Investigating the relationship between reward sensitivity, impulsivity, and food addiction: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current research was to identify the extent to which reward sensitivity and impulsivity were related to food addiction. METHOD: Forty-five studies, published from 2009 to June 2019, investigating reward sensitivity and/or impulsivity with food addiction as measured by the Yale Food Addiction Scale were reviewed. RESULTS: Reward sensitivity, as measured by the Sensitivity to Reward (SR) scale, was positively associated with food addiction in two studies, but failed to yield consistent results in other studies when measured with the Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation Scales. Self-report impulsivity, as measured by the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), was consistently associated with food addiction, with attentional impulsivity and motor impulsivity the most consistent subscales. Similarly, food addiction was also consistently associated with Negative Urgency, Positive Urgency, and Lack of Perseverance as measured by the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale. Food addiction was inconsistently associated with disinhibition, as measured by behavioral tasks, indicating food addiction appears more aligned with self-report measures of impulsivity. CONCLUSIONS: Research in this field is dominated by university student, overweight and obese samples. Additional research is required to further tease out these relationships.

Integrating the context-appropriate balanced attention model and reinforcement sensitivity theory: Towards a domain-general personality process model.

Over the last 40 years or more the personality literature has been dominated by trait models based on the Big Five (B5). Trait-based models describe personality at the between-person level but cannot explain the within-person mental mechanisms responsible for personality. Nor can they adequately account for variations in emotion and behavior experienced by individuals across different situations and over time. An alternative, yet understated, approach to personality architecture can be found in neurobiological theories of personality, most notably reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST). In contrast to static trait-based personality models like the B5, RST provides a more plausible basis for a personality process model, namely, one that explains how emotions and behavior arise from the dynamic interaction between contextual factors and within-person mental mechanisms. In this article, the authors review the evolution of a neurobiologically based personality process model based on RST, the response modulation model and the context-appropriate balanced attention model. They argue that by integrating this complex literature, and by incorporating evidence from personality neuroscience, one can meaningfully explain personality at both the within- and between-person levels. This approach achieves a domain-general architecture based on RST and self-regulation that can be used to align within-person mental mechanisms, neurobiological systems and between-person measurement models. (PsycINFO Database Record

Left hemispheric lateral preference and high neuroticism predict disinhibition in two go/no-go experiments.

Although disinhibition is widely implicated in impulse-control-related psychopathologies, debate remains regarding the underlying approach and avoidance processes of this construct. In two studies, we simultaneously tested three competing models in which varying levels of extraversion, neuroticism, and hemispheric lateral preference are associated with disinhibition. In both studies (Study 1, N = 92; Study 2, N = 124), undergraduate students were randomly allocated to one of two versions of the go/no-go task: one where participants were primed through reward to make more "go" responses and another where no such priming occurred. Neuroticism, extraversion, and hemispheric lateral preference measures were also collected. Across both studies, disinhibition was greatest in individuals who reported both a left hemispheric lateral preference and high neuroticism. This pattern was only found for those who were primed through reward to make more "go" responses. There was no association with extraversion. Contrary to previous research, our results suggest that left hemispheric asymmetry and neuroticism and not extraversion drive disinhibited approach, following the establishment of a prepotent approach response set. This has salient implications for the theoretical understanding of disinhibited behavior, as well as for the study of continued maladaptive approach behavior.

Workplace mavericks: how personality and risk-taking propensity predicts maverickism.

We examine the relationship between lateral preference, the Five-Factor Model of personality, risk-taking propensity, and maverickism. We take an original approach by narrowing our research focus to only functional aspects of maverickism. Results with 458 full-time workers identify lateral preference as a moderator of the neuroticism-maverickism relationship. Extraversion, openness to experience, and low agreeableness were also each found to predict maverickism. The propensity of individuals high in maverickism to take risks was also found to be unaffected by task feedback. Our results highlight the multifaceted nature of maverickism, identifying both personality and task conditions as determinants of this construct.