Negative urgency is a personality trait reflecting the tendency to act rashly in response to extreme negative emotions and is considered a transdiagnostic endophenotype for problematic levels of addictive behaviors. Recent research has begun to identify the neural correlates of negative urgency, many of which appear to overlap with neural circuitry underlying addictive disorders associated with negative urgency. The goal of this qualitative review is to summarize the extant literature concerning the neural correlates of negative urgency, to compare these correlates with those implicated with addictive disorders, and to propose new ways to begin to leverage such findings in treatment and intervention approaches. We also address current limitations in the field and make recommendations for areas for future growth in this research domain. Patterns of structure and function in the ventral striatum, frontal regions, such as the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and amygdala are common across addictive disorders and are related to both real-world risky behaviors and self-report measures of negative urgency. We propose that the time has come to move past considering this trait and these disorders as completely separate entities, and instead for the field to consider how general patterns of convergence across these disorders can lead to a more transdiagnostic approach to treatment and intervention. We suggest future work utilize these convergent patterns in the development of animal models of negative urgency, in the identification and testing of prime pharmacological and physiological interventions, and as objective biomarkers to be used when testing behavioral, pharmacological, and physiological intervention effectiveness. Little empirical work has been done to date in these areas and advances in these nascent fields would advance understanding and applications of the neuroscience of negative urgency.

The UPPS-P Model of Impulsive Personality, a prominent model of impulsive personality derived from the Five Factor Model of Personality, is a multi-dimensional model of impulsive personality that consists of negative urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseveration, sensation seeking, and positive urgency. The UPPS-P model has highlighted the importance of separating multidimensional traits due to the specificity of these traits corresponding to different risk behaviors. The goal of the current review paper is to make recommendations on how to apply the UPPS-P Model of Impulsive Personality, to diagnosis of and treatment for psychopathology. However, despite impulsivity being one of the most frequently used criteria for a number of clinical disorders, our review of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-5 found that the UPPS-P traits are not well represented in the diagnostic criteria, which we propose limits inferences about etiology and treatment targets. Additionally, research has largely focused on the importance of these traits for risk models; our review of the literature applying the UPPS-P traits to treatment processes and outcomes concluded that this area is not yet well studied. Here, we propose the specific application of the UPPS-P model to improve diagnosis and increase treatment effectiveness.

We introduce a new measure of sub-clinical self-harm tendencies, the Voodoo Doll Self-Injury Task (VDSIT). In this computer task, participants virtually stick a number of sharp pins in a doll that represents themselves. Across five community and undergraduate samples who were not recruited based on their self-harm history or risk (total N = 1,289), VDSIT scores were higher among participants with histories of actual self-injury and were positively correlated with state and trait level motivations to self-harm. VDSIT scores did not correspond to tendencies to harm others, showed sensitivity to experimental manipulations that increase self-harm tendencies, and were positively correlated with elished risk factors for self-harm (e.g., depression). The VDSIT did not, on average, elicit significant distress from participants during or after the task, even among participants who had previously engaged in self-harm. Whereas the clinical utility of this measure remains unexamined, these findings provide initial support for the VDSIT's sub-clinical validity, which can help researchers accurately, economically, and rapidly measure state and trait level self-harm tendencies using both correlational and experimental designs.

Preclinical models of alcohol use disorder (AUD) have advanced theoretical, mechanistic, and pharmacological study of the human condition. “Liking” and “wanting” behaviors reflect core processes underlying several models of AUD. However, the development and application of translational models of these preclinical approaches are at an incipient stage. The goal of this study was to examine how intravenous free‐access and progressive‐ratio, operant‐response human alcohol self‐administration paradigms can be used as translational human model parallels of preclinical “liking” and “wanting.” Participants were 40 adults (mean age = 23.7, SD = 2.0; 45% female) of European descent who reported 12.6 drinking days (SD = 5.2) out of the previous 30 (average = 4.1 drinks per drinking day [SD = 1.7]). Individuals diverged in their alcohol self‐administration behavior, such that free‐access and progressive‐ratio paradigm outcomes were not significantly correlated (p = 0.44). Free‐access alcohol seeking was related to enjoying alcohol (p < 0.001), but not craving (p = 0.48), whereas progressive‐ratio seeking at similar levels of alcohol exposure was related to craving (p = 0.02), but not enjoying (p = 0.30). Family history of alcoholism, venturesomeness traits, and disinhibition traits were unrelated (ps > 0.70) to preferred level of breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) in the free‐access session, a measure of liking alcohol. Family history of alcoholism, disinhibition traits, and recent drinking history were significantly related (ps < 0.05) to alcohol seeking in the progressive‐ratio paradigm, a measure of wanting alcohol. We conclude that intravenous alcohol self‐administration paradigms show promise in modeling behaviors that characterize and parallel alcohol “liking” and “wanting” in preclinical models. These paradigms provide a translational link between preclinical methods and clinical trials.

Background: The 21 st birthday is associated with more alcohol consumption and negative consequences than any other occasion. The current study investigated how positive urgency, the tendency to act rashly in response to positive emotions, influences 21 st birthday drinking and the effectiveness of a single event text message intervention designed to reduce 21 st birthday drinking and related negative consequences. Methods: Participants were 183 undergraduate students (69% female, 86% white) about to turn 21. Participants were randomly assigned to either a text message intervention or control condition. Those in the intervention condition received one text message the day before their 21 st birthday that provided personalized normative feedback and one text message on the day of their 21 st birthday. Participants reported actual alcohol consumption the day after their 21 st birthday celebration. Results: Hierarchical linear regression found that, after controlling for sex, intervention condition, and planned drinking, positive urgency was associated with greater number of drinks (β = .15, p = .031) and drinking problems (β = .25, p = .001). A moderated-mediation model was significant (B = 0.42, CI95 [.10, .76]): At high levels of positive urgency, the intervention condition was associated with drinking more than planned, which significantly mediated the relationship between intervention and alcohol-related consequences; the mediation was not significant at mean or low levels of positive urgency. J o u r n a l P r e-p r o o f Conclusions: These findings are the first to link positive urgency with 21 st birthday drinking and to empirically demonstrate that positive urgency negatively impacts the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at reducing alcohol consumption.

Background: Increasing research shows that the use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is associated with a higher rate and quantity of alcohol consumption.Methods: The present study used a 2-session, within-subjects design to experimentally examine the relationship between ENDS use and laboratory ad libitum alcohol consumption. A total of N = 31 (mean age = 28.71, SD = 11.17; 45.2% women; 54.8% White/Caucasian) healthy adults from the community who use ENDS and endorsed liking beer completed the study, which included a beer consumption taste-test task that assessed the volume of beer consumed by the participants across 2 counterbalanced sessions: 1 in which concurrent ENDS use was allowed and 1 in which it was not. All analyses controlled for age, race, and gender.Results: The effect of ENDS condition on the volume of beer consumed was not statistically significant, F(1, 30) = 0.03, p = 0.86). Results of linear mixed modeling showed that ENDS puffs were significantly related to alcohol sips (estimate = 0.23, SE = 0.07, p = 0.002) across the ad libitum session.Conclusions: Overall, ENDS use did not increase alcohol consumption; however, the data suggest that ENDS puffs might act as a prime for beer sips or that these 2 behaviors are linked through habit. Future studies should more fully measure and compare global and event-level data on ENDS and alcohol use as they might show disparate patterns of relationships.

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