Automatic Balloon Analogue Risk Task

Background

The Automatic Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Automatic BART) is a variation of the popular Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) created in 2008 by Timothy Pleskac at Michigan State University to address methodological limitations of the original.

Pleskac and colleagues noted that the BART was missing a key measure - how many pumps would the participant make if the balloon didn't pop, which they termed the "target score". Relative to the target score, the primary outcome measures of the BART (total pumps and average pumps per non-exploded balloon) were biased low because the explosions imposed a randomly determined ceiling on the number of pumps. The Automatic BART addresses this issue by explicitly measuring the target score, defined as the number of pumps the participant wishes to make.

They also noted that regardless of risk-taking propensity, the number of pumps participants chose on the BART tended to fall far short of the optimal number (64) for maximizing earnings, with risk-seekers tending to be closer to the optimal number than risk-avoiders. Earnings in the task were thus confounded with risk-taking. They addressed this issue by informing participants of the optimal number of pumps.

Finally, the reduced motor involvement of the Automatic BART makes it better suited for use with neuroimaging measures such as fMRI.

Task Procedure

As with the BART, a balloon is presented on screen, but rather than presenting the options to pump the balloon or collect earnings, participants are instructed to enter the number of times they wish to pump the balloon, with the caveat the balloon will surely pop with more than 127 pumps. The balloon is then automatically pumped the chosen number of times, with potential earnings updated with each pump. If the balloon explodes, they lose the potential earnings. If it does not, they win the earnings and are informed how many pumps would have exploded the balloon.Participants pump a total of 30 balloons.

The odds of a balloon exploding with each pump are effectively the same as those of the BART. To reduce variability across participants, however, the Automatic BART uses a fixed rather than randomly selected sequence of explosion points for the 30 balloons.

What it Measures

The Automatic 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

• Average Target Pumps: Average number of pumps entered across all balloons
• 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 Automatic BART tends to be impaired in patients with the following psychiatric conditions:

• Substance Use Disorders (SUDs)
• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Available Test Variations

References

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

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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.