Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Sussex Addiction and Intervention Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Psychophysiology. 2019 Jun;56(6):e13339. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13339. Epub 2019 Jan 31.
Influential theories concerning personality argue that many impulsive individuals show physiological underarousal at rest. This interoceptive state is proposed to be egodystonic, motivating impulsive maladaptive actions to enhance arousal. However, there is little empirical research on this matter. The current study tested the relationship between physiological markers of arousal, measures of interoceptive (in)sensitivity, and trait impulsivity in a nonclinical sample of young adults. Experiment 1 investigated whether individuals (N = 31) with high trait impulsivity show decreased resting measures of arousal (indexed from heart rate, heart rate variability, and sympathetic electrodermal activity). Experiment 2 assessed whether trait impulsivity is linked to interoceptive abilities (N = 60). Overall, our results do not provide any compelling support for the underarousal theory of impulsivity. However, impaired interoceptive (cardiac discrimination) accuracy predicted the degree of Barratt nonplanning impulsivity, such that individuals with a better ability to distinguish between internal (bodily) and external signals manifest lower levels of nonplanning trait impulsivity. These findings open an avenue for potential novel interventions aimed at improving planning abilities via better interoceptive discrimination.
关于人格的有影响力的理论认为，许多冲动的个体在休息时表现出生理低唤醒。这种内脏感觉状态被认为是自我不协调的，促使冲动的适应不良行为以增强唤醒。然而，关于这个问题的实证研究很少。本研究在非临床的年轻成年人样本中测试了唤醒的生理标记物、内脏感觉（不）敏感性的测量指标和特质冲动性之间的关系。实验 1 调查了具有高特质冲动性的个体（N=31）是否表现出休息时唤醒的降低（通过心率、心率变异性和交感神经皮肤电活动来衡量）。实验 2 评估了特质冲动性是否与内脏感觉能力有关（N=60）。总的来说，我们的结果并没有为冲动的低唤醒理论提供任何有力的支持。然而，内脏感觉（心脏辨别）准确性的受损预测了巴雷特非计划性冲动的程度，即能够更好地区分内部（身体）和外部信号的个体表现出较低水平的非计划性特质冲动。这些发现为潜在的新干预措施开辟了途径，旨在通过更好的内脏感觉辨别来提高计划能力。
