Waiting impulsivity, also known as premature or anticipatory responding, is well established in preclinical studies through the 5-Choice Serial Reaction Time (5-CSRT) task. Waiting impulsivity is important in disorders of addiction. Preclinical studies suggest a role both as a predictor, and as a consequence, in disorders of addiction. Here we discuss the relationship between the preclinical 5-CSRT and translational fidelity in newly developed translational tasks. Preclinical and clinical literature relevant to premature responding and disorders of addiction are reviewed. Understanding which processes are critical to premature responding is important in understanding the nature of premature responding. Premature responding may also have overlaps with motivational processes, proactive response inhibition, tonic inhibitory processes, and delay discounting.