly utilized procedure, called the go/no-go task, measures impulsivity through "impaired inhibition;" whereby number of responses made during a signaled "go" (food available) and "no-go" (extinction) periods are measured across multiple sessions. This study compared these two common procedures to see whether their measures of impulsivity correlated.