Toschi Chiara, El-Sayed Hervig Mona, Burghi Thiago, Sell Torben, Lycas Matthew Dominic, Moazen Parisa, Huang Li, Gether Ulrik, Robbins Trevor W, Dalley Jeffrey W
Department of Psychology, Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Brain Neurosci Adv. 2022 Jun 14;6:23982128221102256. doi: 10.1177/23982128221102256. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.
Negative urgency describes the tendency for rash and impulsive behaviour during negative emotional states and has been linked to a number of psychiatric disorders. However, there has been limited research on negative urgency as an explanatory mechanism for impulsivity in experimental animals. Such research has important implications for elucidating the neurobiology of negative urgency and thereby the development of future therapeutic interventions. In this study, we investigated the effects of negative urgency using a partial reinforcement schedule to increase the frequency of non-rewarded (i.e. frustrative) trials in the five-choice serial reaction time task, a widely used task to assess visual attention and impulsivity. Using a Markov chain model to analyse trial-by-trial outcomes we found that premature (i.e. impulsive) responses in the five-choice serial reaction time task were more likely to occur after a non-rewarded trial, and mostly after a previous premature trial. However, contrary to the frustration hypothesis of negative urgency, increasing the probability of reinforcement ((R)) from (R) = 0.5 to (R) = 1 increased the number of premature responses in each session. Micro and macro levels of analyses revealed that impulsivity in the five-choice serial reaction time task is governed by at least two processes, one dependent on the overall level of reinforcement hypothesised to determine the state of behavioural activation, the second dependent on trial-by-trial outcomes consistent with negative urgency effects. These processes may depend on distinct neurobiological mechanisms and have relevance for neuropsychiatric disorders that implicate impulsive behaviours dependent on positive and negative affective states.
负性紧迫感描述了在负性情绪状态下出现鲁莽和冲动行为的倾向，并且已与多种精神疾病相关联。然而，关于负性紧迫感作为实验动物冲动性的一种解释机制的研究一直有限。此类研究对于阐明负性紧迫感的神经生物学机制以及未来治疗干预措施的开发具有重要意义。在本研究中，我们使用部分强化程序来增加五选择连续反应时任务中无奖励（即挫折性）试验的频率，以此来研究负性紧迫感的影响。五选择连续反应时任务是一种广泛用于评估视觉注意力和冲动性的任务。通过使用马尔可夫链模型分析逐次试验的结果，我们发现，在五选择连续反应时任务中，过早（即冲动性）反应更有可能在无奖励试验之后出现，并且大多在先前的过早试验之后出现。然而，与负性紧迫感的挫折假设相反，将强化概率（R）从R = 0.5提高到R = 1会增加每个实验环节中过早反应的数量。微观和宏观层面的分析表明，五选择连续反应时任务中的冲动性至少由两个过程控制，一个过程取决于假设用于确定行为激活状态的总体强化水平，另一个过程取决于与负性紧迫感效应一致的逐次试验结果。这些过程可能依赖于不同的神经生物学机制，并且与涉及依赖于积极和消极情感状态的冲动行为的神经精神疾病相关。
