Executive working memory capacity (eWMC) is central to adaptive decision-making. Research has revealed reduced eWMC and higher rates of impulsive decision making in individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs: DSM-IV Alcohol Dependence of Alcohol Abuse) and antisocial psychopathology (AP). Recent work has shown that placing a load on working memory (WM) further increases impulsive decision mak...

A link has been established between impulsivity in real-world situations and impulsive decision making in laboratory tasks in brain-damaged patients and individuals with substance abuse. Whether or not this link exists for all individuals is less clear. We conducted an experiment to determine whether taxing central executive processes with a demanding cognitive load task results in impulsive de...

Cognitive-attentional factors may moderate emotion deficits associated with psychopathy (Newman & Lorenz, 2003). This study examined the role of these factors in moderating fear-potentiated startle (FPS) as a function of Fearless Dominance and Impulsive Antisociality-personality dimensions with links to psychopathy. University students performed a task that required them to focus on a (a) threa...

This study investigated the influence of executive working memory (EWM) capacity on impulsive decision-making in a sample of young adults (n=623) that varied in degree of externalizing psychopathology (EXT) by examining: (i) the effects of WM load on delay discounting rates, and, (ii) the association between EWM capacity and delay discounting rates. EXT was measured as a latent variable indicat...

A general theoretical technique is presented for the estimation of structural damage caused by impulsive loads. The technique, though approximate, takes account of differences that may exist between the elastic and plastic modes of deformation. A detailed analysis, with some numerical results, is presented for the case when the impulsive load is a uniformly distributed pressure whose magnitude ...