Biological Basis for Impulsive Behavior

According to researchers at the University of Minnesota, impulsiveness might have a biological basis.

In experiments with blue jays, David Stephens, a professor of ecology, evolution and behavior in the [University of Minnesota's] College of Biological Sciences, found that birds presented with a choice of getting a small food reward immediately or waiting a short time for a bigger one could not be trained to wait, even after a thousand repetitions.

"Animals, I think, come with a hardwired rule that says, 'Don't look too far in the future,'" Stephens said. "Being impulsive works really well because after grabbing the food, they can forget it and go back to their original foraging behavior. That behavior can achieve high long-term gains even if it's impulsive."

"When psychologists study kids who are good at waiting for a reward, they find those kids generallly do better in life. It looks as though this is a key to success in the modern world, so why is it so hard for us to accept delays? The answer may be because we evolved as foragers who encountered no penalties for taking resources impulsively."