Different types of behavioural impulsivity have been associated with the development of substance use disorders but little is know about what type of impulsivity is provoked by the effect of chronic use of substances.

Determine what type of behavioural impulsivity was associated with the use of alcohol and cocaine.

A prospective cohort study was conducted to identify changes on behavioural impulsivity. Non-dependent heavy drinkers (N=471) were recruited from primary care centres. The following assessments were used at baseline and at the end of the 4-year follow-up period: The continuous performance test (CPT) and stop-signal task (SST) assessed behavioural inhibition. Differential reinforcement for low-rate responding (DRLR) was used to evaluate the delay discounting dimension. Diagnoses were rendered using the Structured Interview for DSM-IV.

Amounts on alcohol and cocaine consumption during follow-up correlated positively with changes on all impulsivity measures. Logistic regression analysis indicated that cocaine used was associated specifically with poor performance on CPT and SST and amount of alcohol used during follow-up was related to changes on DRLR.

Substances provoke different pattern of behavioural impulsivity: chronic cocaine use provokes changes mainly on behavioural inhibition dimension and alcohol use induces changes on delay discounting paradigm.