Balloon Analogue Risk Task

The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is a computerized measure of risk-taking behavior. On each trial, participants are presented with a virtual balloon and can choose to inflate it by pressing a button, with each pump increasing the potential reward. However, each balloon has an unknown explosion point; if the balloon explodes before the participant stops pumping, the accumulated reward for that trial is lost. Participants can choose to “cash out” at any time to secure the earned points before a possible explosion. Explosion points are predetermined and pseudorandomized across trials to ensure variability and unpredictability. The primary outcome is the average adjusted number of pumps (mean pumps on balloons that did not explode), with additional indices including the total number of pumps and the number of exploded balloons.