Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain.
Eur Addict Res. 2011;17(2):64-71. doi: 10.1159/000321345. Epub 2010 Dec 11.
Impulsivity can be defined as choosing a smaller, immediate reward over a larger, delayed reward. From this perspective, addictive behaviors such as substance abuse and pathological gambling reflect a series of impulsive choices. However, impulsivity is not a homogeneous construct. Laboratory measures of impulsivity reflect two types of processes. The first is related to behavioral inhibition and refers to an individual's ability to appropriately inhibit thoughts or actions. The second is the delay of reward dimension, namely the degree to which immediate (rewarding) consequences have more control over an individual's behavior than consequences that are delayed. In this review, we describe how alcohol is associated with significant impairments in these paradigms. We also suggest that they may have a role in the development of alcohol dependence. These results are in agreement with a model in which delay of gratification might be a marker for early use and/or abuse of alcohol, whereas impairment in behavioral inhibition might be a marker for maintained use in time and, therefore, for progression towards alcohol dependence.
冲动性可以被定义为选择较小的、即时奖励而不是较大的、延迟奖励。从这个角度来看，成瘾行为，如药物滥用和病态赌博，反映了一系列冲动的选择。然而，冲动性并不是一个同质的结构。冲动性的实验室测量反映了两种类型的过程。第一种与行为抑制有关，是指个体适当抑制思想或行为的能力。第二种是延迟奖励维度，即即时（奖励）后果对个体行为的控制程度超过延迟后果。在这篇综述中，我们描述了酒精如何与这些范式中的显著损伤相关联。我们还认为，它们可能在酒精依赖的发展中起作用。这些结果与一个模型一致，即延迟满足可能是早期使用和/或滥用酒精的标志，而行为抑制的损伤可能是随着时间的推移持续使用的标志，因此是向酒精依赖发展的标志。
