Does Boredom Increase Impulsive Choice in People Who Use Cocaine?

Background: Impulsive choice – the tendency to choose immediate over larger delayed rewards – is associated with both cocaine use and relapse. Little is known about the influence of transient states on impulsive choice in people who use cocaine (PWUC). This study investigated the direct effects of induced boredom on impulsive choice (i.e., temporal discounting) in PWUC relative to well-matched community controls. Methods: In a mixed within-between subject design, 41 PWUC (≥1x cocaine use in past 3 months; 7 females) and 38 demographically-matched controls (5 females) underwent two experimental conditions in counterbalanced order. Temporal discounting was assessed immediately after a standardized boredom induction task (peg-turning) and a self-selected video watched for the same duration (non-boredom). Subjective mood state and perceived task characteristics were assessed at baseline, during experimental manipulations, and after the choice task. Results: PWUC and controls were demographically well-matched and similar in reported drugs use other than cocaine, except for recent cigarette and alcohol use (PWUC>controls). As expected, peg-turning increased boredom in the sample overall, with higher boredom reported during peg-turning than the video (p.05, BF01=2.9). Conclusion: Experimentally-induced boredom increased state impulsivity irrespective of cocaine use status, suggesting a broad link between boredom and impulsive choice. This is the first study to show that transient boredom directly increases impulsive choice. Data support a viable laboratory method to further parse the effects of boredom on impulsive choice.