Recommended Readings - BART Research Platform

2002

Foundational
paper

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Evaluation of a Behavioral Measure of Risk Taking: The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)

Lejuez, C. W., Read, J. P., Kahler, C. W., Richards, J. B., Ramsey, S. E., Stuart, G. L., Strong, D. R., & Brown, R. A.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 8(2), 75–84.

Why this article is recommended: This is the original publication introducing the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. It provides the foundational methodology, validation data, and theoretical rationale for the paradigm. Essential reading for any researcher planning to use the BART.

2008

Methods &
measurement

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Development of an Automatic Response Mode to Improve the Clinical Utility of Sequential Risk-Taking Tasks

Pleskac, T. J., Wallsten, T. S., Wang, P., & Lejuez, C. W.

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16(6), 555–564.

Why this article is recommended: This article introduces an automatic response version of the BART that addresses measurement biases in the traditional manual version. The automatic procedure yields unbiased statistics while maintaining predictive validity, making it particularly valuable for neuroscientific investigations and clinical populations with motor limitations.

2003

Clinical
validation

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The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) Differentiates Smokers and Nonsmokers

Lejuez, C. W., Aklin, W. M., Jones, H. A., Richards, J. B., Strong, D. R., Kahler, C. W., & Read, J. P.

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 11(1), 26–33.

Why this article is recommended: This study demonstrates the BART's ability to differentiate between smokers and nonsmokers, providing early evidence for the task's clinical utility in identifying risk-taking propensity related to health behaviors. The findings support the use of behavioral measures over traditional self-report methods in assessing risk-related personality traits.

2005

Computational
modeling

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Modeling Behavior in a Clinically Diagnostic Sequential Risk-Taking Task

Wallsten, T. S., Pleskac, T. J., & Lejuez, C. W.

Psychological Review, 112(4), 862–880.

Why this article is recommended: This landmark paper presents the first comprehensive computational modeling approach to the BART, providing insight into the cognitive processes underlying learning and sequential decision-making during risk-taking. The stochastic models developed in this work have become foundational for understanding how BART performance relates to real-world risk behaviors.

2022

Companion
task

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Avoidance in Adolescence: The Balloon Risk Avoidance Task (BRAT)

Crowley, M. J., van Noordt, S. J. R., Castagna, P. J., Vaca, F. E., Wu, J., Lejuez, C. W., & Mayes, L. C.

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 44(2), 297–311.

Why this article is recommended: This paper introduces and validates the BRAT, a companion to the BART that inverts its procedure to measure risk-avoidance rather than risk-taking. Across 127 youth aged 10–17, BRAT avoidance was positively associated with anxiety and fear, unrelated to depression or approach motivation, and negatively correlated with BART risk-taking. Recommended for researchers who want to pair approach- and avoidance-oriented behavioral measures, particularly in developmental and anxiety research.