The Effects of Negative Urgency and Audio-visual Feedback on Decision-Making as Assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task

Abstract

Negative Urgency (NU), a facet of impulsivity, refers to the tendency to act rashly when distressed. Impulsive traits are generally believed to impair decision-making, yet the relationship between NU and decision-making in situations of uncertainty remains underspecified. Therefore, this study examined the potential influence of NU on decision-making abilities as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). It was further investigated whether additional audio-visual feedback leads to a superior performance in this task and whether this feedback alleviates the possible impairing effect of NU on decision-making. While no association between NU and decision-making was found, only individuals with low NU showed a learning effect during the IGT, suggesting a non-linear relationship between those two constructs. Feedback did not improve IGT performance. Desirable approaches for further research are standardisation of NU scores, establishment of clinical cut-points and monitoring or induction of emotions during the IGT.