Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)

Background

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is a popular measure of risk-taking developed and validated between 1998 and 2001 and first published in 2002 by Carl W. Lejuez and colleagues at the University of Maryland. Lejuez sought to address the lack of a good behavioral (as opposed to self-report) measure of real-time risk-taking propensity for use in addiction and personality research. The goal was to create an ecologically valid laboratory task using a real-world analogy. Lejuez said the task was inspired by watching people pump air into balloons at a fair, observing that some play it safe while others keep going until it pops.

In 2007, Lejuez published a variation of the procedure called the BART-Y designed for use with adolescents.

Task Procedure

A balloon is presented on screen along with two buttons enabling participants to "Pump up the Balloon" or "Collect $$$". With each pump of the balloon, the balloon grows and a small amount of money is added to the participant's potential earnings, but the risk of the balloon popping increases, in which case the potential earnings are lost. At any time, participants can click the collect button to secure the potential earnings. Participants pump a total of 30 balloons, advancing to the next balloon when either the current balloon pops or they choose collect the earnings.

For each balloon, the initial odds of a pump popping the balloon are 1 in 128. With each pump, the outcome is randomly selected without replacement from this pool such that the odds of popping steadily increase (1 in 127, 1 in 126, etc.). The maximum number of pumps is thus 127, although the odds of getting that far without popping the balloon are quite small.

What it Measures

The BART is a measure of risk-taking.

Psychological domains

• Risk-Taking Propensity: Willingness to assume risk (pumps) for potential reward
• Impulsivity: Tendency to act (pump) without considering consequences
• Sensation Seeking: Pursuit of novel and intense experiences (watching the balloon grow or explode)
• Sensitivity to Reward and Punishment: Adjusting behavior following gains (collect) or losses (explosions)

Main Performance Metrics

• Adjusted Average Pumps: Average number of pumps on balloons for which participants collected money (non-exploded balloons), with higher values indicating greater risk-taking
• Total Money Earned: Higher earnings indicate optimal balance of risk and reward
• Exploded Balloons: Higher numbers indicate excessive risk taking and failure to inhibit
• Post-Explosion Adjustment: Compares changes in number of pumps following exploded vs non-exploded balloons

Psychiatric Conditions

Performance on the BART tends to be impaired in patients with the following psychiatric conditions:

• Substance Use Disorders (SUDs)
• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
• Antisocial Behavior/Psychopathy
• Bipolar Disorder (BD)

Available Test Variations

References

Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART).

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Lejuez, C. W., Read, J. P., Kahler, C. W., Richards, J. B., Ramsey, S. E., Stuart, G. L., Strong, D. R., & Brown, R. A. (2002). Evaluation of a behavioral measure of risk-taking: The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8, 75-84.

Lejuez, C. W., Aklina, W. M., Zvolenskyb, M. J., Pedulla, C. M. (2003). Evaluation of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) as a predictor of adolescent real-world risk-taking behaviours. Journal of Adolescence, 26, 475-479.

Hunt, M. K., Hopko, D. R., Bare, R., Lejuez, C. W., & Robinson, E. (2005). Construct Validity of the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART): Associations With Psychopathy and Impulsivity. Assessment, Vol. 12, No. 4, 416-428.

Hopko, D. R., Lejuez, C. W., Daughters, S. B., Aklin, W. M., Osborne, A., Simmons, B. L., Strong, D. R. (2006). Construct Validity of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART): Relationship with MDMA Use by Inner-City Drug Users in Residential Treatment. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 28, 2, 95-101.

Lejuez, C. W., Aklin, W. M., Daughters, S. B., Zvolensky, M. J., Kahler, C. W., & Gwadz, M. (2007). Reliability and validity of the youth version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART-Y) in the assessment of risk-taking behavior among inner-city adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36, 106-111.

Pleskac, T.J., Wallsten, T.S, Wang, P. & Lejuez, C.W. (2008). Development of an Automatic Response Mode to Improve the Clinical Utility of Sequential Risk-Taking Tasks. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16, 555–564.

Humphreys, K. L., Lee, S. S., & Tottenham, N. (2013). Not all risk taking behavior is bad: Associative sensitivity predicts learning during risk taking among high sensation seekers. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 709–715. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.031

Humphreys KL, Telzer EH, Flannery J, Goff B, Gabard-Durnam L, Gee DG, Lee SS, Tottenham N. Risky decision making from childhood through adulthood: Contributions of learning and sensitivity to negative feedback. Emotion. 2016 Feb;16(1):101-9. doi: 10.1037/emo0000116. Epub 2015 Sep 21. PMID: 26389647; PMCID: PMC4718882.

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