That kind of quick "go or don't go" thinking is crucial to everyday situations like driving or rare events like reacting to an emergency. And it appears to be less accurate and more impulsive in adults who suffered physical, emotional or sexual trauma in their early years than in those who did not, the study finds.
The new findings about impulse control add to a growing body of evidence about the lasting scars that traumatic childhood experiences can leave.
The researchers, led by a University of Michigan Medical School neuropsychologist, say adults who suffered trauma as children may benefit from talk therapy or other options to combat the effects.
They set out to see if people with bipolar disorder had more impulsive and inaccurate responses on a quick task than others without the condition, as measured on standard timed tests called a "Go/No-Go" test. But to their surprise, they found no differences between the two groups.
Instead, when they looked closer, they found a common thread running through nearly everyone with more impulsive responses.
Among the more than 320 people in the study who took the tests, 134 reported a history of childhood trauma in surveys. This included physical abuse or neglect, emotional abuse or neglect, and sexual abuse. It did not include one-time traumatic events. None of the participants had active substance abuse issues, and the participants without bipolar disorder did not have other mental health conditions.
Those with bipolar disorder and a history of trauma performed significantly worse on the "Go/No-Go" test, than those with bipolar alone. But those without bipolar disorder who had a history of trauma performed just as poorly.