A Comparison of Reinforcement Learning Models for the Iowa Gambling Task Using Parameter Space Partitioning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steingroever, Helen; Wetzels, Ruud; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan

2013-01-01

The Iowa gambling task (IGT) is one of the most popular tasks used to study decision-making deficits in clinical populations. In order to decompose performance on the IGT in its constituent psychological processes, several cognitive models have been proposed (e.g., the Expectancy Valence (EV) and Prospect Valence Learning (PVL) models). Here we…

Examining the Efficacy of a Personalized Normative Feedback Intervention to Reduce College Student Gambling

PubMed Central

Celio, Mark A.; Lisman, Stephen A.

2014-01-01

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of a stand-alone personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention targeting misperceptions of gambling among college students. Participants Undergraduates (N=136; 55% male) who reported gambling in the past 30 days were recruited between September 2011 and March 2012. Methods Using a randomized clinical trial design, participants were assigned to receive either PNF or an attention control task. In addition to self-report, this study used two computer-based risk tasks framed as “gambling opportunities” to assess cognitive and behavioral change at one week post intervention. Results After one week, participants receiving PNF showed a marked decrease in perception of other students’ gambling, and evinced lower risk-taking performance on two analog measures of gambling. Conclusions Changes in both self-reported perceived norms and analog gambling behavior suggest that a single, stand-alone PNF intervention may modify gambling among college students. Whether it can impact gambling outside of the lab remains untested. PMID:24295507

Induced sadness increases persistence in a simulated slot machine task among recreational gamblers.

PubMed

Devos, Gaëtan; Clark, Luke; Maurage, Pierre; Billieux, Joël

2018-05-01

Gambling may constitute a strategy for coping with depressive mood, but a direct influence of depressive mood on gambling behaviors has never been tested via realistic experimental designs in gamblers. The current study tested whether experimentally induced sadness increases persistence on a simulated slot machine task using real monetary reinforcement in recreational gamblers. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to an experimental (sadness induction) or control (no emotional induction) condition, and then performed a slot machine task consisting of a mandatory phase followed by a persistence phase. Potential confounding variables (problem gambling symptoms, impulsivity traits, gambling cognitions) were measured to ensure that the experimental and control groups were comparable. The study showed that participants in the sadness condition displayed greater gambling persistence than control participants (p = .011). These data support the causal role of negative affect in decisions to gamble and persistence, which bears important theoretical and clinical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Pathological Gambling in Parkinson's Disease: autonomic measures and impaired decision-making.

PubMed

Angioletti, Laura; Siri, Chiara; Meucci, Nicoletta; Pezzoli, Gianni; Balconi, Michela

2018-06-11

According to the somatic marker hypothesis, autonomic measures and arousal modulation can reveal a difference in subgroups of patients developing impaired decision-making because of addictions. Previously, Pathological Gambling (PG) and Parkinson's Disease (PD) have been associated with differential arousal levels during gambling behavior. However, no research considered the specific autonomic responses of Parkinson's Disease patients with pathological gambling and with a previous history of gambling. Thus, this study investigated Skin Conductance Responses (SCRs), Skin Conductance Level (SCL) and Heart Rate (HR) during the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) in two groups of PD patients with gambling disorder, active (PD Gamblers; n=14) or remitted (PD Non-Gamblers; n=13) and a control group of patients with Parkinson's Disease only (n=13). Anticipatory autonomic responses to Disadvantageous Decks and Advantageous Decks during the Iowa Gambling Task were measured for each participant. The PD Gamblers group performed worse than the PD Non-Gamblers and the control groups at the IGT task and exhibited lower SCRs, SCL and HR during the decision-making processing of cards belonging to disadvantageous decks. The role of autonomic and behavioral measures was considered This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Cue-induced brain activity in pathological gamblers.

PubMed

Crockford, David N; Goodyear, Bradley; Edwards, Jodi; Quickfall, Jeremy; el-Guebaly, Nady

2005-11-15

Previous studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have identified differential brain activity in healthy subjects performing gambling tasks and in pathological gambling (PG) subjects when exposed to motivational and emotional predecessors for gambling as well as during gambling or response inhibition tasks. The goal of the present study was to determine if PG subjects exhibit differential brain activity when exposed to visual gambling cues. Ten male DSM-IV-TR PG subjects and 10 matched healthy control subjects underwent fMRI during visual presentations of gambling-related video alternating with video of nature scenes. Pathological gambling subjects and control subjects exhibited overlap in areas of brain activity in response to the visual gambling cues; however, compared with control subjects, PG subjects exhibited significantly greater activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), including the inferior and medial frontal gyri, the right parahippocampal gyrus, and left occipital cortex, including the fusiform gyrus. Pathological gambling subjects also reported a significant increase in mean craving for gambling after the study. Post hoc analyses revealed a dissociation in visual processing stream (dorsal vs. ventral) activation by subject group and cue type. These findings may represent a component of cue-induced craving for gambling or conditioned behavior that could underlie pathological gambling.

Performance of Healthy Participants on the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steingroever, Helen; Wetzels, Ruud; Horstmann, Annette; Neumann, Jane; Wagenmakers, Eric-Jan

2013-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) is often used to assess decision-making deficits in clinical populations. The interpretation of the results hinges on 3 key assumptions: (a) healthy participants learn to prefer the good options over the bad options; (b) healthy participants show homogeneous choice behavior;…

A developmental study of risky decisions on the cake gambling task: age and gender analyses of probability estimation and reward evaluation.

PubMed

Van Leijenhorst, Linda; Westenberg, P Michiel; Crone, Eveline A

2008-01-01

Decision making, or the process of choosing between competing courses of actions, is highly sensitive to age-related change, showing development throughout adolescence. In this study, we tested whether the development of decision making under risk is related to changes in risk-estimation abilities. Participants (N = 93) between ages 8-30 performed a child friendly gambling task, the Cake Gambling task, which was inspired by the Cambridge Gambling Task (Rogers et al., 1999), which has previously been shown to be sensitive to orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) damage. The task allowed comparisons of the contributions to risk perception of (1) the ability to estimate probabilities and (2) evaluate rewards. Adult performance patterns were highly similar to those found in previous reports, showing increased risk taking with increases in the probability of winning and the magnitude of potential reward. Behavioral patterns in children and adolescents did not differ from adult patterns, showing a similar ability for probability estimation and reward evaluation. These data suggest that participants 8 years and older perform like adults in a gambling task, previously shown to depend on the OFC in which all the information needed to make an advantageous decision is given on each trial and no information needs to be inferred from previous behavior. Interestingly, at all ages, females were more risk-averse than males. These results suggest that the increase in real-life risky behavior that is seen in adolescence is not a consequence of changes in risk perception abilities. The findings are discussed in relation to theories about the protracted development of the prefrontal cortex.

Level of Aspiration, Risk-Taking Behavior, and Projective Test Performance: A Search for Coherence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lefcourt, Herbert M.; Steffy, Richard A.

1970-01-01

Correlations were obtained between level of aspiration, gambling, and projective test variables. Achievement oriented behaviors in the level of aspiration task and in the gambling task were related to each other, and both were related to the adequacy of response to sexual stimuli in projective testing. Reprints from Herbert M. Lefcourt, Department…

Artificial time constraints on the Iowa Gambling Task: the effects on behavioural performance and subjective experience.

PubMed

Bowman, Caroline H; Evans, Cathryn E Y; Turnbull, Oliver H

2005-02-01

In the last decade, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has become a widely employed neuropsychological research instrument for the investigation of executive function. The task has been employed in a wide range of formats, from 'manual' procedures to more recently introduced computerised versions. Computer-based formats often require that responses on the task should be artificially delayed by a number of seconds between trials to collect skin-conductance data. Participants, however, may become frustrated when they want to select from a particular deck in the time-limited versions--so that an unintended emotional experience of frustration might well disrupt a task presumed to be reliant on emotion-based learning. We investigated the effect of the various types of Iowa Gambling Task format on performance, using three types of task: the classic manual administration, with no time limitations; a computerised administration with a 6-s enforced delay; and a control computerised version which had no time constraints. We also evaluated the subjective experience of participants on each task. There were no significant differences in performance, between formats, in behavioural terms. Subjective experience measures on the task also showed consistent effects across all three formats-with substantial, and rapidly developing, awareness of which decks were 'good' and 'bad.'

Modulating risky decision-making in Parkinson's disease by transcranial direct current stimulation.

PubMed

Benussi, A; Alberici, A; Cantoni, V; Manenti, R; Brambilla, M; Dell'Era, V; Gazzina, S; Manes, M; Cristillo, V; Padovani, A; Cotelli, M; Borroni, B

2017-05-01

Performance on gambling tasks in Parkinson's disease (PD) is of particular interest, as pathological gambling is often associated with dopamine replacement therapy in these patients. We aimed to evaluate the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in modulating gambling behaviour in PD. We assessed the effects of cathodal tDCS over the right DLPFC during the Iowa Gambling Task in 20 patients with PD, compared with sham stimulation. We then conducted a second experimental design, assessing the effects of anodal tDCS over the right DLPFC. We observed that cathodal tDCS over the right DLPFC increased Iowa Gambling Task scores compared with sham stimulation. In the second experimental design, we did not find significant differences between anodal and sham tDCS. Cathodal tDCS over the right DLPFC possibly reduces the pathological overdrive in frontostriatal networks in patients with PD on dopaminergic medication, thus modulating impulsive and risky decision-making. © 2017 EAN.

Proactive Motor Control Reduces Monetary Risk Taking in Gambling

PubMed Central

Adams, Rachel; Chambers, Christopher D.

2012-01-01

Less supervision by the executive system after disruption of the right prefrontal cortex leads to increased risk taking in gambling because superficially attractive—but risky—choices are not suppressed. Similarly, people might gamble more in multitask situations than in single-task situations because concurrent executive processes usually interfere with each other. In the study reported here, we used a novel monetary decision-making paradigm to investigate whether multitasking could reduce rather than increase risk taking in gambling. We found that performing a task that induced cautious motor responding reduced gambling in a multitask situation (Experiment 1). We then found that a short period of inhibitory training lessened risk taking in gambling at least 2 hr later (Experiments 2 and 3). Our findings indicate that proactive motor control strongly affects monetary risk taking in gambling. The link between control systems at different cognitive levels might be exploited to develop new methods for rehabilitation of addiction and impulse-control disorders. PMID:22692336

Developmental changes in real life decision making: performance on a gambling task previously shown to depend on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

PubMed

Crone, Eveline A; van der Molen, Maurits W

2004-01-01

Patients with bilateral lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, when performing gambling tasks modeling real-life decision-making, opt for choices that yield high immediate gains in spite of higher future losses. Under the hypothesis that the prefrontal cortex is the last brain region to mature, it was examined whether young children would show a similar preference for immediate prospects. In Experiment 1, 4 age groups (6-9, 10-12, 13-15 and 18-25 years olds) performed 2 versions of a computerized variant of the original Iowa gambling task under 3 different feedback conditions (no feedback, global feedback, and option-specific feedback) and completed the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices as an index of inductive reasoning ability. In Experiment 2, 3 age groups (7-8, 11-12, and 15-16 year olds) performed both task versions in addition to a working memory task ("Digit Span Backwards"). Results showed a developmental increase in the sensitivity to future consequences, positive or negative, that could not be explained by developmental changes in working memory capacity or inductive reasoning. It was concluded that young children share with ventromedial prefrontal patients the failure to anticipate on future outcomes.

Impulsivity and related neuropsychological features in regular and addictive first person shooter gaming.

PubMed

Metcalf, Olivia; Pammer, Kristen

2014-03-01

Putative cyber addictions are of significant interest. There remains little experimental research into excessive use of first person shooter (FPS) games, despite their global popularity. Moreover, the role between excessive gaming and impulsivity remains unclear, with previous research showing conflicting findings. The current study investigated performances on a number of neuropsychological tasks (go/no-go, continuous performance task, Iowa gambling task) and a trait measure of impulsivity for a group of regular FPS gamers (n=25), addicted FPS gamers (n=22), and controls (n=22). Gamers were classified using the Addiction-Engagement Questionnaire. Addicted FPS gamers had significantly higher levels of trait impulsivity on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale compared to controls. Addicted FPS gamers also had significantly higher levels of disinhibition in a go/no-go task and inattention in a continuous performance task compared to controls, whereas the regular FPS gamers had better decision making on the Iowa gambling task compared to controls. The results indicate impulsivity is associated with FPS gaming addiction, comparable to pathological gambling. The relationship between impulsivity and excessive gaming may be unique to the FPS genre. Furthermore, regular FPS gaming may improve decision making ability.

The Iowa Gambling Task in Parkinson's disease: A meta-analysis on effects of disease and medication.

PubMed

Evens, Ricarda; Hoefler, Michael; Biber, Karolina; Lueken, Ulrike

2016-10-01

Decision-making under uncertainty as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task has frequently been studied in Parkinson's disease. The dopamine overdose hypothesis assumes that dopaminergic effects follow an inverted U-shaped function, restoring some cognitive functions while overdosing others. The present work quantitatively summarizes disease and medication effects on task performance and evaluates evidence for the dopamine overdose hypothesis of impaired decision-making in Parkinson's disease. A systematic literature search was performed to identify studies examining the Iowa Gambling Task in patients with Parkinson's disease. Outcomes were quantitatively combined, with separate estimates for the clinical (patients ON medication vs. healthy controls), disease (patients OFF medication vs. healthy controls), and medication effects (patients ON vs. OFF medication). Furthermore, using meta-regression analysis it was explored whether the study characteristics drug level, disease duration, and motor symptoms explained heterogeneous performance between studies. Patients with Parkinson's disease ON dopaminergic medication showed significantly impaired Iowa Gambling Task performance compared to healthy controls. This impairment was not normalized by short-term withdrawal of medication. Heterogeneity across studies was not explained by dopaminergic drug levels, disease durations or motor symptoms. While this meta-analysis showed significantly impaired decision-making performance in Parkinson's disease, there was no evidence that this impairment was related to dopamine overdosing. However, only very few studies assessed patients OFF medication and future studies are needed to concentrate on the modulation of dopaminergic drug levels and pay particular attention to problems related to repeated testing. Furthermore, short- vs. long-term medication effects demand further in-depth investigation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Iowa Gambling Task performance and emotional distress interact to predict risky sexual behavior in individuals with dual substance and HIV diagnoses

PubMed Central

Wardle, Margaret C.; Gonzalez, Raul; Bechara, Antoine; Martin-Thormeyer, Eileen M.

2013-01-01

HIV+ substance-dependent individuals (SDIs) show emotional distress and executive impairment, but in isolation these poorly predict sexual risk. We hypothesized that an executive measure sensitive to emotional aspects of judgment (Iowa Gambling Task; IGT) would identify HIV+ SDIs whose sexual risks were influenced by emotional distress. We assessed emotional distress and performance on several executive tasks in 190 HIV+ SDIs. IGT performance interacted significantly with emotional distress, such that only in better performers were distress and risk related. Our results are interpreted using the somatic marker hypothesis and indicate that the IGT identifies HIV+ SDIs for whom psychological distress influences HIV risk. PMID:20480423

Understanding self-reported difficulties in decision-making by people with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Vella, Lydia; Ring, Howard A; Aitken, Mike Rf; Watson, Peter C; Presland, Alexander; Clare, Isabel Ch

2017-04-01

Autobiographical accounts and a limited research literature suggest that adults with autism spectrum disorders can experience difficulties with decision-making. We examined whether some of the difficulties they describe correspond to quantifiable differences in decision-making when compared to adults in the general population. The participants (38 intellectually able adults with autism spectrum disorders and 40 neurotypical adults) were assessed on three tasks of decision-making (Iowa Gambling Task, Cambridge Gamble Task and Information Sampling Task), which quantified, respectively, decision-making performance and relative attention to negative and positive outcomes, speed and flexibility, and information sampling. As a caution, all analyses were repeated with a subset of participants ( n ASD  = 29 and n neurotypical  = 39) who were not taking antidepressant or anxiolytic medication. Compared to the neurotypical participants, participants with autism spectrum disorders demonstrated slower decision-making on the Cambridge Gamble Task, and superior performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. When those taking the medications were excluded, participants with autism spectrum disorders also sampled more information. There were no other differences between the groups. These processing tendencies may contribute to the difficulties self-reported in some contexts; however, the results also highlight strengths in autism spectrum disorders, such as a more logical approach to, and care in, decision-making. The findings lead to recommendations for how adults with autism spectrum disorders may be better supported with decision-making.

Increases in Emotional Intelligence After an Online Training Program Are Associated With Better Decision-Making on the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Alkozei, Anna; Smith, Ryan; Demers, Lauren A; Weber, Mareen; Berryhill, Sarah M; Killgore, William D S

2018-01-01

Higher levels of emotional intelligence have been associated with better inter and intrapersonal functioning. In the present study, 59 healthy men and women were randomized into either a three-week online training program targeted to improve emotional intelligence ( n = 29), or a placebo control training program targeted to improve awareness of nonemotional aspects of the environment ( n = 30). Compared to placebo, participants in the emotional intelligence training group showed increased performance on the total emotional intelligence score of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, a performance measure of emotional intelligence, as well as subscales of perceiving emotions and facilitating thought. Moreover, after emotional intelligence training, but not after placebo training, individuals displayed the ability to arrive at optimal performance faster (i.e., they showed a faster learning rate) during an emotion-guided decision-making task (i.e., the Iowa Gambling Task). More specifically, although both groups showed similar performance at the start of the Iowa Gambling Task from pre- to posttraining, the participants in the emotional intelligence training group learned to choose more advantageous than disadvantageous decks than those in the placebo training group by the time they reached the "hunch" period of the task (i.e., the point in the task when implicit task learning is thought to have occurred). Greater total improvements in performance on the Iowa Gambling Task from pre- to posttraining in the emotional intelligence training group were also positively correlated with pre- to posttraining changes in Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores, in particular with changes in the ability to perceive emotions. The present study provides preliminary evidence that emotional intelligence can be trained with the help of an online training program targeted at adults; it also suggests that changes in emotional intelligence, as a result of such a program, can lead to improved emotion-guided decision-making.

Exposure to Unsolvable Anagrams Impairs Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Starcke, Katrin; Agorku, Janet D.; Brand, Matthias

2017-01-01

Recent research indicates that external manipulations, such as stress or mood induction, can affect decision-making abilities. In the current study, we investigated whether the exposure to an unsolvable task affected subsequent performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition in which they were exposed to unsolvable anagrams (n = 20), or a condition in which they worked on solvable anagrams (n = 22). Afterwards, all participants played the Iowa Gambling Task, a prominent task that measures decision making under uncertain conditions with no explicit rules for gains and losses. In this task, it is essential to process feedback from previous decisions. The results demonstrated that participants who worked on unsolvable anagrams made more disadvantageous decisions on the Iowa Gambling Task than the other participants. In addition, a significant gender effect was observed: Males who worked on unsolvable anagrams made a more disadvantageous decisions than the other male participants. Females who worked on unsolvable anagrams also made more disadvantageous decision than the other female participants, but differences were small and not significant. We conclude that the exposure to unsolvable anagrams induced the experience of uncontrollability which can elicit stress and learned helplessness. Stress and learned helplessness might have reduced the ability to learn from the given feedback, particularly in male participants. We assume that in real life, uncontrollable challenges that last longer than a single experimental manipulation can affect decision making severely, at least in males. PMID:28642693

Emotion-Based Learning and Central Executive Resources: An Investigation of Intuition and the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Turnbull, O.H.; Evans, C.E.Y.; Bunce, A.; Carzolio, B.; O'Connor, J.

2005-01-01

The role of emotion in complex decision-making can be assessed on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a widely used neuropsychological measure that may tap a different aspect of executive function than that assessed by conventional measures. Most notably, the 'feeling' about which decks are good or bad, often described in relation to IGT performance,…

The Influence of Math Anxiety, Math Performance, Worry, and Test Anxiety on the Iowa Gambling Task and Balloon Analogue Risk Task.

PubMed

Buelow, Melissa T; Barnhart, Wesley R

2017-01-01

Multiple studies have shown that performance on behavioral decision-making tasks, such as the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), is influenced by external factors, such as mood. However, the research regarding the influence of worry is mixed, and no research has examined the effect of math or test anxiety on these tasks. The present study investigated the effects of anxiety (including math anxiety) and math performance on the IGT and BART in a sample of 137 undergraduate students. Math performance and worry were not correlated with performance on the IGT, and no variables were correlated with BART performance. Linear regressions indicated math anxiety, physiological anxiety, social concerns/stress, and test anxiety significantly predicted disadvantageous selections on the IGT during the transition from decision making under ambiguity to decision making under risk. Implications for clinical evaluation of decision making are discussed. © The Author(s) 2015.

Dispositional Mindfulness as a Predictor of the Severity of Gambling Outcomes

PubMed Central

Lakey, Chad E.; Campbell, W. Keith; Brown, Kirk Warren; Goodie, Adam S.

2009-01-01

Two studies were conducted to test and explain the relation of mindfulness to the severity of gambling outcomes among frequent gamblers. In both studies, dispositional mindfulness related to less severe gambling outcomes as measured by a DSM-IV-based screen for pathological gambling, even after controlling for gambling frequency and dispositional self-control. Study 2 extended this finding in showing that the association between mindfulness and lower pathological gambling was partially mediated by better performance on two risk-taking tasks that capture overconfidence, risky bet acceptance, and myopic focus on reward. These studies suggest a role for mindfulness in lessening the severity of gambling problems and making adaptive decisions, especially in risk-relevant contexts. PMID:19777140

Elucidating Poor Decision-Making in a Rat Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Seriès, Peggy; Marchand, Alain R.; Dellu-Hagedorn, Françoise

2013-01-01

Although poor decision-making is a hallmark of psychiatric conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, pathological gambling or substance abuse, a fraction of healthy individuals exhibit similar poor decision-making performances in everyday life and specific laboratory tasks such as the Iowa Gambling Task. These particular individuals may provide information on risk factors or common endophenotypes of these mental disorders. In a rodent version of the Iowa gambling task – the Rat Gambling Task (RGT), we identified a population of poor decision makers, and assessed how these rats scored for several behavioral traits relevant to executive disorders: risk taking, reward seeking, behavioral inflexibility, and several aspects of impulsivity. First, we found that poor decision-making could not be well predicted by single behavioral and cognitive characteristics when considered separately. By contrast, a combination of independent traits in the same individual, namely risk taking, reward seeking, behavioral inflexibility, as well as motor impulsivity, was highly predictive of poor decision-making. Second, using a reinforcement-learning model of the RGT, we confirmed that only the combination of extreme scores on these traits could induce maladaptive decision-making. Third, the model suggested that a combination of these behavioral traits results in an inaccurate representation of rewards and penalties and inefficient learning of the environment. Poor decision-making appears as a consequence of the over-valuation of high-reward-high-risk options in the task. Such a specific psychological profile could greatly impair clinically healthy individuals in decision-making tasks and may predispose to mental disorders with similar symptoms. PMID:24339988

Elucidating poor decision-making in a rat gambling task.

PubMed

Rivalan, Marion; Valton, Vincent; Seriès, Peggy; Marchand, Alain R; Dellu-Hagedorn, Françoise

2013-01-01

Although poor decision-making is a hallmark of psychiatric conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, pathological gambling or substance abuse, a fraction of healthy individuals exhibit similar poor decision-making performances in everyday life and specific laboratory tasks such as the Iowa Gambling Task. These particular individuals may provide information on risk factors or common endophenotypes of these mental disorders. In a rodent version of the Iowa gambling task--the Rat Gambling Task (RGT), we identified a population of poor decision makers, and assessed how these rats scored for several behavioral traits relevant to executive disorders: risk taking, reward seeking, behavioral inflexibility, and several aspects of impulsivity. First, we found that poor decision-making could not be well predicted by single behavioral and cognitive characteristics when considered separately. By contrast, a combination of independent traits in the same individual, namely risk taking, reward seeking, behavioral inflexibility, as well as motor impulsivity, was highly predictive of poor decision-making. Second, using a reinforcement-learning model of the RGT, we confirmed that only the combination of extreme scores on these traits could induce maladaptive decision-making. Third, the model suggested that a combination of these behavioral traits results in an inaccurate representation of rewards and penalties and inefficient learning of the environment. Poor decision-making appears as a consequence of the over-valuation of high-reward-high-risk options in the task. Such a specific psychological profile could greatly impair clinically healthy individuals in decision-making tasks and may predispose to mental disorders with similar symptoms.

Iowa Gambling Task Performance in Elderly Persons with a Lifetime History of Suicidal Acts.

PubMed

Wyart, Marilyn; Jaussent, Isabelle; Ritchie, Karen; Abbar, Mocrane; Jollant, Fabrice; Courtet, Philippe

2016-05-01

Suicide in the elderly is a major public health problem. In the present study, we aimed to further understand the mechanisms of suicidal vulnerability in the elderly, focusing on high-risk decision-making. This trait-like impairment has been extensively studied in adolescent and middle-aged suicide attempters, but less often in older persons. Case-control study. Community and university hospital. All participants were aged 65 and older. Thirty-five persons with a lifetime history of suicide attempts and depressive disorder were compared with 52 individuals with a past history of depressive disorder but no history suicidal acts, and 43 healthy comparison subjects. The Iowa Gambling Task was used as a measure of value-based decision-making. Taking into account age, sex, and Beck depression scores, no difference in decision-making performance was found between the three groups. The group of suicide attempters exhibited a significant heterogeneity, however, with those using violent means performing worse than non-violent attempters. This study does not confirm the hypothesis of a significant role for poor Iowa Gambling Task performance as a general marker of suicidal behavior among the elderly but highlights its association with the specific subtype of violent suicidal attempters. Combined with previous findings among other age groups, it suggests that Iowa Gambling Task impairment may be a risk marker of vulnerability to violent suicidal acts. Future prospective studies should assess if this may represent a risk marker for suicide completion. Copyright © 2016 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of alcohol, initial gambling outcomes, impulsivity, and gambling cognitions on gambling behavior using a video poker task.

PubMed

Corbin, William R; Cronce, Jessica M

2017-06-01

Drinking and gambling frequently co-occur, and concurrent gambling and drinking may lead to greater negative consequences than either behavior alone. Building on prior research on the effects of alcohol, initial gambling outcomes, impulsivity, and gambling cognitions on gambling behaviors using a chance-based (nonstrategic) slot-machine task, the current study explored the impact of these factors on a skill-based (strategic) video poker task. We anticipated larger average bets and greater gambling persistence under alcohol relative to placebo, and expected alcohol effects to be moderated by initial gambling outcomes, impulsivity, and gambling cognitions. Participants (N = 162; 25.9% female) were randomly assigned to alcohol (target BrAC = .08g%) or placebo and were given $10 to wager on a simulated video poker task, which was programmed to produce 1 of 3 initial outcomes (win, breakeven, or lose) before beginning a progressive loss schedule. Despite evidence for validity of the video poker task and alcohol administration paradigm, primary hypotheses were not supported. Individuals who received alcohol placed smaller wagers than participants in the placebo condition, though this effect was not statistically significant, and the direction of effects was reversed in at-risk gamblers (n = 41). These findings contradict prior research and suggest that alcohol effects on gambling behavior may differ by gambling type (nonstrategic vs. strategic games). Interventions that suggest alcohol is universally disinhibiting may be at odds with young adults' lived experience and thus be less effective than those that recognize the greater complexity of alcohol effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of alcohol, initial gambling outcomes, impulsivity and gambling cognitions on gambling behavior using a video poker task

PubMed Central

Corbin, William R.; Cronce, Jessica M.

2017-01-01

Drinking and gambling frequently co-occur, and concurrent gambling and drinking may lead to greater negative consequences than either behavior alone. Building on prior research on the effects of alcohol, initial gambling outcomes, impulsivity, and gambling cognitions on gambling behaviors using a chance-based (non-strategic) slot-machine task, the current study explored the impact of these factors on a skill-based (strategic) video poker task. We anticipated larger average bets and greater gambling persistence under alcohol relative to placebo, and expected alcohol effects to be moderated by initial gambling outcomes, impulsivity, and gambling cognitions. Participants (N=162; 25.9% female) were randomly assigned to alcohol (target BrAC = .08 g%) or placebo and were given $10 to wager on a simulated video poker task, which was programmed to produce 1 of 3 initial outcomes (win, breakeven, or lose) before beginning a progressive loss schedule. Despite evidence for validity of the video poker task and alcohol administration paradigm, primary hypotheses were not supported. Individuals who received alcohol placed smaller wagers than participants in the placebo condition, though this effect was not statistically significant, and the direction of effects was reversed in at-risk gamblers (n=41). These findings contradict prior research and suggest that alcohol effects on gambling behavior may differ by gambling type (non-strategic vs. strategic games). Interventions that suggest alcohol is universally disinhibiting may be at odds with young adults’ lived experience and thus be less effective than those that recognize the greater complexity of alcohol effects. PMID:28493742

Serotonin shapes risky decision making in monkeys.

PubMed

Long, Arwen B; Kuhn, Cynthia M; Platt, Michael L

2009-12-01

Some people love taking risks, while others avoid gambles at all costs. The neural mechanisms underlying individual variation in preference for risky or certain outcomes, however, remain poorly understood. Although behavioral pathologies associated with compulsive gambling, addiction and other psychiatric disorders implicate deficient serotonin signaling in pathological decision making, there is little experimental evidence demonstrating a link between serotonin and risky decision making, in part due to the lack of a good animal model. We used dietary rapid tryptophan depletion (RTD) to acutely lower brain serotonin in three macaques performing a simple gambling task for fluid rewards. To confirm the efficacy of RTD experiments, we measured total plasma tryptophan using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical detection. Reducing brain serotonin synthesis decreased preference for the safe option in a gambling task. Moreover, lowering brain serotonin function significantly decreased the premium required for monkeys to switch their preference to the risky option, suggesting that diminished serotonin signaling enhances the relative subjective value of the risky option. These results implicate serotonin in risk-sensitive decision making and, further, suggest pharmacological therapies for treating pathological risk preferences in disorders such as problem gambling and addiction.

Oxygen desaturation during night sleep affects decision-making in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

PubMed

Delazer, Margarete; Zamarian, Laura; Frauscher, Birgit; Mitterling, Thomas; Stefani, Ambra; Heidbreder, Anna; Högl, Birgit

2016-08-01

This study assessed decision-making and its associations with executive functions and sleep-related factors in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Thirty patients with untreated obstructive sleep apnea and 20 healthy age- and education-matched controls performed the Iowa Gambling Task, a decision-making task under initial ambiguity, as well as an extensive neuropsychological test battery. Patients, but not controls, also underwent a detailed polysomnographic assessment. Results of group analyses showed that patients performed at the same level of controls on the Iowa Gambling Task. However, the proportion of risky performers was significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group. Decision-making did not correlate with executive functions and subjective ratings of sleepiness, whereas there was a significant positive correlation between advantageous performance on the Iowa Gambling Task and percentage of N2 sleep, minimal oxygen saturation, average oxygen saturation and time spent below 90% oxygen saturation level. Also, the minimal oxygen saturation accounted for 27% of variance in decision-making. In conclusion, this study shows that a subgroup of patients with obstructive sleep apnea may be at risk of disadvantageous decision-making under ambiguity. Among the sleep-related factors, oxygen saturation is a significant predictor of advantageous decision-making. © 2016 European Sleep Research Society.

COMT genotype, gambling activity, and cognition.

PubMed

Grant, Jon E; Leppink, Eric W; Redden, Sarah A; Odlaug, Brian L; Chamberlain, Samuel R

2015-09-01

Neuropsychological studies of adults with problem gambling indicate impairments across multiple cognitive domains. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) plays a unique role in the regulation of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex, and has been implicated in the cognitive dysfunction evident in problem gambling. This study examined adults with varying levels of gambling behavior to determine whether COMT genotype was associated with differences in gambling symptoms and cognitive functioning. 260 non-treatment-seeking adults aged 18-29 years with varying degrees of gambling behavior provided saliva samples for genotyping COMT val158met (rs4680). All subjects underwent clinical evaluations and neurocognitive assessment of decision-making, working memory, and impulsivity. The Val/Val COMT genotype was associated with the largest percentage of subjects with gambling disorder (31.8%), a rate significantly different from the Val/Met (13.2%) group (p = 0.001). The Val/Val COMT group was also associated with significantly more gambling disorder diagnostic criteria being met, greater frequency of gambling behavior, and significantly worse cognitive performance on the Cambridge Gamble Task (risk adjustment and delay aversion) and the Spatial Working Memory task (total errors). This study adds to the growing literature on the role of COMT in impulsive behaviors by showing that the Val/Val genotype was associated with specific clinical and cognitive elements among young adults who gamble, in the absence of differences on demographic measures and other cognitive domains. Future work should consider using genotyping to explore whether certain polymorphisms predict subsequent development of impulsive behaviors including gambling disorder, and treatment outcomes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychometrics of the Iowa and Berlin Gambling Tasks: Unresolved Issues With Reliability and Validity for Risk Taking.

PubMed

Schmitz, Florian; Kunina-Habenicht, Olga; Hildebrandt, Andrea; Oberauer, Klaus; Wilhelm, Oliver

2018-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most prominent paradigms employed for the assessment of risk taking in the laboratory, and it was shown to distinguish between various patient groups and controls. The present study was conducted to test the psychometric characteristics of the original IGT and of a new gambling task variant for assessing individual differences. Two studies were conducted with adults of the general population ( n = 220) and with adolescents ( n = 389). Participants were also tested on multiple measures of working memory capacity, fluid intelligence, personality traits associated with risk-taking behavior, and self-reported risk taking in various domains. Both gambling tasks had only moderate retest reliability within the same session. Moderate relations were obtained with cognitive ability. However, card selections in the gambling tasks were not correlated with personality or risk taking. These findings point to limitations of IGT type gambling tasks for the assessment of individual differences in risky decision making.

Recruitment of intuitive versus analytic thinking strategies affects the role of working memory in a gambling task.

PubMed

Gozzi, Marta; Cherubini, Paolo; Papagno, Costanza; Bricolo, Emanuela

2011-05-01

Previous studies found mixed results concerning the role of working memory (WM) in the gambling task (GT). Here, we aimed at reconciling inconsistencies by showing that the standard version of the task can be solved using intuitive strategies operating automatically, while more complex versions require analytic strategies drawing on executive functions. In Study 1, where good performance on the GT could be achieved using intuitive strategies, participants performed well both with and without a concurrent WM load. In Study 2, where analytical strategies were required to solve a more complex version of the GT, participants without WM load performed well, while participants with WM load performed poorly. In Study 3, where the complexity of the GT was further increased, participants in both conditions performed poorly. In addition to the standard performance measure, we used participants' subjective expected utility, showing that it differs from the standard measure in some important aspects.

Iowa Gambling Task (IGT): twenty years after – gambling disorder and IGT

PubMed Central

Brevers, Damien; Bechara, Antoine; Cleeremans, Axel; Noël, Xavier

2013-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) involves probabilistic learning via monetary rewards and punishments, where advantageous task performance requires subjects to forego potential large immediate rewards for small longer-term rewards to avoid larger losses. Pathological gamblers (PG) perform worse on the IGT compared to controls, relating to their persistent preference toward high, immediate, and uncertain rewards despite experiencing larger losses. In this contribution, we review studies that investigated processes associated with poor IGT performance in PG. Findings from these studies seem to fit with recent neurocognitive models of addiction, which argue that the diminished ability of addicted individuals to ponder short-term against long-term consequences of a choice may be the product of an hyperactive automatic attentional and memory system for signaling the presence of addiction-related cues (e.g., high uncertain rewards associated with disadvantageous decks selection during the IGT) and for attributing to such cues pleasure and excitement. This incentive-salience associated with gambling-related choice in PG may be so high that it could literally “hijack” resources [“hot” executive functions (EFs)] involved in emotional self-regulation and necessary to allow the enactment of further elaborate decontextualized problem-solving abilities (“cool” EFs). A framework for future research is also proposed, which highlights the need for studies examining how these processes contribute specifically to the aberrant choice profile displayed by PG on the IGT. PMID:24137138

Prediction of alcohol and gambling problems in young adults by using a measure of decision making.

PubMed

Harvanko, Arit M; Schreiber, Liana R N; Grant, Jon E

2013-01-01

Individuals who regularly gamble, regularly consume alcohol, or meet criteria for an alcohol-use disorder or pathological gambling may make riskier decisions on cognitive tasks. What remains unclear in the literature is whether these decision-making deficits precede or result from these addictive behaviors. This study aimed to determine whether risky decision making on a cognitive task is predictive of increasing gambling behaviors and alcohol use. Fifty-eight young adults (aged 18-29 years) free from Axis I disorders and reporting no symptoms of at-risk gambling behavior or alcohol consumption, who were participating in a longitudinal study of impulsivity, were grouped as either high-risk decision makers (n = 29) or low-risk decision makers (n = 29) by using the Cambridge Gamble Task. Subjects were assessed at 1-year follow-up to examine gambling frequency, alcohol consumption, at-risk alcohol-use criteria, alcohol-use disorder criteria, at-risk gambling criteria, and pathological gambling criteria. High-risk decision makers were found to be more likely to meet at-risk criteria for alcohol use after 1 year. Decision-making group membership was not significantly correlated with frequency of gambling or development of pathological gambling or alcohol-use disorder over 1 year. A variable measuring risky decision making on the Cambridge Gambling Task may be able to predict who is more likely to increase alcohol use per session later in life.

Influence of Procedural Learning on Iowa Gambling Task Performance Among HIV+ Individuals with History of Substance Dependence

PubMed Central

Gonzalez, Raul; Wardle, Margaret; Jacobus, Joanna; Vassileva, Jasmin; Martin-Thormeyer, Eileen M.

2010-01-01

HIV+ individuals have been shown to demonstrate deficits on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a complex measure of “decision-making.” Little remains known about what other neurocognitive processes may account for variability in IGT performance among HIV+ samples or the role of procedural learning (PL) in IGT performance. A sample of 49 HIV+ individuals with a history of substance use disorders was examined to explore the relationship between IGT performance and three measures of PL: The Rotary Pursuit, Mirror Star Tracing, and Weather Prediction tasks. We found no statistically significant relationships between IGT performance and any of the PL tasks, despite finding significant correlations among the PL tasks. This pattern of results persisted when analyzing IGT performance in various ways (e.g., performance on earlier trial blocks or impairment classifications). Although other nondeclarative processes (e.g., somatic markers) may be important for IGT performance, these findings do not support PL as an important component neurocognitive process for the IGT. Similarly, these results suggest that differences in PL performance does not account for the decision-making deficits or variability in performances observed on the IGT among HIV+ individuals with a history of substance dependence. PMID:19939850

Striatal dopamine release codes uncertainty in pathological gambling.

PubMed

Linnet, Jakob; Mouridsen, Kim; Peterson, Ericka; Møller, Arne; Doudet, Doris Jeanne; Gjedde, Albert

2012-10-30

Two mechanisms of midbrain and striatal dopaminergic projections may be involved in pathological gambling: hypersensitivity to reward and sustained activation toward uncertainty. The midbrain-striatal dopamine system distinctly codes reward and uncertainty, where dopaminergic activation is a linear function of expected reward and an inverse U-shaped function of uncertainty. In this study, we investigated the dopaminergic coding of reward and uncertainty in 18 pathological gambling sufferers and 16 healthy controls. We used positron emission tomography (PET) with the tracer [(11)C]raclopride to measure dopamine release, and we used performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to determine overall reward and uncertainty. We hypothesized that we would find a linear function between dopamine release and IGT performance, if dopamine release coded reward in pathological gambling. If, on the other hand, dopamine release coded uncertainty, we would find an inversely U-shaped function. The data supported an inverse U-shaped relation between striatal dopamine release and IGT performance if the pathological gambling group, but not in the healthy control group. These results are consistent with the hypothesis of dopaminergic sensitivity toward uncertainty, and suggest that dopaminergic sensitivity to uncertainty is pronounced in pathological gambling, but not among non-gambling healthy controls. The findings have implications for understanding dopamine dysfunctions in pathological gambling and addictive behaviors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interactions among attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and problem gambling in a probabilistic reward-learning task.

PubMed

Abouzari, Mehdi; Oberg, Scott; Gruber, Aaron; Tata, Matthew

2015-09-15

Problem gambling is thought to be highly comorbid with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We propose that the neurobiological pathologies underlying problem gambling overlap with those in ADHD. In this study, we used a simplified computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to assess differences in reinforcement-driven choice adaptation among participants with pathological gambling and/or ADHD. The task contained two choice options with different net payouts over the session; a good bet that resulted in a win of +50 points on 60% of trials (and -50 points on 40%), and a bad bet that resulted in +100 points on 40% of the trials (and -100 points on 60%). We quantified participants' preference for the good bet over the session and their sensitivity to reinforcement. Both the control subjects and medicated ADHD nongamblers significantly increased the proportion of good bets over the 400-trial session. Subjects with problem gambling performed worse than controls and ADHD nongamblers, but better than our limited sample of unmedicated ADHD gamblers. Control subjects, medicated ADHD nongamblers, and unmedicated ADHD nongamblers tended to tolerate losses following good bets, whereas unmedicated ADHD gamblers tended to tolerate losses following bad bets. These data reveal that ADHD, particularly when treated with medication, is not associated with poor choices on the IGT, but may exacerbate pathological choices in problem gamblers. It seems that stabilization of dopamine signaling that occurs when ADHD is treated is itself also a treatment for certain forms of problem gambling. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electroencephalographic Evidence of Abnormal Anticipatory Uncertainty Processing in Gambling Disorder Patients.

PubMed

Megías, Alberto; Navas, Juan F; Perandrés-Gómez, Ana; Maldonado, Antonio; Catena, Andrés; Perales, José C

2018-06-01

Putting money at stake produces anticipatory uncertainty, a process that has been linked to key features of gambling. Here we examined how learning and individual differences modulate the stimulus preceding negativity (SPN, an electroencephalographic signature of perceived uncertainty of valued outcomes) in gambling disorder patients (GDPs) and healthy controls (HCs), during a non-gambling contingency learning task. Twenty-four GDPs and 26 HCs performed a causal learning task under conditions of high and medium uncertainty (HU, MU; null and positive cue-outcome contingency, respectively). Participants were asked to predict the outcome trial-by-trial, and to regularly judge the strength of the cue-outcome contingency. A pre-outcome SPN was extracted from simultaneous electroencephalographic recordings for each participant, uncertainty level, and task block. The two groups similarly learnt to predict the occurrence of the outcome in the presence/absence of the cue. In HCs, SPN amplitude decreased as the outcome became predictable in the MU condition, a decrement that was absent in the HU condition, where the outcome remained unpredictable during the task. Most importantly, GDPs' SPN remained high and insensitive to task type and block. In GDPs, the SPN amplitude was linked to gambling preferences. When both groups were considered together, SPN amplitude was also related to impulsivity. GDPs thus showed an abnormal electrophysiological response to outcome uncertainty, not attributable to faulty contingency learning. Differences with controls were larger in frequent players of passive games, and smaller in players of more active games. Potential psychological mechanisms underlying this set of effects are discussed.

The role of source memory in gambling task decision making.

PubMed

Whitney, Paul; Hinson, John M

2012-01-01

The role of memory in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was tested in two experiments that dissociated item memory (memory for losses obtained) from source memory (the deck that produced a given loss). In Experiment 1, participants observed 75 choices that had been made by controls or patients in previous research, followed by memory tests, and then 25 active choices from the participant. In Experiment 2, participants made choices for 75 trials, performed the memory tests, and then made 25 final choices. The data show that item and source memory can diverge within the IGT, and that source memory makes a significant contribution to IGT performance.

The Impact of Selective Dopamine D2, D3 and D4 Ligands on the Rat Gambling Task.

PubMed

Di Ciano, Patricia; Pushparaj, Abhiram; Kim, Aaron; Hatch, Jessica; Masood, Talal; Ramzi, Abby; Khaled, Maram A T M; Boileau, Isabelle; Winstanley, Catherine A; Le Foll, Bernard

2015-01-01

Gambling is an addictive disorder with serious societal and personal costs. To-date, there are no approved pharmacological treatments for gambling disorder. Evidence suggests a role for dopamine in gambling disorder and thus may provide a therapeutic target. The present study therefore aimed to investigate the effects of selective antagonists and agonists of D2, D3 and D4 receptors in a rodent analogue of the Iowa gambling task used clinically. In this rat gambling task (rGT), animals are trained to associate different response holes with different magnitudes and probabilities of food pellet rewards and punishing time-out periods. As in the Iowa gambling task, the optimal strategy is to avoid the tempting high-risk high-reward options, and instead favor those linked to smaller per-trial rewards but also lower punishments, thereby maximizing the amount of reward earned over time. Administration of those selective ligands did not affect decision making under the rGT. Only the D4 drug had modest effects on latency measures suggesting that D4 may contribute in some ways to decision making under this task.

Working memory in children predicts performance on a gambling task.

PubMed

Audusseau, Jean; Juhel, Jacques

2015-01-01

The authors investigated whether working memory (WM) plays a significant role in the development of decision making in children, operationalized by the Children's Gambling Task (CGT). A total of 105 children aged 6-7, 8-9, and 10-11 years old carried out the CGT. Children aged 6-7 years old were found to have a lower performance than older children, which shows that the CGT is sensitive to participant's age. The hypothesis that WM plays a significant role in decision making was then tested following two approaches: (a) an experimental approach, comparing between groups the performance on the CGT in a control condition (the CGT only was administered) to that in a double task condition (participants had to carry out a recall task in addition to the CGT); (b) an interindividual approach, probing the relationship between CGT performance and performance on tasks measuring WM efficiency. The between-groups approach evidenced a better performance in the control group. Moreover, the interindividual approach showed that the higher the participants' WM efficiency was, the higher their performance in the CGT was. Taken together, these two approaches yield converging results that support the hypothesis that WM plays a significant role in decision making in children.

How does response inhibition influence decision making when gambling?

PubMed

Stevens, Tobias; Brevers, Damien; Chambers, Christopher D; Lavric, Aureliu; McLaren, Ian P L; Mertens, Myriam; Noël, Xavier; Verbruggen, Frederick

2015-03-01

Recent research suggests that response inhibition training can alter impulsive and compulsive behavior. When stop signals are introduced in a gambling task, people not only become more cautious when executing their choice responses, they also prefer lower bets when gambling. Here, we examined how stopping motor responses influences gambling. Experiment 1 showed that the reduced betting in stop-signal blocks was not caused by changes in information sampling styles or changes in arousal. In Experiments 2a and 2b, people preferred lower bets when they occasionally had to stop their response in a secondary decision-making task but not when they were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. Experiment 3 showed that merely introducing trials on which subjects could not gamble did not influence gambling preferences. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the effect of stopping on gambling generalized to different populations. Further, 2 combined analyses suggested that the effect of stopping on gambling preferences was reliable but small. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that the effect of stopping on gambling generalized to a different task. On the basis of our findings and earlier research, we propose that the presence of stop signals influences gambling by reducing approach behavior and altering the motivational value of the gambling outcome. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

How Does Response Inhibition Influence Decision Making When Gambling?

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Recent research suggests that response inhibition training can alter impulsive and compulsive behavior. When stop signals are introduced in a gambling task, people not only become more cautious when executing their choice responses, they also prefer lower bets when gambling. Here, we examined how stopping motor responses influences gambling. Experiment 1 showed that the reduced betting in stop-signal blocks was not caused by changes in information sampling styles or changes in arousal. In Experiments 2a and 2b, people preferred lower bets when they occasionally had to stop their response in a secondary decision-making task but not when they were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. Experiment 3 showed that merely introducing trials on which subjects could not gamble did not influence gambling preferences. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the effect of stopping on gambling generalized to different populations. Further, 2 combined analyses suggested that the effect of stopping on gambling preferences was reliable but small. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that the effect of stopping on gambling generalized to a different task. On the basis of our findings and earlier research, we propose that the presence of stop signals influences gambling by reducing approach behavior and altering the motivational value of the gambling outcome. PMID:25559481

Quantum Gambling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldenberg, Lior; Vaidman, Lev; Wiesner, Stephen

1999-04-01

We present a two-party protocol for ``quantum gambling,'' a new task closely related to coin tossing. The protocol allows two remote parties to play a gambling game such that in a certain limit it becomes a fair game. No unconditionally secure classical method is known to accomplish this task.

Impaired Decision-Making, Higher Impulsivity, and Drug Severity in Substance Dependence and Pathological Gambling.

PubMed

Krmpotich, Theodore; Mikulich-Gilbertson, Susan; Sakai, Joseph; Thompson, Laetitia; Banich, Marie T; Tanabe, Jody

2015-01-01

Substance use disorder is characterized by impaired decision making, impulsivity, and risk taking. Pathological gambling shares many of these characteristics, and having both diagnoses may be associated with greater problems than either diagnosis alone. We investigated whether among substance-dependent individuals, comorbid pathological gambling would be associated with worse decision making, greater impulsivity, risk taking, and drug severity. Ninety-six substance-dependent individuals were recruited from a residential treatment program and divided into 1 of the 2 groups depending on whether they met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for pathological gambling (SDPG, n = 26) or not (SD, n = 70). Ninety-two controls were recruited from the community. Participants completed a decision-making task (modified Iowa Gambling Task), measures of impulsivity (Barratt Impulsivity Scale and Delay Discounting), and risk taking (Balloon Analog Risk Task). Decision making was analyzed using a computational model. We tested for group differences using analysis of covariance or Kruskal-Wallis and appropriate post-hoc tests. The groups differed in decision-making parameters (P < 0.001) and self-reported impulsivity (P < 0.001). All post-hoc comparisons were significant on these measures, and indicated stepwise changes in controls, followed by SD, followed by SDPG, with SDPG performing worse on decision making and being more impulsive. Compared with SD, SDPG had greater drug severity (P < 0.001). No group differences were observed in delay discounting or risk taking. Compared with individuals with substance dependence without pathological gambling, those with both disorders demonstrated worse decision making and significantly more drug-related symptoms. When evaluating patients with substance dependence, clinicians should consider diagnostic assessments for gambling, as the co-occurrence of both disorders may impact clinical characteristics.

Serum BDNF levels in patients with gambling disorder are associated with the severity of gambling disorder and Iowa Gambling Task indices

PubMed Central

Choi, Sam-Wook; Shin, Young-Chul; Mok, Jung Yeon; Kim, Dai-Jin; Choi, Jung-Seok; Suk-Hyun Hwang, Samuel

2016-01-01

Background and aims Gambling disorder (GD) shares many similarities with substance use disorders (SUDs) in clinical, neurobiological, and neurocognitive features, including decision-making. We evaluated the relationships among, GD, decision-making, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), as measured by serum BDNF levels. Methods Twenty-one male patients with GD and 21 healthy sex- and age-matched control subjects were evaluated for associations between serum BDNF levels and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), as well as between serum BDNF levels and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) indices. Results The mean serum BDNF levels were significantly increased in patients with GD compared to healthy controls. A significant correlation between serum BDNF levels and PGSI scores was found when controlling for age, depression, and duration of GD. A significant negative correlation was obtained between serum BDNF levels and IGT improvement scores. Discussion These findings support the hypothesis that serum BDNF levels constitute a dual biomarker for the neuroendocrine changes and the severity of GD in patients. Serum BDNF level may serve as an indicator of poor decision-making performance and learning processes in GD and help to identify the common physiological underpinnings between GD and SUDs. PMID:28092195

Neural correlates of pathological gamblers preference for immediate rewards during the iowa gambling task: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Power, Yuri; Goodyear, Bradley; Crockford, David

2012-12-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) involves exploratory learning via rewards and penalties, where most advantageous task performance requires subjects to forego potential large immediate rewards for small longer-term rewards to avoid larger punishments. Pathological gambling (PG) subjects perform worse on the IGT compared to controls, relating to their persistence at high risk decisions involving the continued choice of potential large immediate rewards despite experiencing larger punishments. We wished to determine if neural processing of risk and reward within striatal and frontal cortex is associated with this behaviour observed in PG. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activity in response to a computerized version of the IGT. Thirteen male PG subjects with no active comorbidities were compared to 13 demographically matched control subjects. In agreement with previous behavioural studies, PG subjects performed worse on the IGT and made more high-risk choices compared to controls, particularly after experiencing wins and losses. During high-risk gambling decisions, fMRI demonstrated that PG subjects exhibited relatively increased frontal lobe and basal ganglia activation, particularly involving the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), caudate and amygdala. Increased activation of regions encompassing the extended reward pathway in PG subjects during high risk choices suggests that the persistence of PG may be due to the increased salience of immediate and greater potential monetary rewards relative to lower monetary rewards or potential future losses. Whether this over activation of the reward pathway is associated with the development of PG warrants further investigation.

Decision Making Impairment: A Shared Vulnerability in Obesity, Gambling Disorder and Substance Use Disorders?

PubMed Central

Mallorquí-Bagué, Nuria; Fagundo, Ana B.; Jimenez-Murcia, Susana; de la Torre, Rafael; Baños, Rosa M.; Botella, Cristina; Casanueva, Felipe F.; Crujeiras, Ana B.; Fernández-García, Jose C.; Fernández-Real, Jose M.; Frühbeck, Gema; Granero, Roser; Rodríguez, Amaia; Tolosa-Sola, Iris; Ortega, Francisco J.; Tinahones, Francisco J.; Alvarez-Moya, Eva; Ochoa, Cristian; Menchón, Jose M.

2016-01-01

Introduction Addictions are associated with decision making impairments. The present study explores decision making in Substance use disorder (SUD), Gambling disorder (GD) and Obesity (OB) when assessed by Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and compares them with healthy controls (HC). Methods For the aims of this study, 591 participants (194 HC, 178 GD, 113 OB, 106 SUD) were assessed according to DSM criteria, completed a sociodemographic interview and conducted the IGT. Results SUD, GD and OB present impaired decision making when compared to the HC in the overall task and task learning, however no differences are found for the overall performance in the IGT among the clinical groups. Results also reveal some specific learning across the task patterns within the clinical groups: OB maintains negative scores until the third set where learning starts but with a less extend to HC, SUD presents an early learning followed by a progressive although slow improvement and GD presents more random choices with no learning. Conclusions Decision making impairments are present in the studied clinical samples and they display individual differences in the task learning. Results can help understanding the underlying mechanisms of OB and addiction behaviors as well as improve current clinical treatments. PMID:27690367

Self-reflection modulates the outcome evaluation process: Evidence from an ERP study.

PubMed

Zhu, Xiangru; Gu, Ruolei; Wu, Haiyan; Luo, Yuejia

2015-12-01

Recent research demonstrated structural overlap between reward and self processing, but the functional relationship that explains how self processing influences reward processing remains unclear. The present study used an experimentally constrained reflection task to investigate whether individuals' outcome evaluations in a gambling task are modulated by task-unrelated self- and other-reflection processes. The self- and other-reflection task contained descriptions of the self or others, and brain event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while 16 normal adults performed a gambling task. The ERP analysis focused on the feedback-related negativity (FRN) component. We found that the difference wave of FRN increased in the self-reflection condition compared with the other-reflection condition. The present findings provide direct evidence that self processing can influence reward processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Executive Functioning of Sexually Compulsive and Non-Sexually Compulsive Men Before and After Watching an Erotic Video.

PubMed

Messina, Bruna; Fuentes, Daniel; Tavares, Hermano; Abdo, Carmita H N; Scanavino, Marco de T

2017-03-01

Despite the serious behavioral consequences faced by individuals with sexual compulsivity, related neuropsychological studies are sparse. To compare decision making and cognitive flexibility at baseline and after exposure to an erotic video in sexually compulsive participants and non-sexually compulsive controls. The sample consisted of 30 sexually compulsive men and 30 controls. Cognitive flexibility was investigated through the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and decision making was examined through the Iowa Gambling Task. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test categories, correct responses, and perseverative errors and Iowa Gambling Task general trends and blocks. Sexually compulsive subjects and controls performed similarly at baseline. After watching an erotic video, controls performed better in block 1 of the Iowa Gambling Task (P = .01) and had more correct responses on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (P = .01). The controls presented fewer impulsive initial choices and better cognitive flexibility after exposure to erotic stimuli. Messina B, Fuentes D, Tavares H, et al. Executive Functioning of Sexually Compulsive and Non-Sexually Compulsive Men Before and After Watching an Erotic Video. J Sex Med 2017;14:347-354. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Risk-prone individuals prefer the wrong options on a rat version of the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Rivalan, Marion; Ahmed, Serge H; Dellu-Hagedorn, Françoise

2009-10-15

Decision making in complex and conflicting situations, as measured in the widely used Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), can be profoundly impaired in psychiatric disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, drug addiction, and also in healthy individuals for whom immediate gratification prevails over long-term gain. The cognitive processes underlying these deficits are poorly understood, in part due to a lack of suitable animal models assessing complex decision making with good construct validity. We developed a rat gambling task analogous to the IGT that tracks, for the first time, the ongoing decision process within a single session in an operant cage. Rats could choose between various options. Disadvantageous options, as opposed to advantageous ones, offered bigger immediate food reward but were followed by longer, unpredictable penalties (time-out). The majority of rats can evaluate and deduce favorable options more or less rapidly according to task complexity, whereas others systematically choose disadvantageously. These interindividual differences are stable over time and do not depend on task difficulty or on the level of food restriction. We find that poor decision making does not result from a failure to acquire relevant information but from hypersensitivity to reward and higher risk taking in anxiogenic situations. These results suggest that rats, as well as human poor performers, share similar traits to those observed in decision-making related psychiatric disorders. These traits could constitute risk factors of developing such disorders. The rapid identification of poor decision makers using the rat gambling task should promote the discovery of the specific brain dysfunctions that cause maladapted decision making.

Working memory and affective decision-making in addiction: a neurocognitive comparison between heroin addicts, pathological gamblers and healthy controls.

PubMed

Yan, Wan-Sen; Li, Yong-Hui; Xiao, Lin; Zhu, Ning; Bechara, Antoine; Sui, Nan

2014-01-01

Cognitive deficits are observed both in heroin dependence and in pathological gambling (PG) on various tasks. PG, as a non-substance addiction, is free of toxic consequences of drug use. Therefore a direct neurocognitive comparison of heroin addicts and pathological gamblers helps dissociate the consequences of chronic heroin use on cognitive function from the cognitive vulnerabilities that predispose addiction. A case-control design was used, comparing 58 abstinent heroin addicts, 58 pathological gamblers, and 60 healthy controls on working memory and affective decision-making functions. Working memory was assessed using the Self-ordered Pointing Test (SOPT). Affective decision-making was measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Heroin addicts performed significantly worse both on the IGT and on the SOPT, compared to healthy controls. Pathological gamblers performed worse on the IGT than healthy controls, but did not differ from controls on the SOPT. Years of heroin use were negatively correlated with working memory and affective decision-making performance in heroin addicts, while severity of gambling was not significantly correlated with any task performance in pathological gamblers. Our findings indicate that deficits in affective decision-making shared by heroin dependence and PG putatively represent vulnerabilities to addiction and that working memory deficits detected only in heroin addicts may be identified as heroin-specific harmful effects. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive Inflexibility in Gamblers is Primarily Present in Reward-Related Decision Making

PubMed Central

Boog, Michiel; Höppener, Paul; v. d. Wetering, Ben J. M.; Goudriaan, Anna E.; Boog, Matthijs C.; Franken, Ingmar H. A.

2014-01-01

One hallmark of gambling disorder (GD) is the observation that gamblers have problems stopping their gambling behavior once it is initiated. On a neuropsychological level, it has been hypothesized that this is the result of a cognitive inflexibility. The present study investigated cognitive inflexibility in patients with GD using a task involving cognitive inflexibility with a reward element (i.e., reversal learning) and a task measuring general cognitive inflexibility without such a component (i.e., response perseveration). For this purpose, scores of a reward-based reversal learning task (probabilistic reversal learning task) and the Wisconsin card sorting task were compared between a group of treatment seeking patients with GD and a gender and age matched control group. The results show that pathological gamblers have impaired performance on the neurocognitive task measuring reward-based cognitive inflexibility. However, no difference between the groups is observed regarding non-reward-based cognitive inflexibility. This suggests that cognitive inflexibility in GD is the result of an aberrant reward-based learning, and not based on a more general problem with cognitive flexibility. The pattern of observed problems is suggestive of a dysfunction of the orbitofrontal cortex, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and the ventral regions of the striatum in gamblers. Relevance for the neurocognition of problematic gambling is discussed. PMID:25165438

Decision-Making Under Risk, but Not Under Ambiguity, Predicts Pathological Gambling in Discrete Types of Abstinent Substance Users.

PubMed

Wilson, Michael J; Vassileva, Jasmin

2018-01-01

This study explored how different forms of reward-based decision-making are associated with pathological gambling (PG) among abstinent individuals with prior dependence on different classes of drugs. Participants had lifetime histories of either "pure" heroin dependence ( n = 64), "pure" amphetamine dependence ( n = 51), or polysubstance dependence ( n = 89), or had no history of substance dependence ( n = 133). Decision-making was assessed via two neurocognitive tasks: (1) the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a measure of decision-making under ambiguity (i.e., uncertain risk contingencies); and (2) the Cambridge Gambling task (CGT), a measure of decision-making under risk (i.e., explicit risk contingencies). The main effects of neurocognitive performance and drug class on PG (defined as ≥3 DSM-IV PG symptoms) as well as their interactional effects were assessed via multiple linear regression. Two CGT indices of decision-making under risk demonstrated positive main effects on PG. Interaction effects indicated that the effects of decision-making under risk on PG were largely consistent across participant groups. Notably, a linear relationship between greater CGT Risk-Taking and PG symptoms was not observed among amphetamine users, whereas IGT performance was selectively and positively associated with PG in polysubstance users. Overall, results indicate that reward-based decision-making under risk may represent a risk factor for PG across substance users, with some variations in these relationships influenced by specific class of substance of abuse.

Effects of Outcomes and Random Arbitration on Emotions in a Competitive Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Bediou, Benoit; Mohri, Christelle; Lack, Jeremy; Sander, David

2011-01-01

Research on self-serving biases in judgments and decision-making suggests that individuals first evaluate the outcomes they get, and then the procedures by which these outcomes were obtained. Evidence also suggests that the appraisal of the former (outcome favorability) can bias the appraisal of the latter (procedural fairness). We investigated the nature of the emotions that are elicited by these appraisals by using a new paradigm in which participants performed a choice task between pairs of competing gambles against a virtual opponent. Conflicts (when the participant selected the same gamble as his virtual opponent) were resolved by a neutral arbitrator who either confirmed the participant’s choice (“pro-self”) or attributed his gamble to the virtual opponent (“pro-competitor”). Trials in which the participant and his virtual opponent selected different gambles (“no-conflict”) served as a control condition. In order to validate this new task, emotional reactions to the outcomes of the gambles were measured using self-reports, skin conductance responses, and facial electromyography (zygomaticus, corrugator, and frontalis). In no-conflict trials, effects of counterfactual thinking and social comparison resulted in (i) increased happiness as well as SCR and zygomaticus activity for wins compared to losses (valence effect) and for high compared to low gains (magnitude effect), and (ii) increased anger, regret, disappointment, and envy for losses compared to wins (valence effect). More importantly, compared to no-conflict trials and to pro-self awards with similar outcomes, pro-competitor awards increased subjective reports of anger for unfavorable outcomes, and increased happiness and guilt for favorable outcomes. Although the outcomes were independent from the arbitrators’ decisions, and both the arbitrators’ decisions and the outcomes were kept equally likely, individuals tended to attribute their outcomes to unfair arbitrators, reacting emotionally, especially when the modification of their initial choice for a gamble led to a negative outcome. PMID:22007177

Meta-Analytic Evidence for a Reversal Learning Effect on the Iowa Gambling Task in Older Adults.

PubMed

Pasion, Rita; Gonçalves, Ana R; Fernandes, Carina; Ferreira-Santos, Fernando; Barbosa, Fernando; Marques-Teixeira, João

2017-01-01

Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most widely used tools to assess economic decision-making. However, the research tradition on aging and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been mainly focused on the overall performance of older adults in relation to younger or clinical groups, remaining unclear whether older adults are capable of learning along the task. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine older adults' decision-making on the IGT, to test the effects of aging on reversal learning (45 studies) and to provide normative data on total and block net scores (55 studies). From the accumulated empirical evidence, we found an average total net score of 7.55 (±25.9). We also observed a significant reversal learning effect along the blocks of the IGT, indicating that older adults inhibit the prepotent response toward immediately attractive options associated with high losses, in favor of initially less attractive options associated with long-run profit. During block 1, decisions of older adults led to a negative gambling net score, reflecting the expected initial pattern of risk-taking. However, the shift toward more safe options occurred between block 2 (small-to-medium effect size) and blocks 3, 4, 5 (medium-to-large effect size). These main findings highlight that older adults are able to move from the initial uncertainty, when the possible outcomes are unknown, to decisions based on risk, when the outcomes are learned and may be used to guide future adaptive decision-making.

Feedback-related negativity is enhanced in adolescence during a gambling task with and without probabilistic reinforcement learning.

PubMed

Martínez-Velázquez, Eduardo S; Ramos-Loyo, Julieta; González-Garrido, Andrés A; Sequeira, Henrique

2015-01-21

Feedback-related negativity (FRN) is a negative deflection that appears around 250 ms after the gain or loss of feedback to chosen alternatives in a gambling task in frontocentral regions following outcomes. Few studies have reported FRN enhancement in adolescents compared with adults in a gambling task without probabilistic reinforcement learning, despite the fact that learning from positive or negative consequences is crucial for decision-making during adolescence. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to identify differences in FRN amplitude and latency between adolescents and adults on a gambling task with favorable and unfavorable probabilistic reinforcement learning conditions, in addition to a nonlearning condition with monetary gains and losses. Higher rate scores of high-magnitude choices during the final 30 trials compared with the first 30 trials were observed during the favorable condition, whereas lower rates were observed during the unfavorable condition in both groups. Higher FRN amplitude in all conditions and longer latency in the nonlearning condition were observed in adolescents compared with adults and in relation to losses. Results indicate that both the adolescents and the adults improved their performance in relation to positive and negative feedback. However, the FRN findings suggest an increased sensitivity to external feedback to losses in adolescents compared with adults, irrespective of the presence or absence of probabilistic reinforcement learning. These results reflect processing differences on the neural monitoring system and provide new perspectives on the dynamic development of an adolescent's brain.

Pathological gambling in Parkinson's disease: subthalamic oscillations during economics decisions.

PubMed

Rosa, Manuela; Fumagalli, Manuela; Giannicola, Gaia; Marceglia, Sara; Lucchiari, Claudio; Servello, Domenico; Franzini, Angelo; Pacchetti, Claudio; Romito, Luigi; Albanese, Alberto; Porta, Mauro; Pravettoni, Gabriella; Priori, Alberto

2013-10-01

Pathological gambling develops in up to 8% of patients with Parkinson's disease. Although the pathophysiology of gambling remains unclear, several findings argue for a dysfunction in the basal ganglia circuits. To clarify the role of the subthalamic nucleus in pathological gambling, we studied its activity during economics decisions. We analyzed local field potentials recorded from deep brain stimulation electrodes in the subthalamic nucleus while parkinsonian patients with (n = 8) and without (n = 9) pathological gambling engaged in an economics decision-making task comprising conflictual trials (involving possible risk-taking) and non conflictual trials. In all parkinsonian patients, subthalamic low frequencies (2-12 Hz) increased during economics decisions. Whereas, in patients without gambling, low-frequency oscillations exhibited a similar pattern during conflictual and non conflictual stimuli, in those with gambling, low-frequency activity increased significantly more during conflictual than during non conflictual stimuli. The specific low-frequency oscillatory pattern recorded in patients with Parkinson's disease who gamble could reflect a subthalamic dysfunction that makes their decisional threshold highly sensitive to risky options. When parkinsonian patients process stimuli related to an economics task, low-frequency subthalamic activity increases. This task-related change suggests that the cognitive-affective system that drives economics decisional processes includes the subthalamic nucleus. The specific subthalamic neuronal activity during conflictual decisions in patients with pathological gambling supports the idea that the subthalamic nucleus is involved in behavioral strategies and in the pathophysiology of gambling. Copyright © 2013 Movement Disorder Society.

Gambling primates: reactions to a modified Iowa Gambling Task in humans, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys

PubMed Central

Williamson, Rebecca A.; Latzman, Robert D.; de Waal, Frans B. M.; Brosnan, Sarah F.

2014-01-01

Humans will, at times, act against their own economic self-interest, for example, in gambling situations. To explore the evolutionary roots of this behavior, we modified a traditional human gambling task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), for use with chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys and humans. We expanded the traditional task to include two additional payoff structures to fully elucidate the ways in which these primate species respond to differing reward distributions versus overall quantities of rewards, a component often missing in the existing literature. We found that while all three species respond as typical humans do in the standard IGT payoff structure, species and individual differences emerge in our new payoff structures. Specifically, when variance avoidance and reward maximization conflicted, roughly equivalent numbers of apes maximized their rewards and avoided variance, indicating that the traditional payoff structure of the IGT is insufficient to disentangle these competing strategies. Capuchin monkeys showed little consistency in their choices. To determine whether this was a true species difference or an effect of task presentation, we replicated the experiment but increased the intertrial interval. In this case, several capuchin monkeys followed a reward maximization strategy, while chimpanzees retained the same strategy they had used previously. This suggests that individual differences in strategies for interacting with variance and reward maximization are present in apes, but not in capuchin monkeys. The primate gambling task presented here is a useful methodology for disentangling strategies of variance avoidance and reward maximization. PMID:24504555

Neural correlates of decision making on a gambling task.

PubMed

Carlson, Stephanie M; Zayas, Vivian; Guthormsen, Amy

2009-01-01

Individual differences in affective decision making were examined by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) while 74 typically developing 8-year-olds (38 boys, 36 girls) completed a 4-choice gambling task (Hungry Donkey Task; E. A. Crone & M. W. van der Molen, 2004). ERP results indicated: (a) a robust P300 component in response to feedback (punishment vs. reward outcomes), (b) anticipation effects (stimulus-preceding negativity) prior to outcomes presented on frequent (vs. infrequent) punishment choices, (c) anticipation effects prior to selections associated with short and long-term losses (vs. gains), and (d) individual differences in ERP components were significantly correlated with behavioral performance and verbal ability. These findings suggest that neurophysiological responses may be an index of children's trait-based and/or developmental level of decision-making skills in affective-motivational situations.

Nonmonetary Decision-Making Indices Discriminate Between Different Behavioral Components of Gambling.

PubMed

Navas, Juan F; Torres, Ana; Vilar, Raquel; Verdejo-García, Antonio; Catena, Andrés; Perales, José C

2015-12-01

Recent research has proposed that altered reward and punishment sensitivity, heightened impulsivity, and faulty dynamic decision-making are at the core of disordered gambling. However, each of these traits and cognitive aspects dimensionally vary in the normal population, such that the link between individual differences in these dimensions and gambling use can be ultimately informative to explain disordered gambling. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the contribution of such decision-making-related indices to gambling use parameters in a community sample of college students. Assessment included punishment and reward sensitivity (as measured by the shortened Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire), impulsivity (as measured by the UPPS-P model and a motor inhibition Go/No-go task), and dynamic decision-making [as measured by the probabilistic reversal learning task (PRLT)]. A structured interview was conducted to explore quantitative aspects of the participants gambling habits (gambling presence, gambling frequency, and average amount of money spent in gambling per unit of time). Our results showed the existence of a decision-making profile of gambling, as it naturally occurs in college students, in which sensation seeking is directly and specifically related to gambling presence (gambling, or not gambling at all), punishment sensitivity is inversely related to gambling frequency, and inflexibility in the PRLT specifically predicts the losses accrued because of gambling. These results are compatible with the idea that sensation seeking and punishment insensitivity could increase exposure to gambling activities, whereas reversal learning inflexibility, in people who already gamble, could boost the risk to accumulate losses.

Gambling behavior in Parkinson's Disease: Impulsivity, reward mechanism and cortical brain oscillations.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Angioletti, Laura; Siri, Chiara; Meucci, Nicoletta; Pezzoli, Gianni

2018-03-20

Psychopathological components, such as reward sensitivity and impulsivity, and dopaminergic treatment are crucial characteristics related to the development of Pathological Gambling (PG) in Parkinson's Disease (PD). The aim of the present study is to investigate the differences in decision-making in PD patients with or without PG considering both neurophysiological and behavioral aspects. The IOWA Gambling Task (IGT) and electroencephalographic (EEG) activity were considered to elucidate the decision and post-feedback processes in PG. The sample included fifty-two PD patients, divided in three groups: 17 PD patients with active gambling behavior (PD Gamblers, PDG); 15 PD patients who remitted from PG (PD Non-Gamblers, PDNG); and a Control Group (CG) composed by 20 patients with PD only. EEG and IGT performance were recorded during decision and post-feedback phase. Results showed worse performance and an increase of the low frequency bands in the frontal area for the PDG group compared to the other two groups. In addition, higher BAS (Behavioral Activation System) and BIS-11 (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale) personality components were correlated to groups' behavioral response. These results show an anomalous behavioral (IGT) and cortical response of PDG patients related to their inability to use adequate control mechanisms during a decision-making task where reward mechanisms (BAS) and impulsivity (BIS-11) are relevant. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Some decks are better than others: the effect of reinforcer type and task instructions on learning in the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Fernie, Gordon; Tunney, Richard J

2006-02-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) has become widely used as a laboratory test of "real-life" decision-making. However, aspects of its administration that have been varied by researchers may differentially affect performance and the conclusions researchers can draw. Some researchers have used facsimile money reinforcers while others have used real money reinforcers. More importantly, the instructions participants receive have also been varied. While no differences have been reported in performance dependent on reinforcer type, no previous comparison of participants' instructions has been conducted. This is despite one set of instructions giving participants a clear hint about the nature of the task. Additionally, in previous research one set of instructions have not been used exclusively with one reinforcer type making any differential or cumulative effects of these factors difficult to interpret. The present study compared the effects of instruction and reinforcer type on IGT performance. When participants received instructions without a hint performance was affected by reinforcer type. This was not the case when the instructions included a hint. In a second IGT session performance was improved in participants who had received the hint instructions compared with those who had not.

Iowa Gambling Task with non-clinical participants: effects of using real + virtual cards and additional trials

PubMed Central

Overman, William H.; Pierce, Allison

2013-01-01

Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) in clinical populations can be interpreted only in relation to established baseline performance in normal populations. As in all comparisons of assessment tools, the normal baseline must reflect performance under conditions in which subjects can function at their best levels. In this review, we show that a number of variables enhance IGT performance in non-clinical participants. First, optimal performance is produced by having participants turn over real cards while viewing virtual cards on a computer screen. The use of only virtual cards results in significantly lower performance than the combination of real + virtual cards. Secondly, administration of more than 100 trials also enhances performance. When using the real/virtual card procedure, performance is shown to significantly increase from early adolescence through young adulthood. Under these conditions young (mean age 19 years) and older (mean age 59 years) adults perform equally. Females, as a group, score lower than males because females tend to choose cards from high-frequency-of-gain Deck B. Groups of females with high or low gonadal hormones perform equally. Concurrent tasks, e.g., presentation of aromas, decrease performance in males. Age and gender effects are discussed in terms of a dynamic between testosterone and orbital prefrontal cortex. PMID:24376431

Working Memory Involved in Predicting Future Outcomes Based on Past Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dretsch, Michael N.; Tipples, Jason

2008-01-01

Deficits in working memory have been shown to contribute to poor performance on the Iowa Gambling Task [IGT: Bechara, A., & Martin, E.M. (2004). "Impaired decision making related to working memory deficits in individuals with substance addictions." "Neuropsychology," 18, 152-162]. Similarly, a secondary memory load task has been shown to impair…

Is short-term memory involved in decision making? Evidence from a short-term memory patient.

PubMed

Gozzi, Marta; Papagno, Costanza

2007-03-01

It is reasonable to suggest that working memory (WM; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) is involved in decision making, as decision making is dependent on the ability to remember and update past choices and outcomes. However, contradictory results have been reported in the literature concerning the role of two of its components, namely the central executive and the phonological loop. In order to investigate the role of these components in the decision-making process, we tested a patient with intact central executive but impaired phonological loop on a laboratory decision-making task involving hypothetical gambles (gambling task, GT). When tested in a no-load condition (simple keypress task), her performance was not significantly different from that of matched controls. We also verified whether her performance would be affected differently by memory-load when compared with control subjects. The memory task (holding a string of letters in memory) loaded WM without incurring number-number interference. When the memory-load was imposed during the GT, both the patient and the controls showed a decline in performance, but the strategy they adopted differed. Possible explanations are discussed. In conclusion, our results suggest that the phonological loop is not directly involved in decision making.

How to explain receptivity to conjunction-fallacy inhibition training: evidence from the Iowa gambling task.

PubMed

Cassotti, Mathieu; Moutier, Sylvain

2010-04-01

Intuitive predictions and judgments under conditions of uncertainty are often mediated by judgment heuristics that sometimes lead to biases. Using the classical conjunction bias example, the present study examines the relationship between receptivity to metacognitive executive training and emotion-based learning ability indexed by Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance. After completing a computerised version of the IGT, participants were trained to avoid conjunction bias on a frequency judgment task derived from the works of Tversky and Kahneman. Pre- and post-test performances were assessed via another probability judgment task. Results clearly showed that participants who produced a biased answer despite the experimental training (individual patterns of the biased --> biased type) mainly had less emotion-based learning ability in IGT. Better emotion-based learning ability was observed in participants whose response pattern was biased --> logical. These findings argue in favour of the capacity of the human mind/brain to overcome reasoning bias when trained under executive programming conditions and as a function of emotional warning sensitivity. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Personality Traits and Cortical Activity Affect Gambling Behavior in Parkinson's Disease.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Siri, Chiara; Meucci, Nicoletta; Pezzoli, Gianni; Angioletti, Laura

2018-03-26

Pathological gambling (PG) in Parkinson's disease (PD) manifests as a persistent and uncontrollable gambling behavior, characterized by dysfunctional decision-making and emotional impairment related to high-risk decisions. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between personality traits and prefrontal cortex activity in PD patients with or without PG. Thus, hemodynamic cortical activity measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance were recorded in forty-six PD patients, divided into three groups according to their gambling status: PD patients with active gambling behavior (PDG); PD patients who remitted from PG (PDNG); and a control group (CG) composed by patients with PD only. Results indicates that gambling behavior in PD patients is strongly predictive of dysfunctional cognitive strategy; affecting anomalous cortical response with a left hemispheric unbalance in dorsal areas; and it is related to more reward sensitivity than impulsivity personality components. PDG patients differed from PDNG and CG from both behavioral and brain response to decision-making. Overall, these effects confirm a pathological condition related to cognitive and emotional aspects which makes the patients with PGD victims of their dysfunctional behavior.

Meta-Analytic Evidence for a Reversal Learning Effect on the Iowa Gambling Task in Older Adults

PubMed Central

Pasion, Rita; Gonçalves, Ana R.; Fernandes, Carina; Ferreira-Santos, Fernando; Barbosa, Fernando; Marques-Teixeira, João

2017-01-01

Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most widely used tools to assess economic decision-making. However, the research tradition on aging and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been mainly focused on the overall performance of older adults in relation to younger or clinical groups, remaining unclear whether older adults are capable of learning along the task. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine older adults' decision-making on the IGT, to test the effects of aging on reversal learning (45 studies) and to provide normative data on total and block net scores (55 studies). From the accumulated empirical evidence, we found an average total net score of 7.55 (±25.9). We also observed a significant reversal learning effect along the blocks of the IGT, indicating that older adults inhibit the prepotent response toward immediately attractive options associated with high losses, in favor of initially less attractive options associated with long-run profit. During block 1, decisions of older adults led to a negative gambling net score, reflecting the expected initial pattern of risk-taking. However, the shift toward more safe options occurred between block 2 (small-to-medium effect size) and blocks 3, 4, 5 (medium-to-large effect size). These main findings highlight that older adults are able to move from the initial uncertainty, when the possible outcomes are unknown, to decisions based on risk, when the outcomes are learned and may be used to guide future adaptive decision-making. PMID:29075222

Selective decision-making deficits in at-risk gamblers

PubMed Central

Grant, Jon Edgar; Chamberlain, Samuel Robin; Schreiber, Liana Renne Nelson; Odlaug, Brian Lawrence; Kim, Suck Won

2011-01-01

Despite reasonable knowledge of pathological gambling (PG), little is known of its cognitive antecedents. We evaluated decision-making and impulsivity characteristics in people at risk of developing PG using neuropsychological tests. Non-treatment seeking volunteers (18-29 years) who gamble ≥5 times/year were recruited from the general community, and split into two groups: those “at risk” of developing PG (n=74) and those social, non-problem gamblers (n=112). Participants undertook the Cambridge Gamble and Stop-signal tasks and were assessed with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Pathological Gambling. On the Cambridge Gamble task, the at- risk subjects gambled more points overall, were more likely to go bankrupt, and made more irrational decisions under situations of relative risk ambiguity. On the Stop-signal task, at- risk gamblers did not differ from the social, non-problem gamblers in terms of motor impulse control (stop-signal reaction times). Findings suggest that selective cognitive dysfunction may already be present in terms of decision-making in at-risk gamblers, even before psychopathology arises. These findings implicate selective decision-making deficits and dysfunction of orbitofronto-limbic circuitry in the chain of pathogenesis between social, non-problematic and pathological gambling. PMID:21715016

Characterization of children's decision making: sensitivity to punishment frequency, not task complexity.

PubMed

Crone, Eveline A; Bunge, Silvia A; Latenstein, Heleen; van der Molen, Maurits W

2005-06-01

On a gambling task that models real-life decision making, children between ages 7 and 12 perform like patients with bilateral lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), opting for choices that yield high immediate gains in spite of higher future losses (Crone & Van der Molen, 2004). The current study set out to characterize developmental changes in decision making by varying task complexity and punishment frequency. Three age groups (7-9 years, 10-12 years, 13-15 years) performed two versions of a computerized variant of the original Iowa gambling task. Task complexity was manipulated by varying the number of choices participants could make. Punishment frequency was manipulated by varying the frequency of delayed punishment. Results showed a developmental increase in the sensitivity to future consequences, which was present only when the punishment was presented infrequently. These results could not be explained by differential sensitivity to task complexity, hypersensitivity to reward, or failure to switch response set after receiving punishment. There was a general pattern of boys outperforming girls by making more advantageous choices over the course of the task. In conclusion, 7-12-year-old children--like VMPFC patients--appear myopic about the future except when the potential for future punishment is high.

Effects of various cannabinoid ligands on choice behaviour in a rat model of gambling.

PubMed

Gueye, Aliou B; Trigo, Jose M; Vemuri, Kiran V; Makriyannis, Alexandros; Le Foll, Bernard

2016-04-01

It is estimated that 0.6-1% of the population in the USA and Canada fulfil the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (DSM-5) criteria for gambling disorders (GD). To date, there are no approved pharmacological treatments for GD. The rat gambling task (rGT) is a recently developed rodent analogue of the Iowa gambling task in which rats are trained to associate four response holes with different magnitudes and probabilities of food pellet rewards and punishing time-out periods. Similar to healthy human volunteers, most rats adopt the optimal strategies (optimal group). However, a subset of animals show preference for the disadvantageous options (suboptimal group), mimicking the choice pattern of patients with GD. Here, we explored for the first time the effects of various cannabinoid ligands (WIN 55,212-2, AM 4113, AM 630 and URB 597) on the rGT. Administration of the cannabinoid agonist CB1/CB2 WIN 55,212-2 improved choice strategy and increased choice latency in the suboptimal group, but only increased perseverative behaviour, when punished, in the optimal group. Blockade of CB1 or CB2 receptors or inhibition of fatty-acid amide hydrolase did not affect rGT performance. These results suggest that stimulation of cannabinoid receptors could affect gambling choice behaviours differentially in some subgroups of subjects.

Neural Correlates of Decision Making on a Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlson, Stephanie M.; Zayas, Vivian; Guthormsen, Amy

2009-01-01

Individual differences in affective decision making were examined by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) while 74 typically developing 8-year-olds (38 boys, 36 girls) completed a 4-choice gambling task (Hungry Donkey Task; E. A. Crone & M. W. van der Molen, 2004). ERP results indicated: (a) a robust P300 component in response to feedback…

Decision-making deficits in pathological gambling: the role of executive functions, explicit knowledge and impulsivity in relation to decisions made under ambiguity and risk.

PubMed

Ochoa, Cristian; Alvarez-Moya, Eva M; Penelo, Eva; Aymami, M Neus; Gómez-Peña, Mónica; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Granero, Roser; Vallejo-Ruiloba, Julio; Menchón, José Manuel; Lawrence, Natalia S; Jiménez-Murcia, Susana

2013-01-01

A variety of cognitive and emotional processes influence the decision-making deficits observed in pathological gambling (PG). This study investigated the role of immediate/delayed sensitivity to reward and punishment, executive functions, impulsivity and explicit knowledge in relation to decision-making performance on the original Iowa Gambling Task (IGT-ABCD) and a variant (IGT-EFGH). We assessed 131 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of PG by using executive functioning and decision-making tasks, self-report measures of impulsivity and explicit knowledge. The majority of pathological gamblers (PGs) showed deficits in decision-making, characterized mainly by myopia for the future. Decisions made under risk showed different predictors. Performance on the IGT-ABCD for decisions made under risk was predicted by medium and high levels of explicit knowledge of the task, as well as by scores on the Disorderliness subscale and the degree of Stroop interference. By contrast, IGT-EFGH results were only associated with self-report impulsivity measures. Decision making in PG involves distinct patterns of deficits, and the predictors differ depending on the reinforcement schedule. Decisions made under risk on the IGT-ABCD are associated with explicit knowledge, executive functions and impulsivity traits related to conscious awareness and control processes. On the IGT-EFGH, however, only impulsivity traits predict decision making. Copyright © American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.

Affective biasing of choices in gambling task decision making.

PubMed

Hinson, John M; Whitney, Paul; Holben, Heather; Wirick, Aaron K

2006-09-01

The proponents of the somatic marker hypothesis presume that rational decision making is guided by emotional reactions that are developed from prior experience. Supporting evidence for the hypothesis comes almost exclusively from the short-term affective reactions that are learned during the course of a hypothetical decision-making task--the gambling task (GT). We examined GT performance and affective reactions to choices when those choices were biased by words that had preexisting affective value. In one experiment, affectively valued words directly signaled good and bad choices. A congruent relation between affective value of word and choice outcome improved GT performance, whereas an incongruent relation greatly interfered with performance. In another experiment, affectively valued words were maintained as a working memory (WM) load between GT choices. A WM load with affectively positive words somewhat improved GT performance, whereas affectively negative words interfered with performance. Somatic markers-indicated by differential anticipatory skin conductance response (SCR) amplitude for good and bad choices-appeared at a point in the GT session when choice performance was superior. However, differential SCR developed during the session after good choice performance was already established. These results indicate that preexisting affective biases can influence GT decision making. In addition, the somatic markers that are regular accompaniments of GT decision making appeared to be temporally lagging indicators of choice performance.

Disrupted sensory gating in pathological gambling.

PubMed

Stojanov, Wendy; Karayanidis, Frini; Johnston, Patrick; Bailey, Andrew; Carr, Vaughan; Schall, Ulrich

2003-08-15

Some neurochemical evidence as well as recent studies on molecular genetics suggest that pathologic gambling may be related to dysregulated dopamine neurotransmission. The current study examined sensory (motor) gating in pathologic gamblers as a putative measure of endogenous brain dopamine activity with prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle eye-blink response and the auditory P300 event-related potential. Seventeen pathologic gamblers and 21 age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects were assessed. Both prepulse inhibition measures were recorded under passive listening and two-tone prepulse discrimination conditions. Compared to the control group, pathologic gamblers exhibited disrupted sensory (motor) gating on all measures of prepulse inhibition. Sensory motor gating deficits of eye-blink responses were most profound at 120-millisecond prepulse lead intervals in the passive listening task and at 240-millisecond prepulse lead intervals in the two-tone prepulse discrimination task. Sensory gating of P300 was also impaired in pathologic gamblers, particularly at 500-millisecond lead intervals, when performing the discrimination task on the prepulse. In the context of preclinical studies on the disruptive effects of dopamine agonists on prepulse inhibition, our findings suggest increased endogenous brain dopamine activity in pathologic gambling in line with previous neurobiological findings.

IGT-Open: An open-source, computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Dancy, Christopher L; Ritter, Frank E

2017-06-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is commonly used to understand the processes involved in decision-making. Though the task was originally run without a computer, using a computerized version of the task has become typical. These computerized versions of the IGT are useful, because they can make the task more standardized across studies and allow for the task to be used in environments where a physical version of the task may be difficult or impossible to use (e.g., while collecting brain imaging data). Though these computerized versions of the IGT have been useful for experimentation, having multiple software implementations of the task could present reliability issues. We present an open-source software version of the Iowa Gambling Task (called IGT-Open) that allows for millisecond visual presentation accuracy and is freely available to be used and modified. This software has been used to collect data from human subjects and also has been used to run model-based simulations with computational process models developed to run in the ACT-R architecture.

Differential Involvement of the Agranular vs Granular Insular Cortex in the Acquisition and Performance of Choice Behavior in a Rodent Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Pushparaj, Abhiram; Kim, Aaron S; Musiol, Martin; Zangen, Abraham; Daskalakis, Zafiris J; Zack, Martin; Winstanley, Catharine A; Le Foll, Bernard

2015-01-01

Substance-related and addictive disorders, in particular gambling disorder, are known to be associated with risky decision-making behavior. Several neuroimaging studies have identified the involvement of the insular cortex in decision-making under risk. However, the extent of this involvement remains unclear and the specific contributions of two distinct insular subregions, the rostral agranular (RAIC) and the caudal granular (CGIC), have yet to be examined. Animals were trained to perform a rat gambling task (rGT), in which subjects chose between four options that differed in the magnitude and probability of rewards and penalties. In order to address the roles of the RAIC and CGIC in established choice behavior, pharmacological inactivations of these two subregions via local infusions of GABA receptor agonists were performed following 30 rGT training sessions. The contribution made by the RAIC or CGIC to the acquisition of choice behavior was also determined by lesioning these areas before behavioral training. Inactivation of the RAIC, but not of the CGIC, shifted rats' preference toward options with greater reward frequency and lower punishment. Before rGT acquisition, lesions of the RAIC, but not the CGIC, likewise resulted in a higher preference for options with greater reward frequency and lower punishment, and this persisted throughout the 30 training sessions. Our results provide confirmation of the involvement of the RAIC in rGT choice behavior and suggest that the RAIC may mediate detrimental risky decision-making behavior, such as that associated with addiction and gambling disorder. PMID:25953358

Differential Involvement of the Agranular vs Granular Insular Cortex in the Acquisition and Performance of Choice Behavior in a Rodent Gambling Task.

PubMed

Pushparaj, Abhiram; Kim, Aaron S; Musiol, Martin; Zangen, Abraham; Daskalakis, Zafiris J; Zack, Martin; Winstanley, Catharine A; Le Foll, Bernard

2015-11-01

Substance-related and addictive disorders, in particular gambling disorder, are known to be associated with risky decision-making behavior. Several neuroimaging studies have identified the involvement of the insular cortex in decision-making under risk. However, the extent of this involvement remains unclear and the specific contributions of two distinct insular subregions, the rostral agranular (RAIC) and the caudal granular (CGIC), have yet to be examined. Animals were trained to perform a rat gambling task (rGT), in which subjects chose between four options that differed in the magnitude and probability of rewards and penalties. In order to address the roles of the RAIC and CGIC in established choice behavior, pharmacological inactivations of these two subregions via local infusions of GABA receptor agonists were performed following 30 rGT training sessions. The contribution made by the RAIC or CGIC to the acquisition of choice behavior was also determined by lesioning these areas before behavioral training. Inactivation of the RAIC, but not of the CGIC, shifted rats' preference toward options with greater reward frequency and lower punishment. Before rGT acquisition, lesions of the RAIC, but not the CGIC, likewise resulted in a higher preference for options with greater reward frequency and lower punishment, and this persisted throughout the 30 training sessions. Our results provide confirmation of the involvement of the RAIC in rGT choice behavior and suggest that the RAIC may mediate detrimental risky decision-making behavior, such as that associated with addiction and gambling disorder.

Examination of the effects of cannabinoid ligands on decision making in a rat gambling task.

PubMed

Ferland, Jacqueline-Marie N; Carr, Madison R; Lee, Angela M; Hoogeland, Myrthe E; Winstanley, Catharine A; Pattij, Tommy

2018-07-01

Although exposure to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is perceived to be relatively harmless, mounting evidence has begun to show that it is associated with a variety of cognitive deficits, including poor decision making. THC-induced impairments in decision making are thought to be the result of cannabinoid CB1 receptor activation, and although clinical literature suggests that chronic activation via THC contributes to perturbations in decision making, acute CB1 receptor modulation has yielded mixed results. Using an animal model to examine how CB1-specific ligands impact choice biases would provide significant insight as to how recruitment of the endocannabinoid system may influence decision making. Here, we used the rat gambling task (rGT), a validated analogue of the human Iowa Gambling Task, to assess baseline decision making preferences in male Wistar rats. After acquisition rGT performance was measured. Animals were challenged with the CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant, the partial agonist THC, and the synthetic agonist WIN55,212-2. Animals were also treated acutely with the fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) inhibitor URB597 to selectively upregulate the endocannabinoid anandamide. Blockade of the CB1 receptor produced a trend improvement in decision making in animals who preferred the advantageous task options, yet left choice unaffected in risk-prone rats. Neither CB1 receptor agonist had strong effects on decision making, but a high dose THC decreased premature responses, whereas WIN55,212-2 did the opposite. URB597 did not affect task performance. These results indicate that although chronic CB1 receptor activation may be associated with impaired decision making, acute modulation has modest effects on choice and instead may play a substantive role in regulating impulsive responding. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Iowa Gambling Task and the three fallacies of dopamine in gambling disorder

PubMed Central

Linnet, Jakob

2013-01-01

Gambling disorder sufferers prefer immediately larger rewards despite long term losses on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and these impairments are associated with dopamine dysfunctions. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter linked with temporal and structural dysfunctions in substance use disorder, which has supported the idea of impaired decision-making and dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder. However, evidence from substance use disorders cannot be directly transferred to gambling disorder. This article focuses on three hypotheses of dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder, which appear to be “fallacies,” i.e., have not been supported in a series of positron emission tomography (PET) studies. The first “fallacy” suggests that gambling disorder sufferers have lower dopamine receptor availability, as seen in substance use disorders. However, no evidence supported this hypothesis. The second “fallacy” suggests that maladaptive decision-making in gambling disorder is associated with higher dopamine release during gambling. No evidence supported the hypothesis, and the literature on substance use disorders offers limited support for this hypothesis. The third “fallacy” suggests that maladaptive decision-making in gambling disorder is associated with higher dopamine release during winning. The evidence did not support this hypothesis either. Instead, dopaminergic coding of reward prediction and uncertainty might better account for dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder. Studies of reward prediction and reward uncertainty show a sustained dopamine response toward stimuli with maximum uncertainty, which may explain the continued dopamine release and gambling despite losses in gambling disorder. The findings from the studies presented here are consistent with the notion of dopaminergic dysfunctions of reward prediction and reward uncertainty signals in gambling disorder. PMID:24115941

Dopamine D3 Receptors Modulate the Ability of Win-Paired Cues to Increase Risky Choice in a Rat Gambling Task.

PubMed

Barrus, Michael M; Winstanley, Catharine A

2016-01-20

Similar to other addiction disorders, the cues inherent in many gambling procedures are thought to play an important role in mediating their addictive nature. Animal models of gambling-related behavior, while capturing dimensions of economic decision making, have yet to address the impact that these salient cues may have in promoting maladaptive choice. Here, we determined whether adding win-associated audiovisual cues to a rat gambling task (rGT) would influence decision making. Thirty-two male Long-Evans rats were tested on either the cued or uncued rGT. In these tasks, animals chose between four options associated with different magnitudes and frequencies of reward and punishing time-out periods. As in the Iowa Gambling Task, favoring options associated with smaller per-trial rewards but smaller losses and avoiding the tempting "high-risk, high-reward" decks maximized profits. Although the reinforcement contingencies were identical in both task versions, rats' choice of the disadvantageous risky options was significantly greater on the cued task. Furthermore, a D3 receptor agonist increased choice of the disadvantageous options, whereas a D3 antagonist had the opposite effects, only on the cued task. These findings are consistent with the reported role of D3 receptors in mediating the facilitatory effects of cues in addiction. Collectively, these results indicate that the cued rGT is a valuable model with which to study the mechanism by which salient cues can invigorate maladaptive decision making, an important and understudied component of both gambling and substance use disorders. Significance statement: We used a rodent analog of the Iowa Gambling Task to determine whether the addition of audiovisual cues would affect choice preferences. Adding reward-concurrent cues significantly increased risky choice. This is the first clear demonstration that reward-paired cues can bias cost/benefit decision making against a subject's best interests in a manner concordant with elevated addiction susceptibility. Choice on the cued task was uniquely sensitive to modulation by D3 receptor ligands, yet these drugs did not alter decision making on the uncued task. The relatively unprecedented sensitivity of choice on the cued task to D3-receptor-mediated neurotransmission data suggest that similar neurobiological processes underlie the ability of cues to both bias animals toward risky options and facilitate drug addiction. Copyright © 2016 the authors 0270-6474/16/360785-10$15.00/0.

Decision-making in obesity without eating disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of Iowa gambling task performances.

PubMed

Rotge, J-Y; Poitou, C; Fossati, P; Aron-Wisnewsky, J; Oppert, J-M

2017-08-01

There is evidence that obesity is associated with impairments in executive functions, such as deficits in decision-making, planning or problem solving, which might interfere with weight loss in obese individuals. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of decision-making abilities, as measured with the Iowa gambling task (IGT), in obesity without eating disorders. A systematic search was conducted to identify studies comparing IGT performances between groups of obese patients without eating disorders and groups of healthy control groups. The standardized mean differences were calculated for the total IGT scores and for the course of IGT scores. Meta-regression analyses were performed to explore the influence of clinical variables on standardized mean differences. Total IGT scores were significantly lower in obese patients compared with normal-weight healthy controls. IGT performances did not differ between groups for the first trials of the task. Significant effect sizes for the last trials of the task were subjected to a high degree of heterogeneity. Risky decision-making is impaired in obesity. The clinical importance of non-food-related decision-making impairments remains to be assessed especially in terms of consequences in daily life or the achievement of weight loss. This meta-analysis has been registered in the Prospero database (CRD42016037533). © 2017 World Obesity Federation.

Anticonvulsant medications attenuate amphetamine-induced deficits in behavioral inhibition but not decision making under risk on a rat gambling task.

PubMed

Tremblay, Melanie; Winstanley, Catharine A

2016-11-01

Impulsivity is a major component of mania in bipolar disorder (BD), and patients also show impairments in decision-making involving risk on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Similar deficits are observed in some patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and incidence of problem gambling is higher in both these populations. Anticonvulsant drugs are widely used in the treatment of epilepsy, but also as mood stabilizers and prophylaxis for the management of BD. Unfortunately, little is still known about the precise mechanisms of action underlying their efficacy, and the specific behavioral aspect targeted by these drugs. This project explored the effect of the three anticonvulsant drugs currently also used as mood stabilizers- carbamazepine, valproate and lamotrigine on aspects of decision-making using a rat analogue of the IGT, the rat Gambling Task (rGT). In this task, rats choose between four distinct, probabilistic reinforcement schedules. Sugar pellet profits are maximized by adopting a conservative strategy, avoiding tempting high-risk, high-reward options. Effects of the anticonvulsant agents were assessed on baseline performance and also in conjunction with amphetamine administration, in order to approximate a "mania-like" state. Carbamazepine appeared to slow processing speed, decreasing premature responses and increasing choice latency, whereas valproate and lamotrigine had no effect. When administered prior to amphetamine, lamotrigine was the only drug that failed to attenuate the pro-impulsive effect of the psychostimulant. Further studies looking at chronic administration of anticonvulsants may help us understand the impact of this medication class on decision-making and impulsivity in healthy rats and disease models. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Adolescent Decision-Making with the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Almy, Brandon; Kuskowski, Michael; Malone, Stephen M.; Myers, Evan; Luciana, Monica

2018-01-01

Many researchers have used the standard Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to assess decision-making in adolescence given increased risk-taking during this developmental period. Most studies are cross-sectional and do not observe behavioral trajectories over time, limiting interpretation. This longitudinal study investigated healthy adolescents' and young…

Blood alcohol concentration is negatively associated with gambling money won on the Iowa gambling task in naturalistic settings after controlling for trait impulsivity and alcohol tolerance.

PubMed

Lyvers, Michael; Mathieson, Nicole; Edwards, Mark S

2015-02-01

Acute alcohol intoxication has been found to increase perseverative errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, a well known neuropsychological index of prefrontal cortical functioning, in both laboratory and naturalistic settings. The present study examined the relationship between levels of alcohol consumption at campus drinking venues and performance of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), another neuropsychological test designed to assess prefrontal cortex dysfunction, after controlling for potential confounding variables including habitual alcohol intake (as a proxy for alcohol tolerance), trait impulsivity, and everyday executive functioning. The 49 participants of both genders aged 18 to 30years were recruited at the relevant venues and showed a broad range of blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) from virtually zero (.002%) to .19%. After controlling for demographic variables, habitual use of alcohol and illicit drugs, and frontal lobe related behavioural traits including impulsivity and disinhibition, BAC negatively predicted gambling money won on the last two trial blocks of the IGT. Trait impulsivity and habitual alcohol use were also significant predictors. Results are discussed in terms of acute effects of alcohol on brain systems and the behavioural consequences of such effects on decision making. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of the impact of control on decision making in pathological gambling.

PubMed

Hudgens-Haney, Matthew E; Hamm, Jordan P; Goodie, Adam S; Krusemark, Elizabeth A; McDowell, Jennifer E; Clementz, Brett A

2013-02-01

Perceived control over a gambling outcome leads individuals to accept more and larger bets, increased risk-taking. Pathological gamblers, however, do not diminish risk-taking when control is absent, suggesting an illusion of control. To evaluate neural correlates of perceived control in gamblers, this study compared magnetoencephalography responses of 36 pathological (PG) and 36 non-pathological gamblers (NPG) during the Georgia Gambling Task. PGs exhibited greater activity in bilateral primary sensory regions. An interaction between pathology and control over the gambling task was observed bilaterally throughout dorsal and ventral visual processing streams, and lateral PFC. NPGs showed decreased activity when control was absent. Groups did not differ in response to potential bet cost. These findings provide neurophysiological evidence that PGs suffer from the pattern of risk-taking associated with perceived control, even when no control exists. They suggest that gambling pathology contributes to differential processing of gambling stimuli other than potential costs or rewards. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Association between the Catechol O-Methyltransferase (COMT) Val158met Polymorphism and Different Dimensions of Impulsivity

PubMed Central

Malloy-Diniz, Leandro Fernandes; Lage, Guilherme Menezes; Campos, Simone Becho; de Paula, Jonas Jardim; de Souza Costa, Danielle; Romano-Silva, Marco Aurélio; de Miranda, Débora Marques; Correa, Humberto

2013-01-01

Background Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct which has been associated with dopaminergic neurotransmission. Nonetheless, until this moment, few studies addressed the relationship between different types of impulsivity and the single nucleotide polymorphism caused by a substitution of valine (val) with methionine (met) in the 158 codon of the Catechol-o-Methyltransferase gene (COMT-val158met). The present study aimed to investigate the association between val158met COMT polymorphism and impulsive behavior measured by two neuropsychological tests. Methodology/Principal Findings We administered two neuropsychological tests, a Continuous Performance Task and the Iowa Gambling Task were applied to 195 healthy participants to characterize their levels of motor, attentional and non-planning impulsivity. Then, subjects were grouped by genotype, and their scores on impulsivity measures were compared. There were no significant differences between group scores on attentional and motor impulsivity. Those participants who were homozygous for the met allele performed worse in the Iowa Gambling Task than val/val and val/met subjects. Conclusions/Significance Our results suggest that met allele of val158met COMT polymorphism is associated with poor performance in decision-making/cognitive impulsivity task. The results reinforce the hypothesis that val and met alleles of the val158met polymorphism show functional dissociation and are related to different prefrontal processes. PMID:24039968

Adolescents' Heightened Risk-Seeking in a Probabilistic Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burnett, Stephanie; Bault, Nadege; Coricelli, Giorgio; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne

2010-01-01

This study investigated adolescent males' decision-making under risk, and the emotional response to decision outcomes, using a probabilistic gambling task designed to evoke counterfactually mediated emotions (relief and regret). Participants were 20 adolescents (aged 9-11), 26 young adolescents (aged 12-15), 20 mid-adolescents (aged 15-18) and 17…

Subthalamic Neural Activity Patterns Anticipate Economic Risk Decisions in Gambling

PubMed Central

Rosa, M.; Carpaneto, J.; Priori, A.

2018-01-01

Abstract Economic decision-making is disrupted in individuals with gambling disorder, an addictive behavior observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients receiving dopaminergic therapy. The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is involved in the inhibition of impulsive behaviors; however, its role in impulse control disorders and addiction is still unclear. Here, we recorded STN local field potentials (LFPs) in PD patients with and without gambling disorder during an economic decision-making task. Reaction times analysis showed that for all patients, the decision whether to risk preceded task onset. We compared then for both groups the STN LFP preceding high- and low-risk economic decisions. We found that risk avoidance in gamblers correlated with larger STN LFP low-frequency (<12-Hz) fluctuations preceding task onset. In particular, the amplitude of low-frequency LFP fluctuations carried significant information about future decisions. Decisions of patients not affected by gambling disorder were instead not correlated with pretask STN LFP. Our results suggest that STN activity preceding task onset affects risk decisions by preemptively inhibiting attraction to high but unlikely rewards in favor of a long-term payoff. PMID:29445770

Interpersonal relationship modulates brain responses to outcome evaluation when gambling for/against others: an electrophysiological analysis.

PubMed

Leng, Yue; Zhou, Xiaolin

2014-10-01

When individuals play a gambling task and their actions have consequences for observers, how are the brain responses of the performers modulated by their interpersonal relationship with the observers? To address this issue, we examined the event-related potentials responses in performers while they played two gambling games: one during which they tried to earn money for the observers instead of themselves (i.e., Experiment 1) and another gambling game during which they attempted to earn money from the observers (i.e., Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, ERP results showed that when gambling for either the friends or the strangers, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) responses were more negative-going to the losses than to the gains. The FRN effect (loss minus gain) was significantly larger when gambling for the friends than for the strangers. The general P300 response was more positive-going when gambling for the friends than for the strangers. These results suggested that gambling for others enables individuals to assess the outcome from the interests of the other people, consequently, the FRN response may be driven by the evaluative process related to interests of the others. Because one׳s own economic interests were not involved, the performers׳ brain responses during both the early, semi-automatic stage (i.e., the FRN) and the later, controlled stage (i.e., the P300) of outcome evaluation were modulated by the interpersonal relationship between the performers and the observers. In Experiment 2, ERP results revealed that when gambling against others, the FRN response was more negative-going to the losses than to the gains, as well. However, neither the FRN effect nor the general FRN response was modulated by interpersonal relationship. The general P300 response was more positive-going when gambling against the stranger than against the friend. These results suggested that when gambling against others, the performers׳ FRN response may be driven by two evaluative processes: one is related to the interests of their own, and another is related to the interests of the other people; and the former one plays a dominant role. Because of highly self-involvement, only the performers׳ brain responses during the later controlled stage of outcome evaluation were modulated by interpersonal relationship. The present study extended previous research on brain responses to outcome evaluation when decision making actions have consequences for the other people by suggesting that the FRN response in the performer could also be driven by two evaluative processes. In addition, whether the FRN in the performer was modulated by interpersonal relationship depends on which evaluative process plays a dominant role. However, the P300 in the performer could always be modulated by interpersonal relationship. These findings provide evidence on outcome evaluation being composed of an early semi-automatic primitive process and a later controlled cognitive/affective appraisal process. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How the win-lose balance situation affects subsequent decision-making: functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence from a gambling task.

PubMed

Dong, G; Lin, X; Zhou, H; Lu, Q

2014-07-11

Humans have been consistently shown to be bad at making decisions, especially in disadvantageous situations. In this study, we designed a task that simulates real-life non-strategic gambling to examine the effect of win-lose balance situations (WIN, LOSS, TIE) on decision-making. In behavioral performances, participants showed shorter response time (RT) in LOSS than in WIN and TIE conditions. Imaging results revealed that decisions in WIN are associated with increased brain activations in the posterior cingulate cortex; decisions in LOSS are associated with increased brain activations in the insula and decreased activations in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Positive correlation was found between brain activation in IFG and RT in LOSS. Overall, we concluded that, in disadvantageous conditions, participants are frustrated by their negative results and tend to make a random selection without full consideration. In advantageous conditions, participants' motivations to gamble are elicited and they tend to engage in more endeavors in making decisions. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sub-clinical Alcohol Consumption and Gambling Disorder

PubMed Central

Harries, Michael D.; Redden, Sarah A.; Leppink, Eric W.; Chamberlain, Samuel R.; Grant, Jon E.

2017-01-01

While it is well established that gambling disorder is associated with alcohol use disorder, less is known regarding whether sub-clinical alcohol consumption increases gambling behavior. This study examined the effects of varying levels of alcohol consumption on clinical and cognitive measures. The sample consisted of 572 non-treatment seeking gamblers age 18-29 who were divided into three groups: non-current drinkers, current drinkers who did not qualify for an alcohol use disorder, and those with an alcohol use disorder (AUD). All subjects were assessed on gambling pathology, severity and impulsivity using the Structured Clinical Interview for Gambling Disorder, Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for Pathologic Gambling and the Barratt Impulsive Scale-11 and select cognitive tests. In all of the clinical measures, controlling for age, gender and education, the AUD group was significantly more likely than the non-current and current drinkers to be a pathologic gambler and to be impulsive, compulsive and depressed. On cognitive tasks, controlling for age, gender and education, the AUD group had significantly worse strategy use on a spatial working memory task than both other groups. This study suggests that the relationship between alcohol and gambling may only exist when pathology in both alcohol consumption and gambling behavior is present. Examining this relationship with alcohol consumption as a continuous variable would provide additional insight into the potential effects alcohol consumption has on gambling behavior. PMID:27826730

Sub-clinical Alcohol Consumption and Gambling Disorder.

PubMed

Harries, Michael D; Redden, Sarah A; Leppink, Eric W; Chamberlain, Samuel R; Grant, Jon E

2017-06-01

While it is well established that gambling disorder is associated with alcohol use disorder, less is known regarding whether sub-clinical alcohol consumption increases gambling behavior. This study examined the effects of varying levels of alcohol consumption on clinical and cognitive measures. The sample consisted of 572 non-treatment seeking gamblers age 18-29 who were divided into three groups: non-current drinkers, current drinkers who did not qualify for an alcohol use disorder, and those with an alcohol use disorder (AUD). All subjects were assessed on gambling pathology, severity and impulsivity using the Structured Clinical Interview for Gambling Disorder, Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for Pathologic Gambling and the Barratt Impulsive Scale-11 and select cognitive tests. In all of the clinical measures, controlling for age, gender and education, the AUD group was significantly more likely than the non-current and current drinkers to be a pathologic gambler and to be impulsive, compulsive and depressed. On cognitive tasks, controlling for age, gender and education, the AUD group had significantly worse strategy use on a spatial working memory task than both other groups. This study suggests that the relationship between alcohol and gambling may only exist when pathology in both alcohol consumption and gambling behavior is present. Examining this relationship with alcohol consumption as a continuous variable would provide additional insight into the potential effects alcohol consumption has on gambling behavior.

Amphetamine primes motivation to gamble and gambling-related semantic networks in problem gamblers.

PubMed

Zack, Martin; Poulos, Constantine X

2004-01-01

Previous research suggests that gambling can induce effects that closely resemble a psychostimulant drug effect. Modest doses of addictive drugs can prime motivation for drugs with similar properties. Together, these findings imply that a dose of a psychostimulant drug could prime motivation to gamble in problem gamblers. This study assessed priming effects of oral D-amphetamine (AMPH) (30 mg) in a within-subject, counter-balanced, placebo-controlled design in problem gamblers (n=10), comorbid gamblerdrinkers (n=6), problem drinkers (n=8), and healthy controls (n=12). Modified visual analog scales assessed addictive motivation and subjective effects. A modified rapid reading task assessed pharmacological activation of words from motivationally relevant and irrelevant semantic domains (Gambling, Alcohol, Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Neutral). AMPH increased self-reported motivation for gambling in problem gamblers. Severity of problem gambling predicted positive subjective effects of AMPH and motivation to gamble under the drug. There was little evidence that AMPH directly primed motivation for alcohol in problem drinkers. On the reading task, AMPH produced undifferentiated improvement in reading speed to all word classes in Nongamblers. By contrast, in the two problem gambler groups, AMPH improved reading speed to Gambling words while profoundly slowing reading speed to motivationally irrelevant Neutral words. The latter finding was interpreted as directly congruent with models, which contend that priming of addictive motivation involves a linked suppression of motivationally irrelevant stimuli. This study provides experimental evidence that psychostimulant-like neurochemical activation is an important component of gambling addiction.

Symbol Labelling Improves Advantageous Decision-Making on the Iowa Gambling Task in People with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dymond, Simon; Bailey, Rebecca; Willner, Paul; Parry, Rhonwen

2010-01-01

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities often have difficulties foregoing short-term loss for long-term gain. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been extensively adopted as a laboratory measure of this ability. In the present study, we undertook the first investigation with people with intellectual disabilities using a…

Implicit Emotional Biases in Decision Making: The Case of the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stocco, Andrea; Fum, Danilo

2008-01-01

Many authors have endorsed the hypothesis that previous emotional experiences may exert a covert influence on behavior, but some findings and replications of the original studies challenged this view. We investigated this topic by carrying out an experiment with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), where a dissociation procedure was adopted to…

Brain Regions Involved in the Learning and Application of Reward Rules in a Two-Deck Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartstra, E.; Oldenburg, J. F. E.; Van Leijenhorst, L.; Rombouts, S. A. R. B.; Crone, E. A.

2010-01-01

Decision-making involves the ability to choose between competing actions that are associated with uncertain benefits and penalties. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), which mimics real-life decision-making, involves learning a reward-punishment rule over multiple trials. Patients with damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) show deficits…

Decision-Making, Cognitive Distortions and Alcohol Use in Adolescent Problem and Non-problem Gamblers: An Experimental Study.

PubMed

Ciccarelli, Maria; Griffiths, Mark D; Nigro, Giovanna; Cosenza, Marina

2016-12-01

In the psychological literature, many studies have investigated the neuropsychological and behavioral changes that occur developmentally during adolescence. These studies have consistently observed a deficit in the decision-making ability of children and adolescents. This deficit has been ascribed to incomplete brain development. The same deficit has also been observed in adult problem and pathological gamblers. However, to date, no study has examined decision-making in adolescents with and without gambling problems. Furthermore, no study has ever examined associations between problem gambling, decision-making, cognitive distortions and alcohol use in youth. To address these issues, 104 male adolescents participated in this study. They were equally divided in two groups, problem gamblers and non-problem gamblers, based on South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents scores. All participants performed the Iowa gambling task and completed the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale and the alcohol use disorders identification test. Adolescent problem gamblers displayed impaired decision-making, reported high cognitive distortions, and had more problematic alcohol use compared to non-problem gamblers. Strong correlations between problem gambling, alcohol use, and cognitive distortions were observed. Decision-making correlated with interpretative bias. This study demonstrated that adolescent problem gamblers appear to have the same psychological profile as adult problem gamblers and that gambling involvement can negatively impact on decision-making ability that, in adolescence, is still developing. The correlations between interpretative bias and decision-making suggested that the beliefs in the ability to influence gambling outcomes may facilitate decision-making impairment.

The Impact of Prior Risk Experiences on Subsequent Risky Decision-Making: The Role of the Insula

PubMed Central

Xue, Gui; Lu, Zhonglin; Levin, Irwin P.; Bechara, Antoine

2010-01-01

Risky decision-making is significantly affected by homeostatic states associated with different prior risk experiences, yet the neural mechanisms have not been well understood. Using functional MRI, we examined how gambling decisions and their underlying neural responses were modulated by prior risk experiences, with a focus on the insular cortex since it has been implicated in interoception, emotion and risky decision-making. Fourteen healthy young participants were scanned while performing a gambling task that was designed to simulate daily-life risk taking. Prior risk experience was manipulated by presenting participants with gambles that they were very likely to accept or gambles that they were unlikely to accept. A probe gamble, which was sensitive to individual's risk preference, was presented to examine the effect of prior risk experiences (Risk vs. Norisk) on subsequent risky decisions. Compared to passing on a gamble (Norisk), taking a gamble, especially winning a gamble (Riskwin), was associated with significantly stronger activation in the insular and dorsal medial prefrontal cortices. Decision making after Norisk was more risky and more likely to recruit activation of the insular and anterior cingulate cortices. This insular activity during decision making predicted the extent of risky decisions both within- and across- subjects, and was also correlated with an individual's personality trait of urgency. These findings suggest that the insula plays an important role in activating representations of homeostatic states associated with the experience of risk, which in turn exerts an influence on subsequent decisions. PMID:20045470

Gambling and Sport: Implicit Association and Explicit Intention Among Underage Youth.

PubMed

Li, En; Langham, Erika; Browne, Matthew; Rockloff, Matthew; Thorne, Hannah

2018-03-23

This study examined whether an implicit association existed between gambling and sport among underage youth in Australia, and whether this implicit association could shape their explicit intention to gamble. A sample of 14-17 year old Australian participants completed two phases of tasks, including an implicit association test based online experiment, and a post-experiment online survey. The results supported the existence of an implicit association between gambling and sport among the participants. This implicit association became stronger when they saw sport-relevant (vs. sport-irrelevant) gambling logos, or gambling-relevant (vs. gambling-irrelevant) sport names. In addition, this implicit association was positively related to the amount of sport viewing, but only among those participants who had more favorable gambling attitudes. Lastly, gambling attitudes and advertising knowledge, rather than the implicit association, turned out to be significant predictors of the explicit intention to gamble.

Why are Some Games More Addictive than Others: The Effects of Timing and Payoff on Perseverance in a Slot Machine Game.

PubMed

James, Richard J E; O'Malley, Claire; Tunney, Richard J

2016-01-01

Manipulating different behavioral characteristics of gambling games can potentially affect the extent to which individuals persevere at gambling, and their transition to problematic behaviors. This has potential impact for mobile gambling technologies and responsible gambling interventions. Two laboratory models pertinent to this are the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) and the trial spacing effect. Both of these might speed up or delay the acquisition and extinction of conditioned behavior. We report an experiment that manipulated the rate of reinforcement and inter trial interval (ITI) on a simulated slot machine where participants were given the choice between gambling and skipping on each trial, before perseverative gambling was measured in extinction, followed by measurements of the illusion of control, depression and impulsivity. We hypothesized that longer ITI's in conjunction with the low rates of reinforcement observed in gambling would lead to greater perseverance. We further hypothesized, given that timing is known to be important in displaying illusory control and potentially in persevering in gambling, that prior exposure to longer intervals might affect illusions of control. An interaction between ITI and rate of reinforcement was observed, as low reinforced gamblers with a long ITI gambled for longer. Respondents also displayed extinction and a PREE. Gamblers exposed to a higher rate of reinforcement gambled for longer in acquisition. Impulsivity was associated with extended perseverance in extinction, and more depressed gamblers in the high reinforcement short ITI group persevered for longer. Performance in the contingency judgment failed to support the second hypothesis: the only significant contrast observed was that participants became better calibrated as the task progressed.

Chronic atomoxetine treatment during adolescence does not influence decision-making on a rodent gambling task, but does modulate amphetamine's effect on impulsive action in adulthood.

PubMed

Silveira, Mason M; Murch, W Spencer; Clark, Luke; Winstanley, Catharine A

2016-06-01

In addition to the symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder exhibit impaired performance on tests of real-world cost/benefit decision-making. Atomoxetine, a nonstimulant drug approved for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor administered chronically during adolescence, a time during which the frontal brain regions necessary for executive function undergo extensive maturation. This treatment protocol can affect behavior well into adulthood, but whether it produces long-term changes in complex decision-making has not been investigated. Twenty-four Long-Evans rats were administered saline or 1.0 mg/kg atomoxetine daily from postnatal day 40 to 54. Two weeks after treatment, the adult rats were trained and assessed on the rodent gambling task, in which the animals chose from four options varying in reward, punishment, and uncertainty. Impulsive action was also measured by recording the number of premature responses made. Regardless of the treatment administered during adolescence, rats learned to favor the advantageous options characterized by small, low-penalty rewards in lieu of the larger, higher-penalty reward options. Rodent gambling task performance was then assessed following acute treatment with atomoxetine (0.1-1.0 mg/kg) and amphetamine (0.3-1.5 mg/kg). Across groups, the highest dose of atomoxetine impaired decision-making and decreased premature responding at all doses tested. Amphetamine also impaired choice performance, but selectively increased impulsive action in rats that had previously received atomoxetine treatment during adolescence. These findings contribute to our understanding of the long-term effects associated with chronic adolescent atomoxetine exposure and suggest that this treatment does not alter decision-making under conditions of risk and uncertainty in adulthood.

White matter integrity between left basal ganglia and left prefrontal cortex is compromised in gambling disorder.

PubMed

van Timmeren, Tim; Jansen, Jochem M; Caan, Matthan W A; Goudriaan, Anna E; van Holst, Ruth J

2017-11-01

Pathological gambling (PG) is a behavioral addiction characterized by an inability to stop gambling despite the negative consequences, which may be mediated by cognitive flexibility deficits. Indeed, impaired cognitive flexibility has previously been linked to PG and also to reduced integrity of white matter connections between the basal ganglia and the prefrontal cortex. It remains unclear, however, how white matter integrity problems relate to cognitive inflexibility seen in PG. We used a cognitive switch paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging in pathological gamblers (PGs; n = 26) and healthy controls (HCs; n = 26). Cognitive flexibility performance was measured behaviorally by accuracy and reaction time on the switch task, while brain activity was measured in terms of blood oxygen level-dependent responses. We also used diffusion tensor imaging on a subset of data (PGs = 21; HCs = 21) in combination with tract-based spatial statistics and probabilistic fiber tracking to assess white matter integrity between the basal ganglia and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Although there were no significant group differences in either task performance, related neural activity or tract-based spatial statistics, PGs did show decreased white matter integrity between the left basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex. Our results complement and expand similar findings from a previous study in alcohol-dependent patients. Although we found no association between white matter integrity and task performance here, decreased white matter connections may contribute to a diminished ability to recruit prefrontal networks needed for regulating behavior in PG. Hence, our findings could resonate an underlying risk factor for PG, and we speculate that these findings may extend to addiction in general. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Increased ventral-striatal activity during monetary decision making is a marker of problem poker gambling severity.

PubMed

Brevers, Damien; Noël, Xavier; He, Qinghua; Melrose, James A; Bechara, Antoine

2016-05-01

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of different neural systems on monetary decision making in frequent poker gamblers, who vary in their degree of problem gambling. Fifteen frequent poker players, ranging from non-problem to high-problem gambling, and 15 non-gambler controls were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). During IGT deck selection, between-group fMRI analyses showed that frequent poker gamblers exhibited higher ventral-striatal but lower dorsolateral prefrontal and orbitofrontal activations as compared with controls. Moreover, using functional connectivity analyses, we observed higher ventral-striatal connectivity in poker players, and in regions involved in attentional/motor control (posterior cingulate), visual (occipital gyrus) and auditory (temporal gyrus) processing. In poker gamblers, scores of problem gambling severity were positively associated with ventral-striatal activations and with the connectivity between the ventral-striatum seed and the occipital fusiform gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus. Present results are consistent with findings from recent brain imaging studies showing that gambling disorder is associated with heightened motivational-reward processes during monetary decision making, which may hamper one's ability to moderate his level of monetary risk taking. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

The role of cognitive versus emotional intelligence in Iowa Gambling Task performance: What's emotion got to do with it?

PubMed

Webb, Christian A; DelDonno, Sophie; Killgore, William D S

2014-01-01

Debate persists regarding the relative role of cognitive versus emotional processes in driving successful performance on the widely used Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). From the time of its initial development, patterns of IGT performance were commonly interpreted as primarily reflecting implicit, emotion-based processes. Surprisingly, little research has tried to directly compare the extent to which measures tapping relevant cognitive versus emotional competencies predict IGT performance in the same study. The current investigation attempts to address this question by comparing patterns of associations between IGT performance, cognitive intelligence (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence; WASI) and three commonly employed measures of emotional intelligence (EI; Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, MSCEIT; Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory, EQ-i; Self-Rated Emotional Intelligence Scale, SREIS). Results indicated that IGT performance was more strongly associated with cognitive, than emotional, intelligence. To the extent that the IGT indeed mimics "real-world" decision-making, our findings, coupled with the results of existing research, may highlight the role of deliberate, cognitive capacities over implicit, emotional processes in contributing to at least some domains of decision-making relevant to everyday life.

The role of cognitive versus emotional intelligence in Iowa Gambling Task performance: What’s emotion got to do with it?

PubMed Central

Webb, Christian A.; DelDonno, Sophie; Killgore, William D.S.

2014-01-01

Debate persists regarding the relative role of cognitive versus emotional processes in driving successful performance on the widely used Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). From the time of its initial development, patterns of IGT performance were commonly interpreted as primarily reflecting implicit, emotion-based processes. Surprisingly, little research has tried to directly compare the extent to which measures tapping relevant cognitive versus emotional competencies predict IGT performance in the same study. The current investigation attempts to address this question by comparing patterns of associations between IGT performance, cognitive intelligence (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence; WASI) and three commonly employed measures of emotional intelligence (EI; Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, MSCEIT; Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory, EQ-i; Self-Rated Emotional Intelligence Scale, SREIS). Results indicated that IGT performance was more strongly associated with cognitive, than emotional, intelligence. To the extent that the IGT indeed mimics “real-world” decision-making, our findings, coupled with the results of existing research, may highlight the role of deliberate, cognitive capacities over implicit, emotional processes in contributing to at least some domains of decision-making relevant to everyday life. PMID:25635149

Sex Differences in Risk Preference and c-Fos Expression in Paraventricular Thalamic Nucleus of Rats During Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Ishii, Hironori; Onodera, Mariko; Ohara, Shinya; Tsutsui, Ken-Ichiro; Iijima, Toshio

2018-01-01

Different biological requirements between males and females may cause sex differences in decision preference when choosing between taking a risk to get a higher gain or taking a lower but sure gain. Several studies have tested this assumption in rats, however the conclusion remains controversial because the previous real-world like gambling tasks contained a learning component to track a global payoff of probabilistic outcome in addition to risk preference. Therefore, we modified a simple gambling task allowing us to exclude such learning effect, and investigated the sex difference in risk preference of rats and its neural basis. The task required water deprived rats to choose between a risky option which provided four drops of water or no reward at a 50% random chance vs. a sure option which provided predictable amount x (x = 1, 2, 3, 4). The amount and the risk were explicitly instructed so that different choice conditions could be tested trial by trial without re-learning of reward contingency. Although both sexes correctly chose the sure option with the same level of accuracy when the sure option provided the best offer (x = 4), they exhibited different choice performances when two options had the same expected value (x = 2). Males and females both preferred to take risky choices than sure choices (risk seeking), but males were more risk seeking than females. Outcome-history analysis of their choice pattern revealed that females reduced their risk preference after losing risky choices, whereas males did not. Rather, as losses continued, reaction time for subsequent risky choices got shorter in males. Given that significant sex difference features mainly emerged after negative experiences, male and female rats may evaluate an unsuccessful outcome of their decision in different manners. Furthermore, c-Fos expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PV) was higher in the gambling task than for the control task in males while c-fos levels did not differ in females. The present study provides a clear evidence of sex differences in risk preference in rats and suggests that the PV is a candidate region contributing to sex differences in risky decision making. PMID:29692713

[Decision making and executive function in severe traumatic brain injured patients: validation of a decision-making task and correlated features].

PubMed

Wiederkehr, S; Barat, M; Dehail, P; de Sèze, M; Lozes-Boudillon, S; Giroire, J-M

2005-02-01

At the chronic stage, severe traumatic brain injured (TBI) patients experience difficulty in making decisions. Several studies have demonstrated the involvement of the prefrontal cortex, in particular the orbitofrontal region, in decision-making. The aim of the present study was to validate a decision-making task in this population and to ascertain whether the components of their dysexecutive syndrome may affect their decision-making and lead to difficulties for social rehabilitation. Fifteen TBI patients and 15 controlled subjects matched for age, sex and years of education were assessed by a battery of executive tests (GREFEX) and by the gambling task (GT). The TBI subjects performed significantly worse than the controlled group in five out of six GREFEX tests. The TBI choices are significantly more disadvantageous than the choices of the control group when considering the three last blocks of 20 cards of the GT. The GT total score correlated significantly with execution time of the Stroop interference condition and the Trail Making Task B, as well as with the two measures (correct sequence span and number of crossed boxes) of the double condition of Baddeley's task. We postulate that executive functioning (supervisory attentional system) influence performance in the gambling task through mechanisms of inhibitory control, divided attention and working memory. Thus, this task seems to be determined by multiple factors; the process of decision-making may depend on frontal integrity.

Interactions of age and cognitive functions in predicting decision making under risky conditions over the life span.

PubMed

Brand, Matthias; Schiebener, Johannes

2013-01-01

Little is known about how normal healthy aging affects decision-making competence. In this study 538 participants (age 18-80 years) performed the Game of Dice Task (GDT). Subsamples also performed the Iowa Gambling Task as well as tasks measuring logical thinking and executive functions. In a moderated regression analysis, the significant interaction between age and executive components indicates that older participants with good executive functioning perform well on the GDT, while older participants with reduced executive functions make more risky choices. The same pattern emerges for the interaction of age and logical thinking. Results demonstrate that age and cognitive functions act in concert in predicting the decision-making performance.

The effect of self-regulated caffeine use on cognition in young adults.

PubMed

Harvanko, Arit M; Derbyshire, Katherine L; Schreiber, Liana R N; Grant, Jon E

2015-03-01

Based on previous observational studies that have suggested self-regulated caffeine use by older adults may enhance reaction time performance and vigilance on cognitive tasks, the current study sought to examine whether this effect held true for young adults as well. One hundred and four young adults from two major metropolitan areas, ages 18-29 years, not meeting the criteria for a current psychiatric disorder, completed several cognitive tasks related to decision-making (Cambridge Gamble Task), response inhibition and reaction time (stop-signal task), and vigilance and reaction time (Rapid Visual Information Processing). Caffeine usage was self-reported using a reliable quantity and frequency questionnaire. Self-reported caffeine usage was not significantly associated with any of the cognitive measures used in this study after controlling for age, gender, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, cannabis use, and gambling frequency. These data suggest that self-regulated caffeine usage may not have a significant impact on reaction time, vigilance, response inhibition, or decision-making in young adults, or that these effects are contingent upon other variables not accounted for in the current study. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

All framing effects are not created equal: Low convergent validity between two classic measurements of framing

PubMed Central

Zhen, Shanshan; Yu, Rongjun

2016-01-01

Human risk-taking attitudes can be influenced by two logically equivalent but descriptively different frames, termed the framing effect. The classic hypothetical vignette-based task (Asian disease problem) and a recently developed reward-based gambling task have been widely used to assess individual differences in the framing effect. Previous studies treat framing bias as a stable trait that has genetic basis. However, these two paradigms differ in terms of task domain (loss vs. gain) and task context (vignette-based vs. reward-based) and the convergent validity of these measurements remains unknown. Here, we developed a vignette-based task and a gambling task in both gain and loss domains and tested correlations of the framing effect among these tasks in 159 young adults. Our results revealed no significant correlation between the vignette-based task in the loss domain and the gambling task in the gain domain, indicating low convergent validity. The current findings raise the question of how to measure the framing effect precisely, especially in individual difference studies using large samples and expensive neuroscience methods. Our results suggest that the framing effect is influenced by both task domain and task context and future research should be cautious about the operationalization of the framing effect. PMID:27436680

All framing effects are not created equal: Low convergent validity between two classic measurements of framing.

PubMed

Zhen, Shanshan; Yu, Rongjun

2016-07-20

Human risk-taking attitudes can be influenced by two logically equivalent but descriptively different frames, termed the framing effect. The classic hypothetical vignette-based task (Asian disease problem) and a recently developed reward-based gambling task have been widely used to assess individual differences in the framing effect. Previous studies treat framing bias as a stable trait that has genetic basis. However, these two paradigms differ in terms of task domain (loss vs. gain) and task context (vignette-based vs. reward-based) and the convergent validity of these measurements remains unknown. Here, we developed a vignette-based task and a gambling task in both gain and loss domains and tested correlations of the framing effect among these tasks in 159 young adults. Our results revealed no significant correlation between the vignette-based task in the loss domain and the gambling task in the gain domain, indicating low convergent validity. The current findings raise the question of how to measure the framing effect precisely, especially in individual difference studies using large samples and expensive neuroscience methods. Our results suggest that the framing effect is influenced by both task domain and task context and future research should be cautious about the operationalization of the framing effect.

The Effect of Positive and Negative Feedback on Risk-Taking across Different Contexts.

PubMed

Losecaat Vermeer, Annabel B; Sanfey, Alan G

2015-01-01

Preferences for risky choices have often been shown to be unstable and context-dependent. Though people generally avoid gambles with mixed outcomes, a phenomenon often attributed to loss aversion, contextual factors can impact this dramatically. For example, people typically prefer risky options after a financial loss, while generally choosing safer options after a monetary gain. However, it is unclear what exactly contributes to these preference shifts as a function of prior outcomes, as these gain/loss outcomes are usually confounded with participant performance, and therefore it is unclear whether these effects are driven purely by the monetary gains or losses, or rather by success or failure at the actual task. Here, we experimentally separated the effects of monetary gains/losses from performance success/failure prior to a standard risky choice. Participants performed a task in which they experienced contextual effects: 1) monetary gain or loss based directly on performance, 2) monetary gain or loss that was randomly awarded and was, crucially, independent from performance, and 3) success or failure feedback based on performance, but without any monetary incentive. Immediately following these positive/negative contexts, participants were presented with a gain-loss gamble that they had to decide to either play or pass. We found that risk preferences for identical sets of gambles were biased by positive and negative contexts containing monetary gains and losses, but not by contexts containing performance feedback. This data suggests that the observed framing effects are driven by aversion for monetary losses and not simply by the positive or negative valence of the context, or by potential moods resulting from positive or negative contexts. These results highlight the specific context dependence of risk preferences.

The Iowa Gambling Task in fMRI Images

PubMed Central

Li, Xiangrui; Lu, Zhong-Lin; D'Argembeau, Arnaud; Ng, Marie; Bechara, Antoine

2009-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a sensitive test for the detection of decision-making impairments in several neurologic and psychiatric populations. Very few studies have employed the IGT in fMRI investigations, in part, because the task is cognitively complex. Here we report a method for exploring brain activity using fMRI during performance of the IGT. Decision-making during the IGT was associated with activity in several brain regions in a group of healthy individuals. The activated regions were consistent with the neural circuitry hypothesized to underlie somatic marker activation and decision-making. Specifically, a neural circuitry involving the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (for working memory), the insula and posterior cingulate cortex (for representations of emotional states), the mesial orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (for coupling the two previous processes), the ventral striatum and anterior cingulate/SMA (supplementary motor area) for implementing behavioral decisions was engaged. These results have implications for using the IGT to study abnormal mechanisms of decision making in a variety of clinical populations. PMID:19777556

Sex-Differences, Handedness, and Lateralization in the Iowa Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Singh, Varsha

2016-01-01

In a widely used decision-making task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), male performance is observed to be superior to that of females, and is attributed to right lateralization (i.e., right hemispheric dominance). It is as yet unknown whether sex-differences in affect and motor lateralization have implications for sex-specific lateralization in the IGT, and specifically, whether sex-difference in performance in the IGT changes with right-handedness or with affect lateralization (decision valence, and valence-directed motivation). The present study (N = 320; 160 males) examined the effects of right-handedness (right-handedness vs. non-right-handedness) as a measure of motor lateralization, decision valence (reward vs. punishment IGT), and valence-directedness of task motivation (valence-directed vs. non-directed instructions), as measures of affective lateralization on IGT decision making. Analyses of variance revealed that both male and female participants showed valence-induced inconsistencies in advantageous decision-making; however, right-handed females made more disadvantageous decisions in a reward IGT. These results suggest that IGT decision-making may be largely right-lateralized in right-handed males, and show that sex and lateralized differences (motor and affect) have implications for sex-differences in IGT decision-making. Implications of the results are discussed with reference to lateralization and sex-differences in cognition. PMID:27303316

Myopia for the future or hypersensitivity to reward? Age-related changes in decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Bauer, A S; Timpe, J; Edmonds, E C; Bechara, A; Tranel, D; Denburg, N L

2013-02-01

It has been shown that older adults perform less well than younger adults on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a real-world type decision-making task that factors together reward, punishment, and uncertainty. To explore the reasons behind this age-related decrement, we administered to an adult life span sample of 265 healthy participants (Mdn age = 62.00 +/- 16.17 years; range [23-88]) 2 versions of the IGT, which have different contingencies for successful performance: A'B'C'D' requires choosing lower immediate reward (paired with lower delayed punishment); E'F'G'H' requires choosing higher immediate punishment (paired with higher delayed reward). There was a significant negative correlation between age and performance on the A'B'C'D' version of the IGT (r = -.16, p = .01), while there was essentially no correlation between age and performance on the E'F'G'H' version (r = -.07, p = .24). In addition, the rate of impaired performance in older participants was significantly higher for the A'B'C'D' version (23%) compared with the E'F'G'H' version (13%). A parsimonious account of these findings is an age-related increase in hypersensitivity to reward, whereby the decisions of older adults are disproportionately influenced by prospects of receiving reward, irrespective of the presence or degree of punishment. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Stochastic model predicts evolving preferences in the Iowa gambling task

PubMed Central

Fuentes, Miguel A.; Lavín, Claudio; Contreras-Huerta, L. Sebastián; Miguel, Hernan; Rosales Jubal, Eduardo

2014-01-01

Learning under uncertainty is a common task that people face in their daily life. This process relies on the cognitive ability to adjust behavior to environmental demands. Although the biological underpinnings of those cognitive processes have been extensively studied, there has been little work in formal models seeking to capture the fundamental dynamic of learning under uncertainty. In the present work, we aimed to understand the basic cognitive mechanisms of outcome processing involved in decisions under uncertainty and to evaluate the relevance of previous experiences in enhancing learning processes within such uncertain context. We propose a formal model that emulates the behavior of people playing a well established paradigm (Iowa Gambling Task - IGT) and compare its outcome with a behavioral experiment. We further explored whether it was possible to emulate maladaptive behavior observed in clinical samples by modifying the model parameter which controls the update of expected outcomes distributions. Results showed that the performance of the model resembles the observed participant performance as well as IGT performance by healthy subjects described in the literature. Interestingly, the model converges faster than some subjects on the decks with higher net expected outcome. Furthermore, the modified version of the model replicated the trend observed in clinical samples performing the task. We argue that the basic cognitive component underlying learning under uncertainty can be represented as a differential equation that considers the outcomes of previous decisions for guiding the agent to an adaptive strategy. PMID:25566043

Stochastic model predicts evolving preferences in the Iowa gambling task.

PubMed

Fuentes, Miguel A; Lavín, Claudio; Contreras-Huerta, L Sebastián; Miguel, Hernan; Rosales Jubal, Eduardo

2014-01-01

Learning under uncertainty is a common task that people face in their daily life. This process relies on the cognitive ability to adjust behavior to environmental demands. Although the biological underpinnings of those cognitive processes have been extensively studied, there has been little work in formal models seeking to capture the fundamental dynamic of learning under uncertainty. In the present work, we aimed to understand the basic cognitive mechanisms of outcome processing involved in decisions under uncertainty and to evaluate the relevance of previous experiences in enhancing learning processes within such uncertain context. We propose a formal model that emulates the behavior of people playing a well established paradigm (Iowa Gambling Task - IGT) and compare its outcome with a behavioral experiment. We further explored whether it was possible to emulate maladaptive behavior observed in clinical samples by modifying the model parameter which controls the update of expected outcomes distributions. Results showed that the performance of the model resembles the observed participant performance as well as IGT performance by healthy subjects described in the literature. Interestingly, the model converges faster than some subjects on the decks with higher net expected outcome. Furthermore, the modified version of the model replicated the trend observed in clinical samples performing the task. We argue that the basic cognitive component underlying learning under uncertainty can be represented as a differential equation that considers the outcomes of previous decisions for guiding the agent to an adaptive strategy.

Extrastriatal dopaminergic abnormalities of DA homeostasis in Parkinson’s patients with medication-induced pathological gambling: A [11C] FLB-457 and PET study

PubMed Central

Ray, Nicola J.; Miyasaki, Janis M.; Zurowski, Mateusz; Ko, Ji Hyun; Cho, Sang Soo; Pellecchia, Giovanna; Antonelli, Francesca; Houle, Sylvain; Lang, Anthony E.; Strafella, Antonio P.

2012-01-01

Impulse control disorders such as pathological gambling (PG) are a serious and common adverse effect of dopamine (DA) replacement medication in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Patients with PG have increased impulsivity and abnormalities in striatal DA, in common with behavioural and substance addictions in the non-PD population. To date, no studies have investigated the role of extrastriatal dopaminergic abnormalities in PD patients with PG. We used the PET radiotracer, [11C] FLB-457, with high-affinity for extrastriatal DA D2/3 receptors. 14 PD patients on DA agonists were imaged while they performed a gambling task involving real monetary reward and a control task. Trait impulsivity was measured with the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS). Seven of the patients had a history of PG that developed subsequent to DA agonist medication. Change in [11C] FLB-457 binding potential (BP) during gambling was reduced in PD with PG patients in the midbrain, where D2/D3 receptors are dominated by autoreceptors. The degree of change in [11C] FLB-457 binding in this region correlated with impulsivity. In the cortex, [11C] FLB-457 BP was significantly greater in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in PD patients with PG during the control task, and binding in this region was also correlated with impulsivity. Our findings provide the first evidence that PD patients with PG have dysfunctional activation of DA autoreceptors in the midbrain and low DA tone in the ACC. Thus, altered striatal and cortical DA homeostasis may incur vulnerability for the development of PG in PD, linked with the impulsive personality trait. PMID:22766031

Disadvantageous Deck Selection in the Iowa Gambling Task: The Effect of Cognitive Load

PubMed Central

Hawthorne, Melissa J.; Pierce, Benton H.

2015-01-01

Research has shown that cognitive load affects overall Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance, but it is unknown whether such load impacts the selection of the individual decks that correspond to gains or losses. Here, participants performed the IGT either in a full attention condition or while engaged in a number monitoring task to divide attention. Results showed that the full attention group was more aware of the magnitude of gains or losses for each draw (i.e., payoff awareness) than was the divided attention group. However, the divided attention group was more sensitive to the frequency of the losses (i.e., frequency awareness), as evidenced by their increased preference for Deck B, which is the large but infrequent loss deck. An analysis across blocks showed that the number monitoring group was consistently more aware of loss frequency, whereas the full attention group shifted between awareness of loss frequency and awareness of payoff amount. Furthermore, the full attention group was better able to weigh loss frequency and payoff amount when making deck selections. These findings support the notion that diminished cognitive resources may result in greater selection of Deck B, otherwise known as the prominent Deck B phenomenon. PMID:27247661

Young Children's Affective Decision-Making in a Gambling Task: Does Difficulty in Learning the Gain/Loss Schedule Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gao, Shan; Wei, Yonggang; Bai, Junjie; Lin, Chongde; Li, Hong

2009-01-01

This research investigated the development of affective decision-making (ADM) during early childhood, in particular role of difficulty in learning a gain/loss schedule. In Experiment 1, we administrated the Children's Gambling Task (CGT) to 60 Chinese children aged 3 and 4, replicating the results obtained by Kerr and Zelazo [Kerr, A., & Zelazo,…

Comparison of Deck- and Trial-Based Approaches to Advantageous Decision Making on the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Visagan, Ravindran; Xiang, Ally; Lamar, Melissa

2012-01-01

We compared the original deck-based model of advantageous decision making assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) with a trial-based approach across behavioral and physiological outcomes in 33 younger adults (15 men, 18 women; 22.2 [plus or minus] 3.7 years of age). One administration of the IGT with simultaneous measurement of skin conductance…

Overnight Social Isolation in Pigs Decreases Salivary Cortisol but Does Not Impair Spatial Learning and Memory or Performance in a Decision-Making Task.

PubMed

van der Staay, F Josef; Schoonderwoerd, Annelieke J; Stadhouders, Bo; Nordquist, Rebecca E

2015-01-01

Pigs in modern farming practice may be exposed to a number of stressors, including social stressors such as mixing or isolation. This may potentially affect both cognitive abilities and stress physiology of the animals. We tested the hypothesis that overnight social isolation in pigs impairs performance in a cognitive holeboard (HB) task (Experiment 1) and the Pig Gambling Task (PGT) (Experiment 2), a decision-making task inspired by the Iowa Gambling Task. In addition, we tested the effect of overnight social isolation on salivary cortisol levels. A within-subjects approach was used in which performance in the two behavioral tasks and cortisol levels were first determined during normal social housing, followed by performance and cortisol levels after experiencing stress induced by overnight social isolation. A total of 19 female pigs with a birth weight closest to their respective litter average was selected from 10 different litters and placed in two pens after weaning. Following habituation, pigs were trained in the HB task, starting at 10 weeks of age. Then, the pigs were isolated overnight, five individuals per night, at 15, 16, and 17 weeks of age. Between these three isolations, social housing and training in the HB continued. Starting 6 weeks after the end of the HB experiment, at approximately 23 weeks of age, the pigs were trained in the PGT. The effects of overnight social isolation on performance in this task were assessed once, when the pigs were 25 weeks old. Salivary cortisol was measured from samples collected 15 min after the start of isolation and at the end of the isolation period and compared to baseline values collected before the start of social isolation. Our results did not confirm the hypothesis that isolation impaired HB performance and decision-making in the PGT. Unexpectedly, overnight social isolation decreased cortisol levels below baseline values, an effect that was not associated with changes in performance of the behavioral tasks. We hypothesized that the housing and testing conditions may have prepared the animals to cope efficiently with stress.

Overnight Social Isolation in Pigs Decreases Salivary Cortisol but Does Not Impair Spatial Learning and Memory or Performance in a Decision-Making Task

PubMed Central

van der Staay, F. Josef; Schoonderwoerd, Annelieke J.; Stadhouders, Bo; Nordquist, Rebecca E.

2016-01-01

Pigs in modern farming practice may be exposed to a number of stressors, including social stressors such as mixing or isolation. This may potentially affect both cognitive abilities and stress physiology of the animals. We tested the hypothesis that overnight social isolation in pigs impairs performance in a cognitive holeboard (HB) task (Experiment 1) and the Pig Gambling Task (PGT) (Experiment 2), a decision-making task inspired by the Iowa Gambling Task. In addition, we tested the effect of overnight social isolation on salivary cortisol levels. A within-subjects approach was used in which performance in the two behavioral tasks and cortisol levels were first determined during normal social housing, followed by performance and cortisol levels after experiencing stress induced by overnight social isolation. A total of 19 female pigs with a birth weight closest to their respective litter average was selected from 10 different litters and placed in two pens after weaning. Following habituation, pigs were trained in the HB task, starting at 10 weeks of age. Then, the pigs were isolated overnight, five individuals per night, at 15, 16, and 17 weeks of age. Between these three isolations, social housing and training in the HB continued. Starting 6 weeks after the end of the HB experiment, at approximately 23 weeks of age, the pigs were trained in the PGT. The effects of overnight social isolation on performance in this task were assessed once, when the pigs were 25 weeks old. Salivary cortisol was measured from samples collected 15 min after the start of isolation and at the end of the isolation period and compared to baseline values collected before the start of social isolation. Our results did not confirm the hypothesis that isolation impaired HB performance and decision-making in the PGT. Unexpectedly, overnight social isolation decreased cortisol levels below baseline values, an effect that was not associated with changes in performance of the behavioral tasks. We hypothesized that the housing and testing conditions may have prepared the animals to cope efficiently with stress. PMID:26793715

Amplified Striatal Responses to Near-Miss Outcomes in Pathological Gamblers

PubMed Central

Sescousse, Guillaume; Janssen, Lieneke K; Hashemi, Mahur M; Timmer, Monique H M; Geurts, Dirk E M; ter Huurne, Niels P; Clark, Luke; Cools, Roshan

2016-01-01

Near-misses in gambling games are losing events that come close to a win. Near-misses were previously shown to recruit reward-related brain regions including the ventral striatum, and to invigorate gambling behavior, supposedly by fostering an illusion of control. Given that pathological gamblers are particularly vulnerable to such cognitive illusions, their persistent gambling behavior might result from an amplified striatal sensitivity to near-misses. In addition, animal studies have shown that behavioral responses to near-miss-like events are sensitive to dopamine, but this dopaminergic influence has not been tested in humans. To investigate these hypotheses, we recruited 22 pathological gamblers and 22 healthy controls who played a slot machine task delivering wins, near-misses and full-misses, inside an fMRI scanner. Each participant played the task twice, once under placebo and once under a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist (sulpiride 400 mg), in a double-blind, counter-balanced design. Participants were asked about their motivation to continue gambling throughout the task. Across all participants, near-misses elicited higher motivation to continue gambling and increased striatal responses compared with full-misses. Crucially, pathological gamblers showed amplified striatal responses to near-misses compared with controls. These group differences were not observed following win outcomes. In contrast to our hypothesis, sulpiride did not induce any reliable modulation of brain responses to near-misses. Together, our results demonstrate that pathological gamblers have amplified brain responses to near-misses, which likely contribute to their persistent gambling behavior. However, there is no evidence that these responses are influenced by dopamine. These results have implications for treatment and gambling regulation. PMID:27006113

Impaired Decision-Making in Adolescent Suicide Attempters

PubMed Central

Bridge, Jeffrey A.; McBee-Strayer, Sandra M.; Cannon, Elizabeth A.; Sheftall, Arielle H.; Reynolds, Brady; Campo, John V.; Pajer, Kathleen A.; Barbe, Rémy P.; Brent, David A.

2012-01-01

Objective Decision-making deficits have been linked to suicidal behavior in adults. However, it remains unclear whether impaired decision-making plays a role in the etiopathogenesis of youth suicidal behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine decision-making processes in adolescent suicide attempters and never-suicidal comparison subjects. Method Using the Iowa Gambling Task, the authors examined decision-making in 40 adolescent suicide attempters, ages 13–18, and 40 never-suicidal, demographically-matched psychiatric comparison subjects. Results Overall, suicide attempters performed significantly worse on the Iowa Gambling Task than comparison subjects. This difference in overall task performance between the groups persisted in an exact conditional logistic regression analysis that controlled for affective disorder, current psychotropic medication use, impulsivity, and hostility (adjusted odds ratio=0.96, 95% confidence interval=0.90–0.99, p<.05). A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed a significant group-by-block interaction, demonstrating that attempters failed to learn during the task, picking approximately the same proportion of disadvantageous cards in the first and final blocks of the task. In contrast, comparison subjects picked proportionately fewer cards from the disadvantageous decks as the task progressed. Within the attempter group, overall task performance did not correlate with any characteristic of the index attempt or with the personality dimensions of impulsivity, hostility, and emotional lability. Conclusions Similar to findings in adults, impaired decision-making is associated with suicidal behavior in adolescents. Longitudinal studies are needed to elucidate the temporal relationship between decision-making processes and suicidal behavior and help frame potential targets for early identification and preventive interventions to reduce youth suicide and suicidal behavior. PMID:22449645

Cognitive flexibility correlates with gambling severity in young adults.

PubMed

Leppink, Eric W; Redden, Sarah A; Chamberlain, Samuel R; Grant, Jon E

2016-10-01

Although gambling disorder (GD) is often characterized as a problem of impulsivity, compulsivity has recently been proposed as a potentially important feature of addictive disorders. The present analysis assessed the neurocognitive and clinical relationship between compulsivity on gambling behavior. A sample of 552 non-treatment seeking gamblers age 18-29 was recruited from the community for a study on gambling in young adults. Gambling severity levels included both casual and disordered gamblers. All participants completed the Intra/Extra-Dimensional Set Shift (IED) task, from which the total adjusted errors were correlated with gambling severity measures, and linear regression modeling was used to assess three error measures from the task. The present analysis found significant positive correlations between problems with cognitive flexibility and gambling severity (reflected by the number of DSM-5 criteria, gambling frequency, amount of money lost in the past year, and gambling urge/behavior severity). IED errors also showed a positive correlation with self-reported compulsive behavior scores. A significant correlation was also found between IED errors and non-planning impulsivity from the BIS. Linear regression models based on total IED errors, extra-dimensional (ED) shift errors, or pre-ED shift errors indicated that these factors accounted for a significant portion of the variance noted in several variables. These findings suggest that cognitive flexibility may be an important consideration in the assessment of gamblers. Results from correlational and linear regression analyses support this possibility, but the exact contributions of both impulsivity and cognitive flexibility remain entangled. Future studies will ideally be able to assess the longitudinal relationships between gambling, compulsivity, and impulsivity, helping to clarify the relative contributions of both impulsive and compulsive features. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neurocognitive dysfunction in problem gamblers with co-occurring antisocial personality disorder.

PubMed

Blum, Austin W; Leppink, Eric W; Grant, Jon E

2017-07-01

Problem gamblers with symptoms of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) may represent a distinct problem gambling subtype, but the neurocognitive profile of individuals affected by both disorders is poorly characterized. Non-treatment-seeking young adults (18-29years) who gambled ≥5 times in the preceding year were recruited from the general community. Problem gamblers (defined as those meeting ≥1 DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for gambling disorder) with a lifetime history of ASPD (N=26) were identified using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and compared with controls (N=266) using questionnaire-based impulsivity scales and objective computerized neuropsychological tasks. Findings were uncorrected for multiple comparisons. Effect sizes were calculated using Cohen's d. Problem gambling with ASPD was associated with significantly elevated gambling disorder symptoms, lower quality of life, greater psychiatric comorbidity, higher impulsivity questionnaire scores on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (d=0.4) and Eysenck Impulsivity Questionnaire (d=0.5), and impaired cognitive flexibility (d=0.4), executive planning (d=0.4), and an aspect of decision-making (d=0.6). Performance on measures of response inhibition, risk adjustment, and quality of decision making did not differ significantly between groups. These preliminary findings, though in need of replication, support the characterization of problem gambling with ASPD as a subtype of problem gambling associated with higher rates of impulsivity and executive function deficits. Taken together, these results may have treatment implications. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Uncertainty exposure causes behavioural sensitization and increases risky decision-making in male rats: toward modelling gambling disorder.

PubMed

Zeeb, Fiona D; Li, Zhaoxia; Fisher, Daniel C; Zack, Martin H; Fletcher, Paul J

2017-11-01

An animal model of gambling disorder, previously known as pathological gambling, could advance our understanding of the disorder and help with treatment development. We hypothesized that repeated exposure to uncertainty during gambling induces behavioural and dopamine (DA) sensitization - similar to chronic exposure to drugs of abuse. Uncertainty exposure (UE) may also increase risky decision-making in an animal model of gambling disorder. Male Sprague Dawley rats received 56 UE sessions, during which animals responded for saccharin according to an unpredictable, variable ratio schedule of reinforcement (VR group). Control animals responded on a predictable, fixed ratio schedule (FR group). Rats yoked to receive unpredictable reward were also included (Y group). Animals were then tested on the Rat Gambling Task (rGT), an analogue of the Iowa Gambling Task, to measure decision-making. Compared with the FR group, the VR and Y groups experienced a greater locomotor response following administration of amphetamine. On the rGT, the FR and Y groups preferred the advantageous options over the risky, disadvantageous options throughout testing (40 sessions). However, rats in the VR group did not have a significant preference for the advantageous options during sessions 20-40. Amphetamine had a small, but significant, effect on decision-making only in the VR group. After rGT testing, only the VR group showed greater hyperactivity following administration of amphetamine compared with the FR group. Reward uncertainty was the only gambling feature modelled. Actively responding for uncertain reward likely sensitized the DA system and impaired the ability to make optimal decisions, modelling some aspects of gambling disorder.

Decision making measured by the Iowa Gambling Task in alcohol use disorder and gambling disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PubMed

Kovács, Ildikó; Richman, Mara J; Janka, Zoltán; Maraz, Aniko; Andó, Bálint

2017-12-01

Gambling disorder (GD) and alcohol use disorder (AD) have similar features, such as elevated impulsivity and decision-making deficits, which are directly linked to relapse and poor therapeutic outcomes. Our aim was to assess decision-making characteristics in GD and AD patients compared to healthy controls (HC) based on one of the most frequently used measures of decision-making: the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). In our systematic literature search of three databases, we identified 1198 empirical articles that mentioned decision-making deficits with the use of the IGT in patients diagnosed with either AD or GD. Possible effects were calculated using meta-analysis. In the end, 17 studies (including 1360 participants) were suitable for inclusion in the meta-analysis reporting data for 23 group contrasts. The random effects estimate indicated impaired IGT performance in both AD patients (N=500; d=-0.581, CI:-89.5<δ<-26.6%) and an even greater deficit in GD patients (N=292; d=-1.034, CI:-156.1<δ<50.7%) compared to HCs. Sampling variances were calculated for both AD (v 1 =0.0056) and GD groups (v 2 =0.0061), from which the z-score was calculated (z=-21.0785; p<0.05), which indicates a statistically significant difference between AD and GD groups. No significant moderating effects of age, gender or education were found. There is enough evidence to support that decision-making deficit associated with addictive disorders, and that the deficit is more expressed in gambling disorder than in alcohol use disorder. Impaired decision-making plays an important part in poor therapeutic outcomes, thus provides a promising opportunity for cognitive intervention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Translational Models of Gambling-Related Decision-Making.

PubMed

Winstanley, Catharine A; Clark, Luke

Gambling is a harmless, recreational pastime that is ubiquitous across cultures. However, for some, gambling becomes a maladaptive and compulsive, and this syndrome is conceptualized as a behavioural addiction. Laboratory models that capture the key cognitive processes involved in gambling behaviour, and that can be translated across species, have the potential to make an important contribution to both decision neuroscience and the study of addictive disorders. The Iowa gambling task has been widely used to assess human decision-making under uncertainty, and this paradigm can be successfully modelled in rodents. Similar neurobiological processes underpin choice behaviour in humans and rats, and thus, a preference for the disadvantageous "high-risk, high-reward" options may reflect meaningful vulnerability for mental health problems. However, the choice behaviour operationalized by these tasks does not necessarily approximate the vulnerability to gambling disorder (GD) per se. We consider a number of psychological challenges that apply to modelling gambling in a translational way, and evaluate the success of the existing models. Heterogeneity in the structure of gambling games, as well as in the motivations of individuals with GD, is highlighted. The potential issues with extrapolating too directly from established animal models of drug dependency are discussed, as are the inherent difficulties in validating animal models of GD in the absence of any approved treatments for GD. Further advances in modelling the cognitive biases endemic in human decision-making, which appear to be exacerbated in GD, may be a promising line of research.

Integrating frequency and magnitude information in decision-making in schizophrenia: An account of patient performance on the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Brown, Elliot C; Hack, Samantha M; Gold, James M; Carpenter, William T; Fischer, Bernard A; Prentice, Kristen P; Waltz, James A

2015-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara et al., 1994) has frequently been used to assess risky decision making in clinical populations, including patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Poor performance on the IGT is often attributed to reduced sensitivity to punishment, which contrasts with recent findings from reinforcement learning studies in schizophrenia. In order to investigate possible sources of IGT performance deficits in SZ patients, we combined data from the IGT from 59 SZ patients and 43 demographically-matched controls with data from the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) in the same participants. Our analyses sought to specifically uncover the role of punishment sensitivity and delineate the capacity to integrate frequency and magnitude information in decision-making under risk. Although SZ patients, on average, made more choices from disadvantageous decks than controls did on the IGT, they avoided decks with frequent punishments at a rate similar to controls. Patients also exhibited excessive loss-avoidance behavior on the BART. We argue that, rather than stemming from reduced sensitivity to negative consequences, performance deficits on the IGT in SZ patients are more likely the result of a reinforcement learning deficit, specifically involving the integration of frequencies and magnitudes of rewards and punishments in the trial-by-trial estimation of expected value. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrating frequency and magnitude information in decision-making in schizophrenia: An account of patient performance on the Iowa Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Brown, Elliot C.; Hack, Samantha M.; Gold, James M.; Carpenter, William T.; Fischer, Bernard A.; Prentice, Kristen P.; Waltz, James A.

2015-01-01

Background The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994) has frequently been used to assess risky decision making in clinical populations, including patients with schizophrenia (SZ). Poor performance on the IGT is often attributed to reduced sensitivity to punishment, which contrasts with recent findings from reinforcement learning studies in schizophrenia. Methods In order to investigate possible sources of IGT performance deficits in SZ patients, we combined data from the IGT from 59 SZ patients and 43 demographically-matched controls with data from the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) in the same participants. Our analyses sought to specifically uncover the role of punishment sensitivity and delineate the capacity to integrate frequency and magnitude information in decision-making under risk. Results Although SZ patients, on average, made more choices from disadvantageous decks than controls did on the IGT, they avoided decks with frequent punishments at a rate similar to controls. Patients also exhibited excessive loss-avoidance behavior on the BART. Conclusions We argue that, rather than stemming from reduced sensitivity to negative consequences, performance deficits on the IGT in SZ patients are more likely the result of a reinforcement learning deficit, specifically involving the integration of frequencies and magnitudes of rewards and punishments in the trial-by-trial estimation of expected value. PMID:25959618

Impact of ambiguity and risk on decision making in mild Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Sinz, H; Zamarian, L; Benke, T; Wenning, G K; Delazer, M

2008-01-01

Decisions under ambiguity and decisions under risk are crucial types of decision making in daily living at any age. This is the first study assessing these two types of decisions in patients with mild dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT) by means of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and a newly developed, Probability-Associated Gambling (PAG) task. While rules for gains and losses are implicit in the IGT, in the PAG task rules are explicit and winning probabilities, which change from trial to trial, can be estimated. Results of the IGT indicated that DAT patients made more disadvantageous decisions than healthy controls. Patients also shifted more frequently among decks, i.e. under ambiguity decisions were taken randomly and no advantageous strategy was established over time by DAT patients. Thus, not only actual choices but also development of advantageous strategies may be revealing about decision making in the IGT. Compared to controls, patients demonstrated less advantageous choices in the PAG task as well. They gambled more often in the low winning probabilities and less frequently in the high probabilities than healthy participants. Patients' performance on both tasks correlated with measures of executive functions. Findings of the present investigation are consistent with the early pathological cerebral changes and related (cognitive, emotional) deficits reported for DAT. As suggested by our study, decisions under ambiguity as well as decisions under risk are impaired in mild DAT. It may thus be expected that patients with mild DAT have difficulties in taking decisions in every-day life situations, both in cases of ambiguity (information on probability is missing or conflicting, and the expected utility of the different options is incalculable) and in cases of risk (outcomes can be predicted by well-defined or estimable probabilities).

Relationships between executive function, working memory, and decision-making on the Iowa Gambling Task: Evidence from ventromedial patients, dorsolateral patients, and normal subjects.

PubMed

Ouerchefani, Riadh; Ouerchefani, Naoufel; Allain, Philippe; Ben Rejeb, Mohamed Riadh; Le Gall, Didier

2018-04-17

The results of previous studies are inconsistent in regard to the relationship between the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), working-memory (WM), and executive tasks, and whether these cognitive processes could be considered as mechanisms underlying a decision-making deficit. Moreover, the relationship between the IGT and executive measures is examined based on a limited number of executive tasks, within different populations showing diffuse damage. In addition, there are fewer studies carried out within control participants, with those studies also being inconclusive. It is also suggested that the association of the IGT performance with executive tasks depends on whether the IGT was running under ambiguity or under risk. In this work, all of these issues are studied. Results showed that both patients with ventromedial (VMPFC, N = 10) and dorsolateral (DLPFC, N = 10) prefrontal cortex lesions are significantly impaired on almost all executive tasks, WM tasks, and the IGT. Furthermore, when the IGT is run under risk, there are significant correlations between executive measures and the IGT for the DLPFC patients and the control participants (N = 34) but not the VMPFC patients. No correlation was found between WM tasks and the IGT for both frontal subgroups and control participants. These findings suggested that the mechanisms underlying the IGT deficit differ according to the lesion locations. © 2018 The British Psychological Society.

Iowa Gambling Task Performance in Parkinson Disease Patients with Impulse Control Disorders.

PubMed

Biars, Julia W; Johnson, Nicole L; Nespeca, Michelle; Busch, Robyn M; Kubu, Cynthia S; Floden, Darlene P

2018-04-27

A subgroup of patients with Parkinson disease (PD) develops impulse control disorders (ICD) associated with their dopamine replacement therapy. Patients and their families may be reluctant to report ICD symptoms or unaware these symptoms are related to PD medication, which can make detecting an ICD difficult for clinicians. Ideally, a behavioral measure that is sensitive to ICD could be employed to ensure that patients with these behaviors are identified and treated. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a standardized decision-making task, has proven sensitive in other populations with impulse control problems. We hypothesized that the IGT would differentiate between PD patients with and without ICD. We compared IGT performance and disease variables in 24 PD patients with ICD and 24 PD patients without ICD. Patient groups were matched in terms of age, sex, and duration of PD. There were no significant differences in IGT scores between PD groups. IGT performance declined with increasing age, but the majority of patients performed within normal limits based on published age- and education-corrected normative data. The IGT did not distinguish between PD patients with and without ICD. Increasing age negatively impacted performance in both groups. Other studies have found that IGT performance may decline in normal aging. Our results suggest that the IGT lacks the sensitivity and specificity needed to differentiate between age-related deficits and disruption in frontal-subcortical circuits underlying ICD associated with PD medications. Therefore, the IGT is not an appropriate behavioral measure for ICD in PD patients.

An Initial Examination of Performance on Two Versions of the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Buelow, Melissa T; Barnhart, Wesley R

2018-06-01

To examine differences between two versions of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). A total of 282 undergraduate students completed one of two versions of the IGT: the original version from 1994 (n = 132), or the 2007 version available through Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR) (n = 150). PAR (2007 version) IGT participants decided more advantageously (i.e., selected more from the small immediate reward but long-term positive/gain decks than the large immediate reward but long-term negative/loss decks) than original IGT participants during Trials 21-60. This difference was likely due to fewer Deck B selections by the PAR IGT participants during the early (Trials 1-40) and later (Trials 41-100) trials. The PAR IGT may result in a greater ability to make future-oriented, advantageous decisions more quickly than on the original IGT. Implications for future assessment of decision-making impairments in clinical and research settings are discussed.

Oscillations in human orbitofrontal cortex during even chance gambling.

PubMed

Kahn, Kevin; Kerr, Matthew S D; Park, Hyun-Joo; Thompson, Susan; Bulacio, Juan; Gonzalez-Martinez, Jorge; Sarma, Sridevi V; Gale, John

2014-01-01

Evaluating value and risk as well as comparing expected and actual outcomes is the crux of decision making and reinforcement based learning. In this study, we record from stereotactic electroencephalograph depth electrodes in a human subject in numerous areas in the brain. We focus on the lateral and medial orbitofrontal cortex while they perform a gambling task involving betting on a high card. Preliminary time-frequency analysis shows modulations in the 5-15 Hz band that is well synced to the different events of the task. These oscillations increase in both high betting scenarios as well as in losing scenarios though their effects cannot be decoupled. However, the activity between lateral and medial orbitofrontal cortex is a lot more homogenous than previously seen. Additionally, the timing of some of these oscillations occurs before even a response in the visual cortex. This evidence hints that these areas encode priors that influence our decision in future statistically ambiguous scenarios.

Construct validity of the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Buelow, Melissa T; Suhr, Julie A

2009-03-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was created to assess real-world decision making in a laboratory setting and has been applied to various clinical populations (i.e., substance abuse, schizophrenia, pathological gamblers) outside those with orbitofrontal cortex damage, for whom it was originally developed. The current review provides a critical examination of lesion, functional neuroimaging, developmental, and clinical studies in order to examine the construct validity of the IGT. The preponderance of evidence provides support for the use of the IGT to detect decision making deficits in clinical populations, in the context of a more comprehensive evaluation. The review includes a discussion of three critical issues affecting the validity of the IGT, as it has recently become available as a clinical instrument: the lack of a concise definition as to what aspect of decision making the IGT measures, the lack of data regarding reliability of the IGT, and the influence of personality and state mood on IGT performance.

Gambling, Delay, and Probability Discounting in Adults With and Without ADHD.

PubMed

Dai, Zhijie; Harrow, Sarah-Eve; Song, Xianwen; Rucklidge, Julia J; Grace, Randolph C

2016-11-01

We investigated the relationship between impulsivity, as measured by delay and probability discounting, and gambling-related cognitions and behavior in adults with and without ADHD. Adults who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria for ADHD (n = 31) and controls (n = 29) were recruited from the community. All completed an interview that included an assessment of psychiatric disorders, gambling questionnaires, and simulated gambling, delay, and probability discounting tasks. The ADHD group was more likely to meet the criteria for problem gambling and was more impulsive than controls based on a composite discounting measure. ADHD symptoms were correlated with gambling-related cognitions and behavior. Probability, but not delay discounting, explained significant variance in gambling-related measures after controlling for ADHD symptoms. Results confirm an association between adult ADHD and gambling, and suggest that the facets of impulsivity related to risk proneness may be an independent risk factor for problem gambling in this population. © The Author(s) 2013.

The Janus-Faced Role of Gambling Flow in Addiction Issues.

PubMed

Trivedi, Rohit H; Teichert, Thorsten

2017-03-01

Flow experience has been widely investigated in experiential activities such as sports, the performing arts, gaming, and Internet usage. Most studies focus on the positive aspects of flow experience and its effect on performance. In stark contrast, gambling research focusing on the negative side of addiction lacks an in-depth investigation of gamblers' (positive) flow encounters. This separation of research lines seems out of place given that recent research indicates connections between flow and addiction. Joining both constructs in a causal-effects model helps one gain a better understanding of their relationship and its contingencies. This article empirically investigates whether and how it is possible to observe a "Janus face" of flow with its various sub-dimensions in online gambling. Empirical data were collected from 500 online gamblers by applying a structured questionnaire with established scales. The data were analyzed with a confirmatory factor analysis and a double-hurdle model to separate casual gamblers who are unsusceptible to any addiction issues from gamblers affected by initiatory addiction issues. The findings indicate that online gambling addiction is negatively influenced by two sub-dimensions of flow experience, namely a sense of control and concentration on the task at hand, whereas it is enhanced by a transformation of time and autotelic experience.

Viewing sexual images is associated with reduced physiological arousal response to gambling loss.

PubMed

Lui, Ming; Hsu, Ming

2018-01-01

Erotic imagery is one highly salient emotional signal that exists everywhere in daily life. The impact of sexual stimuli on human decision-making, however, has rarely been investigated. This study examines the impact of sexual stimuli on financial decision-making under risk. In each trial, either a sexual or neutral image was presented in a picture categorization task before a gambling task. Thirty-four men made gambling decisions while their physiological arousal, measured by skin conductance responses (SCRs), was recorded. Behaviorally, the proportion of gambling decisions did not differ between the sexual and neutral image trials. Physiologically, participants had smaller arousal differences, measured in micro-siemen per dollar, between losses and gains in the sexual rather than in the neutral image trials. Moreover, participants' SCRs to losses relative to gains predicted the proportion of gambling decisions in the neutral image trials but not in the sexual image trials. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that the presence of emotionally salient sexual images reduces attentional and arousal-related responses to gambling losses. Our results are consistent with the theory of loss attention involving increased cognitive investment in losses compared to gains. The findings also have potential practical implications for our understanding of the specific roles of sexual images in human financial decision making in everyday life, such as gambling behaviors in the casino.

Viewing sexual images is associated with reduced physiological arousal response to gambling loss

PubMed Central

Hsu, Ming

2018-01-01

Erotic imagery is one highly salient emotional signal that exists everywhere in daily life. The impact of sexual stimuli on human decision-making, however, has rarely been investigated. This study examines the impact of sexual stimuli on financial decision-making under risk. In each trial, either a sexual or neutral image was presented in a picture categorization task before a gambling task. Thirty-four men made gambling decisions while their physiological arousal, measured by skin conductance responses (SCRs), was recorded. Behaviorally, the proportion of gambling decisions did not differ between the sexual and neutral image trials. Physiologically, participants had smaller arousal differences, measured in micro-siemen per dollar, between losses and gains in the sexual rather than in the neutral image trials. Moreover, participants’ SCRs to losses relative to gains predicted the proportion of gambling decisions in the neutral image trials but not in the sexual image trials. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that the presence of emotionally salient sexual images reduces attentional and arousal-related responses to gambling losses. Our results are consistent with the theory of loss attention involving increased cognitive investment in losses compared to gains. The findings also have potential practical implications for our understanding of the specific roles of sexual images in human financial decision making in everyday life, such as gambling behaviors in the casino. PMID:29649287

Arousal and affective differences between student gamblers and non-gamblers during a card game.

PubMed

Pascual-Leone, Antonio; Campeau, Jennifer L; Harrington, Shawn J

2012-12-01

The current study examined the differences in arousal (physiologically and subjectively) between gamblers and non-gamblers. Thirty students from a mid-sized university took part in the study for a chance to win money in a gambling task. Nearly half of the participants identified themselves as non-gamblers and slightly more than half of the participants considered themselves gamblers. Findings indicated that gamblers experienced a significantly higher increase in physiological arousal (heart rate) compared to non-gamblers during the gambling experience. The results suggests the possibility that physiological arousal may play a role in the appeal of gambling to certain types of people. Furthermore, when gamblers suffered a loss at the end of the game, they reported feeling worse as compared to the non-gamblers and relative to their state before playing. Moreover, this affective change explained 28.6% of the variance in gambling behavior according to self-reports. Findings suggest that gamblers in our study may have been more personally invested in the gambling tasks, such that losing was more disappointing to the habitual gamblers than the non-gamblers.

Decision-making and cognitive abilities: A review of associations between Iowa Gambling Task performance, executive functions, and intelligence.

PubMed

Toplak, Maggie E; Sorge, Geoff B; Benoit, André; West, Richard F; Stanovich, Keith E

2010-07-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been used to study decision-making differences in many different clinical and developmental samples. It has been suggested that IGT performance captures abilities that are separable from cognitive abilities, including executive functions and intelligence. The purpose of the current review was to examine studies that have explicitly examined the relationship between IGT performance and these cognitive abilities. We included 43 studies that reported correlational analyses with IGT performance, including measures of inhibition, working memory, and set-shifting as indices of executive functions, as well as measures of verbal, nonverbal, and full-scale IQ as indices of intelligence. Overall, only a small proportion of the studies reported a statistically significant relationship between IGT performance and these cognitive abilities. The majority of studies reported a non-significant relationship. Of the minority of studies that reported statistically significant effects, effect sizes were, at best, small to modest, and confidence intervals were large, indicating that considerable variability in performance on the IGT is not captured by current measures of executive function and intelligence. These findings highlight the separability between decision-making on the IGT and cognitive abilities, which is consistent with recent conceptualizations that differentiate rationality from intelligence. 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in cocaine consumption are associated with fluctuations in self-reported impulsivity and gambling decision-making.

PubMed

Hulka, L M; Vonmoos, M; Preller, K H; Baumgartner, M R; Seifritz, E; Gamma, A; Quednow, B B

2015-10-01

In cross-sectional studies, cocaine users generally display elevated levels of self-reported and cognitive impulsivity. To what extent these impairments are stable v. variable markers of cocaine use disorder, and, thus, are pre-existing or drug-induced, has not yet been systematically investigated. We conducted a longitudinal study with cocaine users who changed or maintained their consumption intensity, measuring self-reported impulsivity with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and cognitive impulsivity with the Rapid Visual Processing task (RVP), Iowa Gambling task (IGT), and Delay Discounting task (DD) at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. We assessed 48 psychostimulant-naive controls and 19 cocaine users with decreased, 19 users with increased, and 19 users with unchanged cocaine intake after 1 year as confirmed by hair analysis. Results of linear multilevel modelling showed significant group × time interactions for the BIS-11 total score and the IGT total card ratio. Increasers showed a trend for elevated scores, whereas decreasers exhibited reduced self-reported impulsivity scores within 1 year. Surprisingly, increasers' IGT performance was improved after 1 year, whereas decreasers' performance deteriorated. By contrast, neither RVP response bias B" nor DD total score showed substantial group × time interactions. Importantly, BIS-11 and DD revealed strong test-retest reliabilities. Self-reported impulsivity (BIS-11) and decision-making impulsivity (IGT) covary with changing cocaine use, whereas response bias and delay discounting remain largely unaffected. Thus, self-reported impulsivity and gambling decision-making were strongly state-dependent in a stimulant-using population and may be suitable to monitor treatment success, whereas delay of gratification was confirmed as a potential endophenotype of stimulant addiction.

Pro Free Will Priming Enhances “Risk-Taking” Behavior in the Iowa Gambling Task, but Not in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task: Two Independent Priming Studies

PubMed Central

Schrag, Yann; Tremea, Alessandro; Lagger, Cyril; Ohana, Noé; Mohr, Christine

2016-01-01

Studies indicated that people behave less responsibly after exposure to information containing deterministic statements as compared to free will statements or neutral statements. Thus, deterministic primes should lead to enhanced risk-taking behavior. We tested this prediction in two studies with healthy participants. In experiment 1, we tested 144 students (24 men) in the laboratory using the Iowa Gambling Task. In experiment 2, we tested 274 participants (104 men) online using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. In the Iowa Gambling Task, the free will priming condition resulted in more risky decisions than both the deterministic and neutral priming conditions. We observed no priming effects on risk-taking behavior in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. To explain these unpredicted findings, we consider the somatic marker hypothesis, a gain frequency approach as well as attention to gains and / or inattention to losses. In addition, we highlight the necessity to consider both pro free will and deterministic priming conditions in future studies. Importantly, our and previous results indicate that the effects of pro free will and deterministic priming do not oppose each other on a frequently assumed continuum. PMID:27018854

Pro Free Will Priming Enhances "Risk-Taking" Behavior in the Iowa Gambling Task, but Not in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task: Two Independent Priming Studies.

PubMed

Schrag, Yann; Tremea, Alessandro; Lagger, Cyril; Ohana, Noé; Mohr, Christine

2016-01-01

Studies indicated that people behave less responsibly after exposure to information containing deterministic statements as compared to free will statements or neutral statements. Thus, deterministic primes should lead to enhanced risk-taking behavior. We tested this prediction in two studies with healthy participants. In experiment 1, we tested 144 students (24 men) in the laboratory using the Iowa Gambling Task. In experiment 2, we tested 274 participants (104 men) online using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. In the Iowa Gambling Task, the free will priming condition resulted in more risky decisions than both the deterministic and neutral priming conditions. We observed no priming effects on risk-taking behavior in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. To explain these unpredicted findings, we consider the somatic marker hypothesis, a gain frequency approach as well as attention to gains and / or inattention to losses. In addition, we highlight the necessity to consider both pro free will and deterministic priming conditions in future studies. Importantly, our and previous results indicate that the effects of pro free will and deterministic priming do not oppose each other on a frequently assumed continuum.

Decision Making in Children with ADHD Only, ADHD-Anxious/Depressed, and Control Children Using a Child Version of the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garon, Nancy; Moore, Chris; Waschbusch, Daniel A.

2006-01-01

Objective: The goal of this study is to investigate decision making in children with ADHD using a child version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The effect of internalizing symptoms is also of interest. Method: Twenty-one children with ADHD (high anxiety/depression and no anxiety/depression) are compared to an age- and sex-matched control group on…

Altered neural correlates of reward and loss processing during simulated slot-machine fMRI in pathological gambling and cocaine dependence☆

PubMed Central

Worhunsky, Patrick D.; Malison, Robert T.; Rogers, Robert D.; Potenza, Marc N.

2014-01-01

Background Individuals with gambling or substance-use disorders exhibit similar functional alterations in reward circuitry suggestive of a shared underlying vulnerability in addictive disorders. Additional research into common and unique alterations in reward-processing in substance-related and non-substance-related addictions may identify neural factors that could be targeted in treatment development for these disorders. Methods To investigate contextual reward-processing in pathological gambling, a slot-machine fMRI task was performed by three groups (with pathological gambling, cocaine dependence and neither disorder; N=24 each) to determine the extent to which two groups with addictions (non-substance-related and substance-related) showed similarities and differences with respect to each other and a non-addicted group during anticipatory periods and following the delivery of winning, losing and ‘near-miss’ outcomes. Results Individuals with pathological gambling or cocaine dependence compared to those with neither disorder exhibited exaggerated anticipatory activity in mesolimbic and ventrocortical regions, with pathological-gambling participants displaying greater positive possible-reward anticipation and cocaine-dependent participants displaying more negative certain-loss anticipation. Neither clinical sample exhibited medial frontal or striatal responses that were observed following near-miss outcomes in healthy comparison participants. Conclusions Alterations in anticipatory processing may be sensitive to the valence of rewards and content-disorder-specific. Common and unique findings in pathological gambling and cocaine dependence with respect to anticipatory reward and near-miss loss processing suggest shared and unique elements that might be targeted through behavioral or pharmacological interventions in the treatment of addictions. PMID:25448081

Humanizing machines: Anthropomorphization of slot machines increases gambling.

PubMed

Riva, Paolo; Sacchi, Simona; Brambilla, Marco

2015-12-01

Do people gamble more on slot machines if they think that they are playing against humanlike minds rather than mathematical algorithms? Research has shown that people have a strong cognitive tendency to imbue humanlike mental states to nonhuman entities (i.e., anthropomorphism). The present research tested whether anthropomorphizing slot machines would increase gambling. Four studies manipulated slot machine anthropomorphization and found that exposing people to an anthropomorphized description of a slot machine increased gambling behavior and reduced gambling outcomes. Such findings emerged using tasks that focused on gambling behavior (Studies 1 to 3) as well as in experimental paradigms that included gambling outcomes (Studies 2 to 4). We found that gambling outcomes decrease because participants primed with the anthropomorphic slot machine gambled more (Study 4). Furthermore, we found that high-arousal positive emotions (e.g., feeling excited) played a role in the effect of anthropomorphism on gambling behavior (Studies 3 and 4). Our research indicates that the psychological process of gambling-machine anthropomorphism can be advantageous for the gaming industry; however, this may come at great expense for gamblers' (and their families') economic resources and psychological well-being. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Preserved complex emotion-based learning in amnesia.

PubMed

Turnbull, Oliver H; Evans, Cathryn E Y

2006-01-01

An important role for emotion in decision-making has recently been highlighted by disruptions in problem solving abilities after lesion to the frontal lobes. Such complex decision-making skills appear to be based on a class of memory ability (emotion-based learning) that may be anatomically independent of hippocampally mediated episodic memory systems. There have long been reports of intact emotion-based learning in amnesia, arguably dating back to the classic report of Claparede. However, all such accounts relate to relatively simple patterns of emotional valence learning, rather than the more complex contingency patterns of emotional experience, which characterise everyday life. A patient, SL, who had a profound anterograde amnesia following posterior cerebral artery infarction, performed a measure of complex emotion-based learning (the Iowa Gambling Task) on three separate occasions. Despite his severe episodic memory impairment, he showed normal levels of performance on the Gambling Task, at levels comparable or better than controls-including learning that persisted across substantial periods of time (weeks). Thus, emotion-based learning systems appear able to encode, and sustain, more sophisticated patterns of valence learning than have previously been reported.

Cognitive task performance and frequency of alcohol usage in young adults.

PubMed

Harvanko, Arit M; Odlaug, Brian L; Schreiber, Liana R N; Grant, Jon E

2012-06-01

The goal of our study was to examine cognitive effects of alcohol in young adults at varied levels of alcohol usage using well-validated computerized cognitive measures. One hundred fifty-five young adults (mean age: 21.15 ± 3.092 years; 25.8% female), free from non-alcohol-related psychiatric diagnoses and drug use, underwent selected tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery in conjunction with the Barratt Impulsivity Scale, Eysenck Impulsivity Questionnaire, and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. Study participants were grouped according to alcohol frequency: nondrinkers, at-risk drinkers (subsyndromal alcohol usage), and alcohol use disorder. At-risk drinkers and individuals with alcohol use disorders bet significantly more overall on the Cambridge Gambling Task than nondrinkers. There were no significant differences noted between groups on the Spatial Working Memory task or Intra-dimensional/Extra-dimensional Set Shift task. Individuals with alcohol use disorders endorsed higher impulsivity than at-risk and nondrinkers on the Barratt Impulsivity Scale and Eysenck Impulsivity Questionnaire. Individuals with alcohol use disorders and at-risk drinkers also endorsed higher venturesomeness than nondrinkers on the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. Results from the Cambridge Gambling Task suggest that even at a subsyndromal level, young adults make risky decisions that mirror those seen in individuals with alcohol use disorders.

Neuropsychological predictors of clinical outcome in opiate addiction.

PubMed

Passetti, F; Clark, L; Mehta, M A; Joyce, E; King, M

2008-04-01

A growing literature supports a role for neurocognitive deficits such as impaired decision-making in the development and maintenance of addictive behaviour. On the basis of these findings, it has been suggested that measures of neurocognitive functioning may be applied to the task of predicting clinical outcome in drug addiction. This in turn may have relevance for differentiating treatment based on individual patient needs. To explore this hypothesis we obtained neurocognitive measures of planning, impulsivity and decision-making from 37 opiate dependent individuals within 6 weeks of starting a community drug treatment programme and we followed them up 3 months into the programme. Performance on two tests of decision-making, but not on tests of planning, motor inhibition, reflection impulsivity or delay discounting, was found to predict abstinence from illicit drugs at 3 months with high specificity and moderate sensitivity. In particular, two thirds of the participants performing normally on the Cambridge Gamble Task and the Iowa Gambling Task, but none of those impaired on both, were abstinent from illicit drugs at follow up. Other neuropsychological, psychiatric or psychosocial factors measured in this sample did not explain this finding. The results are discussed in terms of the brain circuitry involved and the potential implications for the planning of treatment services for opiate dependence.

Brain signatures of monetary loss and gain: outcome-related potentials in a single outcome gambling task

PubMed Central

Kamarajan, Chella; Porjesz, Bernice; Rangaswamy, Madhavi; Tang, Yongqiang; Chorlian, David B.; Padmanabhapillai, Ajayan; Saunders, Ramotse; Pandey, Ashwini K.; Roopesh, Bangalore N.; Manz, Niklas; Stimus, Arthur T.; Begleiter, Henri

2009-01-01

This study evaluates the event-related potential (ERP) components in a single outcome gambling task that involved monetary losses and gains. The participants were 50 healthy young volunteers (25 males and 25 females). The gambling task involved valence (loss and gain) and amount (50¢ and 10¢) as outcomes. The outcome-related negativity (ORN/N2) and outcome-related positivity (ORP/P3) were analyzed and compared across conditions and gender. Monetary gain (compared to loss) and higher amount (50¢ compared to 10¢) produced higher amplitudes and shorter latencies in both ORN and ORP components. Difference wave plots showed that earlier processing (200-400 ms) is dominated by the valence (loss/gain) while later processing (after 400 ms) is marked by the amount (50¢/10¢). Functional mapping using Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) indicated that the ORN separated the loss against gain in both genders, while the ORP activity distinguished the 50¢ against 10¢ in males. This study further strengthens the view that separate brain processes/circuitry may mediate loss and gain. Although there were no gender differences in behavioral and impulsivity scores, ORN and ORP measures for different task conditions had significant correlations with behavioral scores. This gambling paradigm may potentially offer valuable indicators to study outcome processing and impulsivity in normals as well as in clinical populations. PMID:18775749

The agranular and granular insula differentially contribute to gambling-like behavior on a rat slot machine task: effects of inactivation and local infusion of a dopamine D4 agonist on reward expectancy.

PubMed

Cocker, P J; Lin, M Y; Barrus, M M; Le Foll, B; Winstanley, C A

2016-09-01

Rats, like humans, are susceptible to the reinforcing effects of reward-related stimuli presented within a compound stimulus array, putatively analogous to the so-called near-miss effect. We have previously demonstrated using a rodent slot machine task (rSMT) that the reward expectancy these stimuli elicit is critically mediated by the dopamine D4 receptor. D4 receptors are principally located in prefrontal regions activated during slot machine play in humans, such as the insular cortex. The insula has recently attracted considerable interest as it appears to play a crucial role in substance and behavioral addictions. However, the insula is a heterogeneous area, and the relative contributions of subregions to addictive behaviors are unclear. Male Long Evans rats were trained to perform the rSMT, and then bilateral cannula targeting either the granular or agranular insula were implanted. The effects of inactivation and local administration of a D4 agonist were investigated. Temporary inactivation of the agranular, but not the granular insula impaired performance on the rSMT. In contrast, local infusion of the D4 agonist PD168077 into the agranular insula had no effect on task performance, but when administered into the granular insula, it improved animals' ability to differentiate winning from non-winning trials. The agranular insula may therefore modulate decision making when conflicting stimuli are present, potentially due to its role in generating a cohesive emotional percept based on both externally and internally generated signals, whereas the granular insular is not critical for this process. Nevertheless, D4 receptors within the granular insula may amplify the incentive salience of aversive environmental stimuli. These data provide insight into the neurobiological mechanism underpinning maladaptive reward expectancy during gambling and provide further evidence that D4 receptors represent a potential target for developing pharmacotherapies for problem gambling.

Role of Emotion and Cognition on Age Differences in the Framing Effect.

PubMed

Pu, Bingyan; Peng, Huamao; Xia, Shiyong

2017-09-01

Framing effect studies indicate that individuals are risk averse for decisions framed as gains but risk-seeking for decisions framed as losses. Findings of age-related differences in susceptibility to framing are mixed. In the current study, we examined emotional arousal in two decision tasks (life saving vs. money gambling) to evaluate the effects of emotion on age differences in the framing effect. When cognitive abilities and styles were controlled, there was a framing effect in the younger group in the life-saving task, a high-emotional arousal task, while older adults did not display this classic framing effect pattern. They showed risk aversion in both positive and negative framing. Age differences existed in the framing effect. Conversely, younger and older adults in the money-gambling task both displayed the framing effect; there was no age difference. When the cognitive abilities were not controlled, the pattern of results in the high-emotional arousal task remained unchanged, while greater framing effects were found, from the perspective of effect size, for older than younger adults in the low-emotional arousal task. Limited cognitive resources would not hamper older adults' performances when their emotional arousal was high. However, older adults with low-level emotional arousal were more susceptible than younger adults to framing because of declining cognitive capacities. This implied the importance of emotion in older adults' decision making and supported the selective engagement hypothesis.

Facial emotion recognition is inversely correlated with tremor severity in essential tremor.

PubMed

Auzou, Nicolas; Foubert-Samier, Alexandra; Dupouy, Sandrine; Meissner, Wassilios G

2014-04-01

We here assess limbic and orbitofrontal control in 20 patients with essential tremor (ET) and 18 age-matched healthy controls using the Ekman Facial Emotion Recognition Task and the IOWA Gambling Task. Our results show an inverse relation between facial emotion recognition and tremor severity. ET patients also showed worse performance in joy and fear recognition, as well as subtle abnormalities in risk detection, but these differences did not reach significance after correction for multiple testing.

Pause for thought: response perseveration and personality in gambling.

PubMed

Corr, Philip J; Thompson, Stephen J

2014-12-01

In a sample of normal volunteers, response perseveration (RP) on a computerised gambling task, the card perseveration task, was examined under two conditions: No pause (Standard task) and a 5-s pause (Pause task) following feedback from previous bet. Behavioural outcomes comprised number of cards played (and cash won/lost) and latency of response. Individual differences in these outcomes were conceptualised in terms of the reinforcement sensitivity theory of personality. Results showed that, on the Standard task only, sub-scales of the Carver and White (J Pers Social Psychol 67:319-333, 1994) Behavioural Approach System scale positively correlated with number of cards played and amount of money lost (indicative of impaired RP), but these associations were abolished with the imposition of a 5-s pause between feedback and the opportunity to make the next bet-this pause also had an overall main effect of improving RP and reducing losses. As related research shows that such a pause normalises the RP deficit seen in pathological gamblers, these findings hold potentially valuable implications for informing practice in the prevention and treatment of pathological gambling, and point to the role played by individual differences in approach motivation.

Cognitive distortions and gambling near-misses in Internet Gaming Disorder: A preliminary study

PubMed Central

Sescousse, Guillaume; Yu, Hongbo; Clark, Luke; Li, Hong

2018-01-01

Increased cognitive distortions (i.e. biased processing of chance, probability and skill) are a key psychopathological process in disordered gambling. The present study investigated state and trait aspects of cognitive distortions in 22 individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and 22 healthy controls. Participants completed the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale as a trait measure of cognitive distortions, and played a slot machine task delivering wins, near-misses and full-misses. Ratings of pleasure (“liking”) and motivation to play (“wanting”) were taken following the different outcomes, and gambling persistence was measured after a mandatory phase. IGD was associated with elevated trait cognitive distortions, in particular skill-oriented cognitions. On the slot machine task, the IGD group showed increased “wanting” ratings compared with control participants, while the two groups did not differ regarding their “liking” of the game. The IGD group displayed increased persistence on the slot machine task. Near-miss outcomes did not elicit stronger motivation to play compared to full-miss outcomes overall, and there was no group difference on this measure. However, a near-miss position effect was observed, such that near-misses stopping before the payline were rated as more motivating than near-misses that stopped after the payline, and this differentiation was attenuated in the IGD group, suggesting possible counterfactual thinking deficits in this group. These data provide preliminary evidence for increased incentive motivation and cognitive distortions in IGD, at least in the context of a chance-based gambling environment. PMID:29346434

Cognitive distortions and gambling near-misses in Internet Gaming Disorder: A preliminary study.

PubMed

Wu, Yin; Sescousse, Guillaume; Yu, Hongbo; Clark, Luke; Li, Hong

2018-01-01

Increased cognitive distortions (i.e. biased processing of chance, probability and skill) are a key psychopathological process in disordered gambling. The present study investigated state and trait aspects of cognitive distortions in 22 individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and 22 healthy controls. Participants completed the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale as a trait measure of cognitive distortions, and played a slot machine task delivering wins, near-misses and full-misses. Ratings of pleasure ("liking") and motivation to play ("wanting") were taken following the different outcomes, and gambling persistence was measured after a mandatory phase. IGD was associated with elevated trait cognitive distortions, in particular skill-oriented cognitions. On the slot machine task, the IGD group showed increased "wanting" ratings compared with control participants, while the two groups did not differ regarding their "liking" of the game. The IGD group displayed increased persistence on the slot machine task. Near-miss outcomes did not elicit stronger motivation to play compared to full-miss outcomes overall, and there was no group difference on this measure. However, a near-miss position effect was observed, such that near-misses stopping before the payline were rated as more motivating than near-misses that stopped after the payline, and this differentiation was attenuated in the IGD group, suggesting possible counterfactual thinking deficits in this group. These data provide preliminary evidence for increased incentive motivation and cognitive distortions in IGD, at least in the context of a chance-based gambling environment.

Effects of optimism on gambling in the rat slot machine task.

PubMed

Rafa, Dominik; Kregiel, Jakub; Popik, Piotr; Rygula, Rafal

2016-03-01

Although gambling disorder is a serious social problem in modern societies, information about the behavioral traits that could determine vulnerability to this psychopathology is still scarce. In this study, we used a recently developed ambiguous-cue interpretation ​(ACI)​ paradigm to investigate whether 'optimism' and 'pessimism' as behavioral traits may determine the gambling-like behavior of rodents. In a series of ACI tests (cognitive bias screening), we identified rats that displayed 'pessimistic' and 'optimistic' traits. Subsequently, using the rat slot machine task (rSMT), we investigated if the 'optimistic'/'pessimistic' traits could determine the crucial feature of gambling-like behavior that has been investigated in rats and humans: the ​interpretation of 'near-miss' outcomes as a positive (i.e., win) situation. We found that 'optimists' did not interpret 'near-miss', 'near loss', or 'clear win' as win trials more often than ​their 'pessimistic' ​conspecifics; however, the 'optimists' were statistically more likely to reach for a reward in the hopeless 'clear loss' situation. This agrees with human studies and provides a platform for modeling interactions between behavioral traits and gambling in animals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Executive function in middle childhood and the relationship with theory of mind.

PubMed

Wilson, Jennifer; Andrews, Glenda; Hogan, Christy; Wang, Si; Shum, David H K

2018-01-01

A group of 126 typically developing children (aged 5-12 years) completed three cool executive function tasks (spatial working memory, stop signal, intra-extra dimensional shift), two hot executive function tasks (gambling, delay of gratification), one advanced theory of mind task (strange stories with high versus low affective tone), and a vocabulary test. Older children performed better than younger children, consistent with the protracted development of hot and cool executive functions and theory of mind. Multiple regression analyses showed that hot and cool executive functions were correlated but they predicted theory of mind in different ways.

Bayesian techniques for analyzing group differences in the Iowa Gambling Task: A case study of intuitive and deliberate decision-makers.

PubMed

Steingroever, Helen; Pachur, Thorsten; Šmíra, Martin; Lee, Michael D

2018-06-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is one of the most popular experimental paradigms for comparing complex decision-making across groups. Most commonly, IGT behavior is analyzed using frequentist tests to compare performance across groups, and to compare inferred parameters of cognitive models developed for the IGT. Here, we present a Bayesian alternative based on Bayesian repeated-measures ANOVA for comparing performance, and a suite of three complementary model-based methods for assessing the cognitive processes underlying IGT performance. The three model-based methods involve Bayesian hierarchical parameter estimation, Bayes factor model comparison, and Bayesian latent-mixture modeling. We illustrate these Bayesian methods by applying them to test the extent to which differences in intuitive versus deliberate decision style are associated with differences in IGT performance. The results show that intuitive and deliberate decision-makers behave similarly on the IGT, and the modeling analyses consistently suggest that both groups of decision-makers rely on similar cognitive processes. Our results challenge the notion that individual differences in intuitive and deliberate decision styles have a broad impact on decision-making. They also highlight the advantages of Bayesian methods, especially their ability to quantify evidence in favor of the null hypothesis, and that they allow model-based analyses to incorporate hierarchical and latent-mixture structures.

Memantine shows promise in reducing gambling severity and cognitive inflexibility in pathological gambling: a pilot study

PubMed Central

Chamberlain, Samuel R.; Odlaug, Brian L.; Potenza, Marc N.; Kim, Suck Won

2012-01-01

Rationale Although pathological gambling (PG) is relatively common, pharmacotherapy research for PG is limited. Memantine, an N-methyl d-aspartate receptor antagonist, appears to reduce glutamate excitability and improve impulsive decision making, suggesting it may help individuals with PG. Objective This study sought to examine the safety and efficacy of Memantine in PG. Methods Twenty-nine subjects (18 females) with DSM-IV PG were enrolled in a 10-week open-label treatment study of memantine (dose ranging from 10 to 30 mg/day). Subjects were enrolled from January 2009 until April 2010. Change from baseline to study endpoint on the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Pathological Gambling (PG-YBOCS) was the primary outcome measure. Subjects underwent pre- and post-treatment cognitive assessments using the stop-signal task (assessing response impulsivity) and the intra-dimensional/extra-dimensional (ID/ED) set shift task (assessing cognitive flexibility). Results Twenty-eight of the 29 subjects (96.6%) completed the 10-week study. PG-YBOCS scores decreased from a mean of 21.8±4.3 at baseline to 8.9±7.1 at study endpoint (p<0.001). Hours spent gambling per week and money spent gambling both decreased significantly (p<0.001). Subjects also demonstrated a significant improvement in ID/ED total errors (p=0.037) at study endpoint. The mean effective dose of memantine was 23.4±8.1 mg/day. The medication was well-tolerated. Memantine treatment was associated with diminished gambling and improved cognitive flexibility. Conclusions These findings suggest that pharmacological manipulation of the glutamate system may target both gambling and cognitive deficits in PG. Placebo-controlled, double-blind studies are warranted in order to confirm these preliminary findings in a controlled design. PMID:20721537

Memantine shows promise in reducing gambling severity and cognitive inflexibility in pathological gambling: a pilot study.

PubMed

Grant, Jon E; Chamberlain, Samuel R; Odlaug, Brian L; Potenza, Marc N; Kim, Suck Won

2010-12-01

Although pathological gambling (PG) is relatively common, pharmacotherapy research for PG is limited. Memantine, an N-methyl D-aspartate receptor antagonist, appears to reduce glutamate excitability and improve impulsive decision making, suggesting it may help individuals with PG. This study sought to examine the safety and efficacy of Memantine in PG. Twenty-nine subjects (18 females) with DSM-IV PG were enrolled in a 10-week open-label treatment study of memantine (dose ranging from 10 to 30 mg/day). Subjects were enrolled from January 2009 until April 2010. Change from baseline to study endpoint on the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modified for Pathological Gambling (PG-YBOCS) was the primary outcome measure. Subjects underwent pre- and post-treatment cognitive assessments using the stop-signal task (assessing response impulsivity) and the intra-dimensional/extra-dimensional (ID/ED) set shift task (assessing cognitive flexibility). Twenty-eight of the 29 subjects (96.6%) completed the 10-week study. PG-YBOCS scores decreased from a mean of 21.8 ± 4.3 at baseline to 8.9 ± 7.1 at study endpoint (p < 0.001). Hours spent gambling per week and money spent gambling both decreased significantly (p < 0.001). Subjects also demonstrated a significant improvement in ID/ED total errors (p = 0.037) at study endpoint. The mean effective dose of memantine was 23.4 ± 8.1 mg/day. The medication was well-tolerated. Memantine treatment was associated with diminished gambling and improved cognitive flexibility. These findings suggest that pharmacological manipulation of the glutamate system may target both gambling and cognitive deficits in PG. Placebo-controlled, double-blind studies are warranted in order to confirm these preliminary findings in a controlled design.

Decision-making deficits in patients diagnosed with disordered gambling using the Cambridge Gambling task: the effects of substance use disorder comorbidity.

PubMed

Zois, Evangelos; Kortlang, Noreen; Vollstädt-Klein, Sabine; Lemenager, Tagrid; Beutel, Martin; Mann, Karl; Fauth-Bühler, Mira

2014-07-01

Disordered gambling (DG) has often been associated with impaired decision-making abilities, suggesting a dysfunction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). To our knowledge, no previous study has accurately considered the effect of substance use disorder (SUD) comorbidity (including nicotine dependence) on decision-making impairments in DG. We employed the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) to assess a big cohort of patients diagnosed with DG (N = 80) against matched healthy controls (HCs) (N = 108). The cohort included DG patients with nicotine and alcohol dependence, alcohol dependence only and 12 "pure" nonsmokers with only DG diagnosis. Pure nonsmoking, nicotine dependent as well as alcoholic DGs with current nicotine dependence, demonstrated a decision making profile, characterized by poor decision-making abilities and failure to make right choices (rational), closely resembling that of patients with vmPFC damage. This suggests that DGs with and without SUD comorbidity are equally affected in that domain of decision making abilities. Additionally, gambling diagnosis combined with alcohol and nicotine dependence involves a group of gambling patients with a relatively riskier decision making profile, showing that these patients apart from making irrational decisions take also more risks. Our findings highlight the importance of accounting for SUD comorbidities with useful implications for future research and therapy. Limitations of the current investigation are discussed.

Decision-making deficits in patients diagnosed with disordered gambling using the Cambridge Gambling task: the effects of substance use disorder comorbidity

PubMed Central

Zois, Evangelos; Kortlang, Noreen; Vollstädt-Klein, Sabine; Lemenager, Tagrid; Beutel, Martin; Mann, Karl; Fauth-Bühler, Mira

2014-01-01

Background Disordered gambling (DG) has often been associated with impaired decision-making abilities, suggesting a dysfunction in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Aims To our knowledge, no previous study has accurately considered the effect of substance use disorder (SUD) comorbidity (including nicotine dependence) on decision-making impairments in DG. Methods and Materials We employed the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) to assess a big cohort of patients diagnosed with DG (N = 80) against matched healthy controls (HCs) (N = 108). The cohort included DG patients with nicotine and alcohol dependence, alcohol dependence only and 12 “pure” nonsmokers with only DG diagnosis. Results Pure nonsmoking, nicotine dependent as well as alcoholic DGs with current nicotine dependence, demonstrated a decision making profile, characterized by poor decision-making abilities and failure to make right choices (rational), closely resembling that of patients with vmPFC damage. Discussion This suggests that DGs with and without SUD comorbidity are equally affected in that domain of decision making abilities. Additionally, gambling diagnosis combined with alcohol and nicotine dependence involves a group of gambling patients with a relatively riskier decision making profile, showing that these patients apart from making irrational decisions take also more risks. Our findings highlight the importance of accounting for SUD comorbidities with useful implications for future research and therapy. Limitations of the current investigation are discussed. PMID:25161815

Decision Making in Children and Adolescents: Impaired Iowa Gambling Task Performance in Early Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Dana G.; Xiao, Lin; Bechara, Antoine

2012-01-01

Disadvantageous decision making is cited as one of the premier problems in childhood development, underlying risky behavior and causing adolescents to make poor choices that could prove detrimental later in life. However, there are relatively few studies looking at the development of decision making in children and adolescents, and fewer still…

A critical review of sex differences in decision-making tasks: focus on the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

van den Bos, Ruud; Homberg, Judith; de Visser, Leonie

2013-02-01

It has been observed that men and women show performance differences in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a task of decision-making in which subjects through exploration learn to differentiate long-term advantageous from long-term disadvantageous decks of cards: men choose more cards from the long-term advantageous decks than women within the standard number of 100 trials. Here, we aim at discussing psychological mechanisms and neurobiological substrates underlying sex differences in IGT-like decision-making. Our review suggests that women focus on both win-loss frequencies and long-term pay-off of decks, while men focus on long-term pay-off. Furthermore, women may be more sensitive to occasional losses in the long-term advantageous decks than men. As a consequence hereof, women need 40-60 trials in addition before they reach the same level of performance as men. These performance differences are related to differences in activity in the orbitofrontal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as in serotonergic activity and left-right hemispheric activity. Sex differences in orbitofrontal cortex activity may be due to organisational effects of gonadal hormones early in life. The behavioural and neurobiological differences in the IGT between men and women are an expression of more general sex differences in the regulation of emotions. We discuss these findings in the context of sex differences in information processing related to evolutionary processes. Furthermore we discuss the relationship between these findings and real world decision-making. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Decision making in healthy participants on the Iowa Gambling Task: new insights from an operant approach.

PubMed

Bull, Peter N; Tippett, Lynette J; Addis, Donna Rose

2015-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has contributed greatly to the study of affective decision making. However, researchers have observed high inter-study and inter-individual variability in IGT performance in healthy participants, and many are classified as impaired using standard criteria. Additionally, while decision-making deficits are often attributed to atypical sensitivity to reward and/or punishment, the IGT lacks an integrated sensitivity measure. Adopting an operant perspective, two experiments were conducted to explore these issues. In Experiment 1, 50 healthy participants completed a 200-trial version of the IGT which otherwise closely emulated Bechara et al.'s (1999) original computer task. Group data for Trials 1-100 closely replicated Bechara et al.'s original findings of high net scores and preferences for advantageous decks, suggesting that implementations that depart significantly from Bechara's standard IGT contribute to inter-study variability. During Trials 101-200, mean net scores improved significantly and the percentage of participants meeting the "impaired" criterion was halved. An operant-style stability criterion applied to individual data revealed this was likely related to individual differences in learning rate. Experiment 2 used a novel operant card task-the Auckland Card Task (ACT)-to derive quantitative estimates of sensitivity using the generalized matching law. Relative to individuals who mastered the IGT, persistent poor performers on the IGT exhibited significantly lower sensitivity to magnitudes (but not frequencies) of rewards and punishers on the ACT. Overall, our findings demonstrate the utility of operant-style analysis of IGT data and the potential of applying operant concurrent-schedule procedures to the study of human decision making.

Differential performance on tasks of affective processing and decision-making in patients with Panic Disorder and Panic Disorder with comorbid Major Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Kaplan, Johanna S; Erickson, Kristine; Luckenbaugh, David A; Weiland-Fiedler, Petra; Geraci, Marilla; Sahakian, Barbara J; Charney, Dennis; Drevets, Wayne C; Neumeister, Alexander

2006-10-01

Neuropsychological studies have provided evidence for deficits in psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and mood disorders. However, neuropsychological function in Panic Disorder (PD) or PD with a comorbid diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has not been comprehensively studied. The present study investigated neuropsychological functioning in patients with PD and PD + MDD by focusing on tasks that assess attention, psychomotor speed, executive function, decision-making, and affective processing. Twenty-two unmedicated patients with PD, eleven of whom had a secondary diagnosis of MDD, were compared to twenty-two healthy controls, matched for gender, age, and intelligence on tasks of attention, memory, psychomotor speed, executive function, decision-making, and affective processing from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), Cambridge Gamble Task, and Affective Go/No-go Task. Relative to matched healthy controls, patients with PD + MDD displayed an attentional bias toward negatively-valenced verbal stimuli (Affective Go/No-go Task) and longer decision-making latencies (Cambridge Gamble Task). Furthermore, the PD + MDD group committed more errors on a task of memory and visual discrimination compared to their controls. In contrast, no group differences were found for PD patients relative to matched control subjects. The sample size was limited, however, all patients were drug-free at the time of testing. The PD + MDD patients demonstrated deficits on a task involving visual discrimination and working memory, and an attentional bias towards negatively-valenced stimuli. In addition, patients with comorbid depression provided qualitatively different responses in the areas of affective and decision-making processes.

Effect of Casino-Related Sound, Red Light and Pairs on Decision-Making During the Iowa Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Noël, Xavier; Bechara, Antoine; Vanavermaete, Nora; Verbanck, Paul; Kornreich, Charles

2014-01-01

Casino venues are often characterized by “warm” colors, reward-related sounds, and the presence of others. These factors have always been identified as a key factor in energizing gambling. However, few empirical studies have examined their impact on gambling behaviors. Here, we aimed to explore the impact of combined red light and casino-related sounds, with or without the presence of another participant, on gambling-related behaviors. Gambling behavior was estimated with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Eighty non-gamblers participants took part in one of four experimental conditions (20 participants in each condition); (1) IGT without casino-related sound and under normal (white) light (control), (2) IGT with combined casino-related sound and red light (casino alone), (3) IGT with combined casino-related sound, red light and in front of another participant (casino competition—implicit), and (4) IGT with combined casino-related sound, red light and against another participant (casino competition—explicit). Results showed that, in contrast to the control condition, participants in the three “casino” conditions did not exhibit slower deck selection reaction time after losses than after rewards. Moreover, participants in the two “competition” conditions displayed lowered deck selection reaction time after losses and rewards, as compared with the control and the “casino alone” conditions. These findings suggest that casino environment may diminish the time used for reflecting and thinking before acting after losses. These findings are discussed along with the methodological limitations, potential directions for future studies, as well as implications to enhance prevention strategies of abnormal gambling. PMID:24414096

Effect of casino-related sound, red light and pairs on decision-making during the Iowa gambling task.

PubMed

Brevers, Damien; Noël, Xavier; Bechara, Antoine; Vanavermaete, Nora; Verbanck, Paul; Kornreich, Charles

2015-06-01

Casino venues are often characterized by "warm" colors, reward-related sounds, and the presence of others. These factors have always been identified as a key factor in energizing gambling. However, few empirical studies have examined their impact on gambling behaviors. Here, we aimed to explore the impact of combined red light and casino-related sounds, with or without the presence of another participant, on gambling-related behaviors. Gambling behavior was estimated with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Eighty non-gamblers participants took part in one of four experimental conditions (20 participants in each condition); (1) IGT without casino-related sound and under normal (white) light (control), (2) IGT with combined casino-related sound and red light (casino alone), (3) IGT with combined casino-related sound, red light and in front of another participant (casino competition-implicit), and (4) IGT with combined casino-related sound, red light and against another participant (casino competition-explicit). Results showed that, in contrast to the control condition, participants in the three "casino" conditions did not exhibit slower deck selection reaction time after losses than after rewards. Moreover, participants in the two "competition" conditions displayed lowered deck selection reaction time after losses and rewards, as compared with the control and the "casino alone" conditions. These findings suggest that casino environment may diminish the time used for reflecting and thinking before acting after losses. These findings are discussed along with the methodological limitations, potential directions for future studies, as well as implications to enhance prevention strategies of abnormal gambling.

Neural representation of expected value in the adolescent brain.

PubMed

Barkley-Levenson, Emily; Galván, Adriana

2014-01-28

Previous work shows that the adolescent reward system is hyperactive, but this finding may be confounded by differences in how teens value money. To address this, we examined the neural ontogeny of objective value representation. Adolescent and adult participants performed a monetary gambling task in which they chose to accept or reject gambles of varying expected value. Increasing expected value had a stronger influence over gambling choices in adolescents relative to adults, an effect that was paralleled by greater activation in the ventral striatum in adolescents. This unique adolescent ventral striatum response remained even after matching groups on acceptance behavior. These behavioral and neural data suggest that the value of available options has a greater influence in adolescent versus adult choices, even when objective value and subjective choice are held constant. This research provides further evidence that hyperactivation of reward circuitry in adolescence may be a normative ontogenetic shift that is due to greater valuation in the adolescent brain.

Neural representation of expected value in the adolescent brain

PubMed Central

Barkley-Levenson, Emily; Galván, Adriana

2014-01-01

Previous work shows that the adolescent reward system is hyperactive, but this finding may be confounded by differences in how teens value money. To address this, we examined the neural ontogeny of objective value representation. Adolescent and adult participants performed a monetary gambling task in which they chose to accept or reject gambles of varying expected value. Increasing expected value had a stronger influence over gambling choices in adolescents relative to adults, an effect that was paralleled by greater activation in the ventral striatum in adolescents. This unique adolescent ventral striatum response remained even after matching groups on acceptance behavior. These behavioral and neural data suggest that the value of available options has a greater influence in adolescent versus adult choices, even when objective value and subjective choice are held constant. This research provides further evidence that hyperactivation of reward circuitry in adolescence may be a normative ontogenetic shift that is due to greater valuation in the adolescent brain. PMID:24474790

Luck, come here! Automatic approach tendencies toward gambling cues in moderate- to high-risk gamblers.

PubMed

Boffo, Marilisa; Smits, Ruby; Salmon, Joshua P; Cowie, Megan E; de Jong, David T H A; Salemink, Elske; Collins, Pam; Stewart, Sherry H; Wiers, Reinout W

2018-02-01

Similar to substance addictions, reward-related cognitive motivational processes, such as selective attention and positive memory biases, have been found in disordered gambling. Despite findings that individuals with substance use problems are biased to approach substance-related cues automatically, no study has yet focused on automatic approach tendencies for motivationally salient gambling cues in problem gamblers. We tested if moderate- to high-risk gamblers show a gambling approach bias and whether this bias was related prospectively to gambling behaviour and problems. Cross-sectional assessment study evaluating the concurrent and longitudinal correlates of gambling approach bias in moderate- to high-risk gamblers compared with non-problem gamblers. Online study throughout the Netherlands. Twenty-six non-treatment-seeking moderate- to high-risk gamblers and 26 non-problem gamblers community-recruited via the internet. Two online assessment sessions 6 months apart, including self-report measures of gambling problems and behaviour (frequency, duration and expenditure) and the gambling approach avoidance task, with stimuli tailored to individual gambling habits. Relative to non-problem gamblers, moderate- to high-risk gamblers revealed a stronger approach bias towards gambling-related stimuli than neutral stimuli (P = 0.03). Gambling approach bias was correlated positively with past-month gambling expenditure at baseline (P = 0.03) and with monthly frequency of gambling at follow-up (P = 0.02). In multiple hierarchical regressions, baseline gambling approach bias predicted monthly frequency positively (P = 0.03) and total duration of gambling episodes (P = 0.01) 6 months later, but not gambling problems or expenditure. In the Netherlands, relative to non-problem gamblers, moderate- to high-risk gamblers appear to have a stronger tendency to approach rather than to avoid gambling-related pictures compared with neutral ones. This gambling approach bias is associated concurrently with past-month gambling expenditure and duration of gambling and has been found to predict persistence in gambling behaviour over time. © 2017 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Decision-making patterns and sensitivity to reward and punishment in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Masunami, Taiji; Okazaki, Shinji; Maekawa, Hisao

2009-06-01

Earlier studies have demonstrated that attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with aberrant sensitivity to rewards and punishments. Although some studies have focused on real-life decision making in children with ADHD using the Iowa gambling task, the number of good deck choices, a frequently used index of decision-making ability in the gambling task, is insufficient for investigating the complex decision-making strategies in subjects. In the present study, we investigated decision-making strategies in ADHD children, analyzing T-patterns with rewards, with punishments, and without rewards and punishments during the gambling task, and examined the relationship between decision-making strategies and skin conductance responses (SCRs) to rewards and punishments. We hypothesized that ADHD children and normal children would employ different decision-making strategies depending on their sensitivity to rewards and punishments in the gambling task. Our results revealed that ADHD children had fewer T-patterns with punishments and exhibited a significant tendency to have many T-patterns with rewards, thus supporting our hypothesis. Moreover, in contrast to normal children, ADHD children failed to demonstrate differences between reward and punishment SCRs, supporting the idea that they had an aberrant sensitivity to rewards and punishments. Therefore, we concluded that ADHD children would be impaired in decision-making strategies depending on their aberrant sensitivity to rewards and punishments. However, we were unable to specify whether large reward SCRs or small punishment SCRs is generated in ADHD children.

Validation of the Short Gambling Harm Screen (SGHS): A Tool for Assessment of Harms from Gambling.

PubMed

Browne, Matthew; Goodwin, Belinda C; Rockloff, Matthew J

2018-06-01

It is common for jurisdictions tasked with minimising gambling-related harm to conduct problem gambling prevalence studies for the purpose of monitoring the impact of gambling on the community. However, given that both public health theory and empirical findings suggest that harms can occur without individuals satisfying clinical criteria of addiction, there is a recognized conceptual disconnect between the prevalence of clinical problem gamblers, and aggregate harm to the community. Starting with an initial item pool of 72 specific harms caused by problematic gambling, our aim was to develop a short gambling harms scale (SGHS) to screen for the presence and degree of harm caused by gambling. An Internet panel of 1524 individuals who had gambled in the last year completed a 72-item checklist, along with the Personal Wellbeing Index, the PGSI, and other measures. We selected 10 items for the SGHS, with the goals of maximising sensitivity and construct coverage. Psychometric analysis suggests very strong reliability, homogeneity and unidimensionality. Non-zero responses on the SGHS were associated with a large decrease in personal wellbeing, with wellbeing decreasing linearly with the number of harms indicated. We conclude that weighted SGHS scores can be aggregated at the population level to yield a sensitive and valid measure of gambling harm.

Pupil dilation signals uncertainty and surprise in a learning gambling task.

PubMed

Lavín, Claudio; San Martín, René; Rosales Jubal, Eduardo

2013-01-01

Pupil dilation under constant illumination is a physiological marker where modulation is related to several cognitive functions involved in daily decision making. There is evidence for a role of pupil dilation change during decision-making tasks associated with uncertainty, reward-prediction errors and surprise. However, while some work suggests that pupil dilation is mainly modulated by reward predictions, others point out that this marker is related to uncertainty signaling and surprise. Supporting the latter hypothesis, the neural substrate of this marker is related to noradrenaline (NA) activity which has been also related to uncertainty signaling. In this work we aimed to test whether pupil dilation is a marker for uncertainty and surprise in a learning task. We recorded pupil dilation responses in 10 participants performing the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a decision-making task that requires learning and constant monitoring of outcomes' feedback, which are important variables within the traditional study of human decision making. Results showed that pupil dilation changes were modulated by learned uncertainty and surprise regardless of feedback magnitudes. Interestingly, greater pupil dilation changes were found during positive feedback (PF) presentation when there was lower uncertainty about a future negative feedback (NF); and by surprise during NF presentation. These results support the hypothesis that pupil dilation is a marker of learned uncertainty, and may be used as a marker of NA activity facing unfamiliar situations in humans.

Pupil dilation signals uncertainty and surprise in a learning gambling task

PubMed Central

Lavín, Claudio; San Martín, René; Rosales Jubal, Eduardo

2014-01-01

Pupil dilation under constant illumination is a physiological marker where modulation is related to several cognitive functions involved in daily decision making. There is evidence for a role of pupil dilation change during decision-making tasks associated with uncertainty, reward-prediction errors and surprise. However, while some work suggests that pupil dilation is mainly modulated by reward predictions, others point out that this marker is related to uncertainty signaling and surprise. Supporting the latter hypothesis, the neural substrate of this marker is related to noradrenaline (NA) activity which has been also related to uncertainty signaling. In this work we aimed to test whether pupil dilation is a marker for uncertainty and surprise in a learning task. We recorded pupil dilation responses in 10 participants performing the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a decision-making task that requires learning and constant monitoring of outcomes’ feedback, which are important variables within the traditional study of human decision making. Results showed that pupil dilation changes were modulated by learned uncertainty and surprise regardless of feedback magnitudes. Interestingly, greater pupil dilation changes were found during positive feedback (PF) presentation when there was lower uncertainty about a future negative feedback (NF); and by surprise during NF presentation. These results support the hypothesis that pupil dilation is a marker of learned uncertainty, and may be used as a marker of NA activity facing unfamiliar situations in humans. PMID:24427126

Reasoning and mathematical skills contribute to normatively superior decision making under risk: evidence from the game of dice task.

PubMed

Pertl, Marie-Theres; Zamarian, Laura; Delazer, Margarete

2017-08-01

In this study, we assessed to what extent reasoning improves performance in decision making under risk in a laboratory gambling task (Game of Dice Task-Double, GDT-D). We also investigated to what degree individuals with above average mathematical competence decide better than those with average mathematical competence. Eighty-five participants performed the GDT-D and several numerical tasks. Forty-two individuals were asked to calculate the probabilities and the outcomes associated with the different options of the GDT-D before performing it. The other 43 individuals performed the GDT-D at the beginning of the test session. Both reasoning and mathematical competence had a positive effect on decision making. Different measures of mathematical competence correlated with advantageous performance in decision making. Results suggest that decision making under explicit risk conditions improves when individuals are encouraged to reflect about the contingencies of a decision situation. Interventions based on numerical reasoning may also be useful for patients with difficulties in decision making.

Suboptimal decision making by children with ADHD in the face of risk: Poor risk adjustment and delay aversion rather than general proneness to taking risks.

PubMed

Sørensen, Lin; Sonuga-Barke, Edmund; Eichele, Heike; van Wageningen, Heidi; Wollschlaeger, Daniel; Plessen, Kerstin Jessica

2017-02-01

Suboptimal decision making in the face of risk (DMR) in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be mediated by deficits in a number of different neuropsychological processes. We investigated DMR in children with ADHD using the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) to distinguish difficulties in adjusting to changing probabilities of choice outcomes (so-called risk adjustment) from general risk proneness, and to distinguish these 2 processes from delay aversion (the tendency to choose the least delayed option) and impairments in the ability to reflect on choice options. Based on previous research, we predicted that suboptimal performance on this task in children with ADHD would be primarily relate to problems with risk adjustment and delay aversion rather than general risk proneness. Drug naïve children with ADHD (n = 36), 8 to 12 years, and an age-matched group of typically developing children (n = 34) performed the CGT. As predicted, children with ADHD were not more prone to making risky choices (i.e., risk proneness). However, they had difficulty adjusting to changing risk levels and were more delay aversive-with these 2 effects being correlated. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that children with ADHD do not favor risk taking per se when performing gambling tasks, but rather may lack the cognitive skills or motivational style to appraise changing patterns of risk effectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Externalizing psychopathology and gain-loss feedback in a simulated gambling task: dissociable components of brain response revealed by time-frequency analysis.

PubMed

Bernat, Edward M; Nelson, Lindsay D; Steele, Vaughn R; Gehring, William J; Patrick, Christopher J

2011-05-01

Externalizing is a broad construct that reflects propensity toward a variety of impulse control problems, including antisocial personality disorder and substance use disorders. Two event-related potential responses known to be reduced among individuals high in externalizing proneness are the P300, which reflects postperceptual processing of a stimulus, and the error-related negativity (ERN), which indexes performance monitoring based on endogenous representations. In the current study, the authors used a simulated gambling task to examine the relation between externalizing proneness and the feedback-related negativity (FRN), a brain response that indexes performance monitoring related to exogenous cues, which is thought to be highly related to the ERN. Time-frequency (TF) analysis was used to disentangle the FRN from the accompanying P300 response to feedback cues by parsing the overall feedback-locked potential into distinctive theta (4-7 Hz) and delta (<3 Hz) TF components. Whereas delta-P300 amplitude was reduced among individuals high in externalizing proneness, theta-FRN response was unrelated to externalizing. These findings suggest that in contrast with previously reported deficits in endogenously based performance monitoring (as indexed by the ERN), individuals prone to externalizing problems show intact monitoring of exogenous cues (as indexed by the FRN). The results also contribute to a growing body of evidence indicating that the P300 is attenuated across a broad range of task conditions in high-externalizing individuals.

Utilizing time-frequency amplitude and phase synchrony measure to assess feedback processing in a gambling task.

PubMed

Watts, Adreanna T M; Tootell, Anne V; Fix, Spencer T; Aviyente, Selin; Bernat, Edward M

2018-04-29

The neurophysiological mechanisms involved in the evaluation of performance feedback have been widely studied in the ERP literature over the past twenty years, but understanding has been limited by the use of traditional time-domain amplitude analytic approaches. Gambling outcome valence has been identified as an important factor modulating event-related potential (ERP) components, most notably the feedback negativity (FN). Recent work employing time-frequency analysis has shown that processes indexed by the FN are confounded in the time-domain and can be better represented as separable feedback-related processes in the theta (3-7 Hz) and delta (0-3 Hz) frequency bands. In addition to time-frequency amplitude analysis, phase synchrony measures have begun to further our understanding of performance evaluation by revealing how feedback information is processed within and between various brain regions. The current study aimed to provide an integrative assessment of time-frequency amplitude, inter-trial phase synchrony, and inter-channel phase synchrony changes following monetary feedback in a gambling task. Results revealed that time-frequency amplitude activity explained separable loss and gain processes confounded in the time-domain. Furthermore, phase synchrony measures explained unique variance above and beyond amplitude measures and demonstrated enhanced functional integration between medial prefrontal and bilateral frontal, motor, and occipital regions for loss relative to gain feedback. These findings demonstrate the utility of assessing time-frequency amplitude, inter-trial phase synchrony, and inter-channel phase synchrony together to better elucidate the neurophysiology of feedback processing. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Dopamine Modulates Reward Expectancy During Performance of a Slot Machine Task in Rats: Evidence for a ‘Near-miss' Effect

PubMed Central

Winstanley, Catharine A; Cocker, Paul J; Rogers, Robert D

2011-01-01

Cognitive accounts of gambling suggest that the experience of almost winning—so-called ‘near-misses'—encourage continued play and accelerate the development of pathological gambling (PG) in vulnerable individuals. One explanation for this effect is that near-misses signal imminent winning outcomes and heighten reward expectancy, galvanizing further play. Determining the neurochemical processes underlying the drive to gamble could facilitate the development of more effective treatments for PG. With this aim in mind, we evaluated rats' performance on a novel model of slot machine play, a form of gambling in which near-miss events are particularly salient. Subjects responded to a series of three flashing lights, loosely analogous to the wheels of a slot machine, causing the lights to set to ‘on' or ‘off'. A winning outcome was signaled if all three lights were illuminated. At the end of each trial, rats chose between responding on the ‘collect' lever, resulting in reward on win trials, but a time penalty on loss trials, or starting a new trial. Rats showed a marked preference for the collect lever when both two and three lights were illuminated, indicating heightened reward expectancy following near-misses similar to wins. Erroneous collect responses were increased by amphetamine and the D2 receptor agonist quinpirole, but not by the D1 receptor agonist SKF 81297 or receptor subtype selective antagonists. These data suggest that dopamine modulates reward expectancy following the experience of almost winning during slot machine play, via activity at D2 receptors, and this may result in an enhancement of the near-miss effect and facilitate further gambling. PMID:21209612

Dopamine modulates reward expectancy during performance of a slot machine task in rats: evidence for a 'near-miss' effect.

PubMed

Winstanley, Catharine A; Cocker, Paul J; Rogers, Robert D

2011-04-01

Cognitive accounts of gambling suggest that the experience of almost winning-so-called 'near-misses'-encourage continued play and accelerate the development of pathological gambling (PG) in vulnerable individuals. One explanation for this effect is that near-misses signal imminent winning outcomes and heighten reward expectancy, galvanizing further play. Determining the neurochemical processes underlying the drive to gamble could facilitate the development of more effective treatments for PG. With this aim in mind, we evaluated rats' performance on a novel model of slot machine play, a form of gambling in which near-miss events are particularly salient. Subjects responded to a series of three flashing lights, loosely analogous to the wheels of a slot machine, causing the lights to set to 'on' or 'off'. A winning outcome was signaled if all three lights were illuminated. At the end of each trial, rats chose between responding on the 'collect' lever, resulting in reward on win trials, but a time penalty on loss trials, or starting a new trial. Rats showed a marked preference for the collect lever when both two and three lights were illuminated, indicating heightened reward expectancy following near-misses similar to wins. Erroneous collect responses were increased by amphetamine and the D(2) receptor agonist quinpirole, but not by the D(1) receptor agonist SKF 81297 or receptor subtype selective antagonists. These data suggest that dopamine modulates reward expectancy following the experience of almost winning during slot machine play, via activity at D(2) receptors, and this may result in an enhancement of the near-miss effect and facilitate further gambling.

Age Differences in Affective Decision Making as Indexed by Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cauffman, Elizabeth; Shulman, Elizabeth P.; Steinberg, Laurence; Claus, Eric; Banich, Marie T.; Graham, Sandra; Woolard, Jennifer

2010-01-01

Contemporary perspectives on age differences in risk taking, informed by advances in developmental neuroscience, have emphasized the need to examine the ways in which emotional and cognitive factors interact to influence decision making. In the present study, a diverse sample of 901 individuals between the ages of 10 and 30 were administered a…

Iowa Gambling Task Performance and Executive Function Predict Low-income Urban Preadolescents’ Risky Behaviors

PubMed Central

Ursache, Alexandra; Raver, C. Cybele

2015-01-01

This study examines preadolescents’ reports of risk-taking as predicted by two different, but related inhibitory control systems involving sensitivity to reward and loss on the one hand, and higher order processing in the context of cognitive conflict, known as executive functioning (EF), on the other. Importantly, this study examines these processes with a sample of inner-city, low-income preadolescents and as such examines the ways in which these processes may be related to risky behaviors as a function of children's levels of both concurrent and chronic exposure to household poverty. As part of a larger longitudinal study, 382 children (ages 9 -11) provided a self-report of risky behaviors and participated in the Iowa Gambling task, assessing bias for infrequent loss (preference for infrequent, high magnitude versus frequent, low magnitude loss) and the Hearts and Flowers task assessing executive functioning. Results demonstrated that a higher bias for infrequent loss was associated with higher risky behaviors for children who demonstrated lower EF. Furthermore, bias for infrequent loss was most strongly associated with higher risk-taking for children facing highest levels of poverty. Implications for early identification and prevention of risk-taking in inner-city preadolescents are discussed. PMID:26412918

Symbol labelling improves advantageous decision-making on the Iowa Gambling Task in people with intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Dymond, Simon; Bailey, Rebecca; Willner, Paul; Parry, Rhonwen

2010-01-01

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities often have difficulties foregoing short-term loss for long-term gain. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been extensively adopted as a laboratory measure of this ability. In the present study, we undertook the first investigation with people with intellectual disabilities using a two-choice child version of the IGT, with measures of intellectual and executive functioning. Compared to a group of matched controls, people with intellectual disabilities performed advantageously and showed high levels of subjective awareness about the relative goodness and badness of the decks. A symbol labelling intervention, in which participants were taught to label the good and bad decks at regular intervals significantly improved advantageous decision-making to levels approximating that of controls. Factor analysis of executive functioning scores identified working memory and mental flexibility (response initiation and set shifting), with a near-significant inverse correlation between the extent to which the intervention was required and mental flexibility. These findings show, for the first time, that people with intellectual disabilities are capable of performing advantageously on the IGT and add to the growing clinical literature on decision-making. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Post learning sleep improves cognitive-emotional decision-making: evidence for a 'deck B sleep effect' in the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Seeley, Corrine J; Beninger, Richard J; Smith, Carlyle T

2014-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is widely used to assess real life decision-making impairment in a wide variety of clinical populations. Our study evaluated how IGT learning occurs across two sessions, and whether a period of intervening sleep between sessions can enhance learning. Furthermore, we investigate whether pre-sleep learning is necessary for this improvement. A 200-trial version of the IGT was administered at two sessions separated by wake, sleep or sleep and wake (time-of-day control). Participants were categorized as learners and non-learners based on initial performance in session one. In session one, participants initially preferred the high-frequency reward decks B and D, however, a subset of learners decreased choice from negative expected value 'bad' deck B and increased choices towards with a positive expected value 'good' decks (decks C and D). The learners who had a period of sleep (sleep and sleep/wake control conditions) between sessions showed significantly larger reduction in choices from deck B and increase in choices from good decks compared to learners that had intervening wake. Our results are the first to show that post-learning sleep can improve performance on a complex decision-making task such as the IGT. These results provide new insights into IGT learning and have important implications for understanding the neural mechanisms of "sleeping on" a decision.

Longitudinal Links Between Gambling Participation and Academic Performance in Youth: A Test of Four Models.

PubMed

Vitaro, Frank; Brendgen, Mara; Girard, Alain; Dionne, Ginette; Boivin, Michel

2018-01-11

Gambling participation and low academic performance are related during adolescence, but the causal mechanisms underlying this link are unclear. It is possible that gambling participation impairs academic performance. Alternatively, the link between gambling participation and low academic performance could be explained by common underlying risk factors such as impulsivity and socio-family adversity. It could also be explained by other current correlated problem behaviors such as substance use. The goal of the present study was to examine whether concurrent and longitudinal links between gambling participation and low academic performance exist from age 14 to age 17 years, net of common antecedent factors and current substance use. A convenience sample of 766 adolescents (50.6% males) from a longitudinal twin sample participated in the study. Analyses revealed significant, albeit modest, concurrent links at both ages between gambling participation and academic performance. There was also a longitudinal link between gambling participation at age 14 and academic performance at age 17, which persisted after controlling for age 12 impulsivity and socio-family adversity as well as current substance use. Gambling participation predicts a decrease in academic performance during adolescence, net of concurrent and antecedent personal and familial risk factors.

Disappointment and regret enhance corrugator reactivity in a gambling task

PubMed Central

Wu, Yin; Clark, Luke

2015-01-01

This study investigated how the corrugator and zygomaticus respond to decision outcomes (i.e., gains and losses). We used a gambling task in which participants were presented with obtained followed by non-obtained outcomes. Activity at the corrugator site was sensitive to decision outcomes, such that higher obtained losses (disappointment) and higher non-obtained gains (regret) both heightened corrugator reactivity. Activity at the zygomaticus site was not responsive to obtained or non-obtained outcomes, but did show sensitivity to emotional images in the same participants, in the form of a positive linear relationship with self-reported emotional valence. Corrugator activity was negatively related to emotional valence. The findings indicate the sensitivity of corrugator to objective decision outcomes and also counterfactual comparisons, highlighting the utility of facial electromyography in research on decision making and gambling behavior. PMID:25345723

Framing Effects: Dynamics and Task Domains

PubMed

Wang

1996-11-01

The author examines the mechanisms and dynamics of framing effects in risky choices across three distinct task domains (i.e., life-death, public property, and personal money). The choice outcomes of the problems presented in each of the three task domains had a binary structure of a sure thing vs a gamble of equal expected value; the outcomes differed in their framing conditions and the expected values, raging from 6000, 600, 60, to 6, numerically. It was hypothesized that subjects would become more risk seeking, if the sure outcome was below their aspiration level (the minimum requirement). As predicted, more subjects preferred the gamble when facing the life-death choice problems than facing the counterpart problems presented in the other two task domains. Subjects' risk preference varied categorically along the group size dimension in the life-death domain but changed more linearly over the expected value dimension in the monetary domain. Framing effects were observed in 7 of 13 pairs of problems, showing a positive frame-risk aversion and negative frame-risk seeking relationship. In addition, two types of framing effects were theoretically defined and empirically identified. A bidirectional framing effect involves a reversal in risk preference, and occurs when a decision maker's risk preference is ambiguous or weak. Four bidirectional effects were observed; in each case a majority of subjects preferred the sure outcome under a positive frame but the gamble under a negative frame. In contrast, a unidirectional framing effect refers to a preference shift due to the framing of choice outcomes: A majority of subjects preferred one choice outcome (either the sure thing or the gamble) under both framing conditions, with positive frame augmented the preference for the sure thing and negative frame augmented the preference for the gamble. These findings revealed some dynamic regularities of framing effects and posed implications for developing predictive and testable models of human decision making.

Preference Reversals in Decision Making Under Risk are Accompanied by Changes in Attention to Different Attributes.

PubMed

Kim, Betty E; Seligman, Darryl; Kable, Joseph W

2012-01-01

Recent work has shown that visual fixations reflect and influence trial-to-trial variability in people's preferences between goods. Here we extend this principle to attribute weights during decision making under risk. We measured eye movements while people chose between two risky gambles or bid on a single gamble. Consistent with previous work, we found that people exhibited systematic preference reversals between choices and bids. For two gambles matched in expected value, people systematically chose the higher probability option but provided a higher bid for the option that offered the greater amount to win. This effect was accompanied by a shift in fixations of the two attributes, with people fixating on probabilities more during choices and on amounts more during bids. Our results suggest that the construction of value during decision making under risk depends on task context partly because the task differentially directs attention at probabilities vs. amounts. Since recent work demonstrates that neural correlates of value vary with visual fixations, our results also suggest testable hypotheses regarding how task context modulates the neural computation of value to generate preference reversals.

Pathological gamblers are more vulnerable to the illusion of control in a standard associative learning task

PubMed Central

Orgaz, Cristina; Estévez, Ana; Matute, Helena

2013-01-01

An illusion of control is said to occur when a person believes that he or she controls an outcome that is uncontrollable. Pathological gambling has often been related to an illusion of control, but the assessment of the illusion has generally used introspective methods in domain-specific (i.e., gambling) situations. The illusion of control of pathological gamblers, however, could be a more general problem, affecting other aspects of their daily life. Thus, we tested them using a standard associative learning task which is known to produce illusions of control in most people under certain conditions. The results showed that the illusion was significantly stronger in pathological gamblers than in a control undiagnosed sample. This suggests (1) that the experimental tasks used in basic associative learning research could be used to detect illusions of control in gamblers in a more indirect way, as compared to introspective and domain-specific questionnaires; and (2), that in addition to gambling-specific problems, pathological gamblers may have a higher-than-normal illusion of control in their daily life. PMID:23785340

Decision Preceding Negativity in the Iowa Gambling Task: An ERP study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bianchin, Marta; Angrilli, Alessandro

2011-01-01

The present study aimed to investigate the slow negative potential (termed Decision Preceding Negativity, DPN, from the family of the Readiness Potential) which precedes a willed risky decision. To this end, evoked potentials preceding and following an economic choice were measured in a sample of 16 male students during the Iowa Gambling Task…

Decision-Making in Healthy Children, Adolescents and Adults Explained by the Use of Increasingly Complex Proportional Reasoning Rules

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huizenga, Hilde M.; Crone, Eveline A.; Jansen, Brenda J.

2007-01-01

In the standard Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), participants have to choose repeatedly from four options. Each option is characterized by a constant gain, and by the frequency and amount of a probabilistic loss. Crone and van der Molen (2004) reported that school-aged children and even adolescents show marked deficits in IGT performance. In this study,…

Predictors of Decision-Making on the Iowa Gambling Task: Independent Effects of Lifetime History of Substance Use Disorders and Performance on the Trail Making Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barry, D.; Petry, N. M.

2008-01-01

Poor decision-making and executive function deficits are frequently observed in individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), and executive deficits may contribute to poor decision-making in this population. This study examined the influence of lifetime history of an alcohol, cocaine, heroin, or polysubstance use disorder on decision-making as…

Decision making, cognitive distortions and emotional distress: A comparison between pathological gamblers and healthy controls.

PubMed

Ciccarelli, Maria; Griffiths, Mark D; Nigro, Giovanna; Cosenza, Marina

2017-03-01

The etiology of problem gambling is multifaceted and complex. Among others factors, poor decision making, cognitive distortions (i.e., irrational beliefs about gambling), and emotional factors (e.g., negative mood states) appear to be among the most important factors in the development and maintenance of problem gambling. Although empirical evidence has suggested that cognitive distortions facilitate gambling and negative emotions are associated with gambling, the interplay between cognitive distortions, emotional states, and decision making in gambling remains unexplored. Pathological gamblers (N = 54) and healthy controls (N = 54) completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Compared to healthy controls, pathological gamblers showed poorer decision making and reported higher scores on measures assessing cognitive distortions and emotional distress. All measures were positively associated with gambling severity. A significant negative correlation between decision making and cognitive distortions was also observed. No associations were found between poor decision making and emotional distress. Logistic regression analysis indicated that cognitive distortions, emotional distress, and poor decision making were significant predictors of problem gambling. The use of self-report measures and the absence of female participants limit the generalizability of the reported findings. The present study is the first to demonstrate the mutual influence between irrational beliefs and poor decision making, as well as the role of cognitive bias, emotional distress, and poor decision making in gambling disorder. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disappointment and regret enhance corrugator reactivity in a gambling task.

PubMed

Wu, Yin; Clark, Luke

2015-04-01

This study investigated how the corrugator and zygomaticus respond to decision outcomes (i.e., gains and losses). We used a gambling task in which participants were presented with obtained followed by non-obtained outcomes. Activity at the corrugator site was sensitive to decision outcomes, such that higher obtained losses (disappointment) and higher non-obtained gains (regret) both heightened corrugator reactivity. Activity at the zygomaticus site was not responsive to obtained or non-obtained outcomes, but did show sensitivity to emotional images in the same participants, in the form of a positive linear relationship with self-reported emotional valence. Corrugator activity was negatively related to emotional valence. The findings indicate the sensitivity of corrugator to objective decision outcomes and also counterfactual comparisons, highlighting the utility of facial electromyography in research on decision making and gambling behavior. © 2014 The Authors. Psychophysiology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Inactivation of the prelimbic or infralimbic cortex impairs decision-making in the rat gambling task.

PubMed

Zeeb, Fiona D; Baarendse, P J J; Vanderschuren, L J M J; Winstanley, Catharine A

2015-12-01

Studies employing the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) demonstrated that areas of the frontal cortex, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), are involved in the decision-making process. However, the precise role of these regions in maintaining optimal choice is not clear. We used the rat gambling task (rGT), a rodent analogue of the IGT, to determine whether inactivation of or altered dopamine signalling within discrete cortical sub-regions disrupts decision-making. Following training on the rGT, animals were implanted with guide cannulae aimed at the prelimbic (PrL) or infralimbic (IL) cortices, the OFC, or the ACC. Prior to testing, rats received an infusion of saline or a combination of baclofen and muscimol (0.125 μg of each/side) to inactivate the region and an infusion of a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist (0, 0.1, 0.3, and 1.0 μg/side). Rats tended to increase their choice of a disadvantageous option and decrease their choice of the optimal option following inactivation of either the IL or PrL cortex. In contrast, OFC or ACC inactivation did not affect decision-making. Infusion of a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist into any sub-region did not alter choice preference. Online activity of the IL or PrL cortex is important for maintaining an optimal decision-making strategy, but optimal performance on the rGT does not require frontal cortex dopamine D2 receptor activation. Additionally, these results demonstrate that the roles of different cortical regions in cost-benefit decision-making may be dissociated using the rGT.

Obesity and gambling: neurocognitive and clinical associations.

PubMed

Grant, J E; Derbyshire, K; Leppink, E; Chamberlain, S R

2015-05-01

Research on health correlates in gamblers has found an association between gambling and obesity. The neurocognitive underpinnings of impulsivity may be useful targets for understanding and ultimately treating individuals with both gambling and obesity problems. 207 non-treatment seeking young adults (18-29 years) with subsyndromal gambling disorder were recruited from the community. Subjects were grouped according to weight ('normal weight' BMI<25, 'overweight' BMI≥25; or 'obese' BMI≥30). Measures relating to gambling behaviour and objective computerized neurocognitive measures were collected. Of the 207 subjects, 22 (10.6%) were obese and 49 (23.7%) were overweight. The obese gamblers consumed more nicotine (packs per day equivalent) and reported losing more money per week to gambling. Obese gamblers exhibited significant impairments in terms of reaction times for go trials on the stop-signal test (SST), quality of decision making and risk adjustment on the Cambridge Gamble Test (CGT), and sustained attention on the rapid visual information processing task (RVP). Obesity was associated with decision making and sustained attention impairments in gamblers, along with greater monetary loss due to gambling. Future work should use longitudinal designs to examine the temporal relationship between these deficits, weight, other impulsive behaviour, and functional impairment. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Regret causes ego-depletion and finding benefits in the regrettable events alleviates ego-depletion.

PubMed

Gao, Hongmei; Zhang, Yan; Wang, Fang; Xu, Yan; Hong, Ying-Yi; Jiang, Jiang

2014-01-01

This study tested the hypotheses that experiencing regret would result in ego-depletion, while finding benefits (i.e., "silver linings") in the regret-eliciting events counteracted the ego-depletion effect. Using a modified gambling paradigm (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) and a retrospective method (Experiments 3 and 5), five experiments were conducted to induce regret. Results revealed that experiencing regret undermined performance on subsequent tasks, including a paper-and-pencil calculation task (Experiment 1), a Stroop task (Experiment 2), and a mental arithmetic task (Experiment 3). Furthermore, finding benefits in the regret-eliciting events improved subsequent performance (Experiments 4 and 5), and this improvement was mediated by participants' perceived vitality (Experiment 4). This study extended the depletion model of self-regulation by considering emotions with self-conscious components (in our case, regret). Moreover, it provided a comprehensive understanding of how people felt and performed after experiencing regret and after finding benefits in the events that caused the regret.

The anterior insula bidirectionally modulates cost-benefit decision-making on a rodent gambling task.

PubMed

Daniel, M L; Cocker, P J; Lacoste, J; Mar, A C; Houeto, J L; Belin-Rauscent, A; Belin, D

2017-11-01

Deficits in cost-benefit decision-making, as assessed in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), are commonly observed in neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction. There is considerable variation in the maximization of rewards on such tasks, both in the general population and in rodent models, suggesting individual differences in decision-making may represent a key endophenotype for vulnerability to neuropsychiatric disorders. Increasing evidence suggests that the insular cortex, which is involved in interoception and emotional processes in humans, may be a key neural locus in the control of decision-making processes. However, the extent to which the insula contributes to individual differences in cost-benefit decision-making remains unknown. Using male Sprague Dawley rats, we first assessed individual differences in the performance over the course of a single session on a rodent analogue of the IGT (rGT). Rats were matched for their ability to maximize reward and received bilateral excitotoxic or sham lesions of the anterior insula cortex (AIC). Animals were subsequently challenged on a second rGT session with altered contingencies. Finally, animals were also assessed for instrumental conditioning and reversal learning. AIC lesions produced bidirectional alterations on rGT performance; rats that had performed optimally prior to surgery subsequently showed impairments, and animals that had performed poorly showed improvements in comparison with sham-operated controls. These bidirectional effects were not attributable to alterations in behavioural flexibility or in motivation. These data suggest that the recruitment of the AIC during decision-making may be state-dependent and help guide response selection towards subjectively favourable options. © 2017 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A preliminary, qualitative exploration of the influences associated with drop-out from cognitive-behavioural therapy for problem gambling: an Australian perspective.

PubMed

Dunn, Kirsten; Delfabbro, Paul; Harvey, Peter

2012-06-01

It has been estimated that 80% of Australians engage in some form of gambling, with approximately 115,000 Australians experiencing severe problems (Productivity Commission 2010). Very few people with problem gambling seek help and, of those who do, large numbers drop-out of therapy before completing their program. To gain insights into these problems, participants who had either completed or withdrawn prematurely from an individual CBT-based problem gambling treatment program were interviewed to examine factors predictive of premature withdrawal from therapy as well as people's 'readiness' for change. The results indicated that there might be some early indicators of risk for early withdrawal. These included: gambling for pleasure or social interaction; non-compliance with homework tasks; gambling as a strategy to avoid personal issues or dysphoric mood; high levels of guilt and shame; and a lack of readiness for change. The study further showed that application of the term 'drop-out' to some clients may be an unnecessarily negative label in that a number appear to have been able to reduce their gambling urges even after a short exposure to therapy.

Functional disconnection of the orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala impairs acquisition of a rat gambling task and disrupts animals' ability to alter decision-making behavior after reinforcer devaluation.

PubMed

Zeeb, Fiona D; Winstanley, Catharine A

2013-04-10

An inability to adjust choice preferences in response to changes in reward value may underlie key symptoms of many psychiatric disorders, including chemical and behavioral addictions. We developed the rat gambling task (rGT) to investigate the neurobiology underlying complex decision-making processes. As in the Iowa Gambling task, the optimal strategy is to avoid choosing larger, riskier rewards and to instead favor options associated with smaller rewards but less loss and, ultimately, greater long-term gain. Given the demonstrated importance of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) in acquisition of the rGT and Iowa Gambling task, we used a contralateral disconnection lesion procedure to assess whether functional connectivity between these regions is necessary for optimal decision-making. Disrupting the OFC-BLA pathway retarded acquisition of the rGT. Devaluing the reinforcer by inducing sensory-specific satiety altered decision-making in control groups. In contrast, disconnected rats did not update their choice preference following reward devaluation, either when the devalued reward was still delivered or when animals needed to rely on stored representations of reward value (i.e., during extinction). However, all rats exhibited decreased premature responding and slower response latencies after satiety manipulations. Hence, disconnecting the OFC and BLA did not affect general behavioral changes caused by reduced motivation, but instead prevented alterations in the value of a specific reward from contributing appropriately to cost-benefit decision-making. These results highlight the role of the OFC-BLA pathway in the decision-making process and suggest that communication between these areas is vital for the appropriate assessment of reward value to influence choice.

Event-Related Potentials during a Gambling Task in Young Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

PubMed Central

Mesrobian, Sarah K.; Villa, Alessandro E. P.; Bader, Michel; Götte, Lorenz; Lintas, Alessandra

2018-01-01

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by deficits in executive functions and decision making during childhood and adolescence. Contradictory results exist whether altered event-related potentials (ERPs) in adults are associated with the tendency of ADHD patients toward risky behavior. Clinically diagnosed ADHD patients (n = 18) and healthy controls (n = 18), aged between 18 and 29 (median 22 Yo), were screened with the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales and assessed by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, and by the 60-item HEXACO Personality Inventory. The characteristic personality traits of ADHD patients were the high level of impulsiveness associated with lower values of agreeableness. All participants performed a probability gambling task (PGT) with two frequencies of the feedback information of the outcome. For each trial, ERPs were triggered by the self-paced trial onset and by the gamble selection. After trial onset, N2-P3a ERP component associated with the attentional load peaked earlier in the ADHD group than in controls. An N500 component related to the feedback frequency condition after trial onset and an N400-like component after gamble selection suggest a large affective stake of the decision making and an emphasized post-decisional evaluation of the choice made by the ADHD participants. By combining ERPs, related to the emotions associated with the feedback frequency condition, and behavioral analyses during completion of PGT, this study provides new findings on the neural dynamics that differentiate controls and young ADHD adults. In the patients' group, we raise the hypothesis that the activity of frontocentral and centroparietal neural circuits drive the decision-making processes dictated by an impaired cognitive workload followed by the build-up of large emotional feelings generated by the conflict toward the outcome of the gambling choice. Our results can be used for new investigations aimed at studying the fine spatiotemporal distribution of cortical activity, and the neural circuits that underly the generation of that activity, associated with the behavioral deficits characteristic of ADHD. PMID:29535621

Event-Related Potentials during a Gambling Task in Young Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

PubMed

Mesrobian, Sarah K; Villa, Alessandro E P; Bader, Michel; Götte, Lorenz; Lintas, Alessandra

2018-01-01

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by deficits in executive functions and decision making during childhood and adolescence. Contradictory results exist whether altered event-related potentials (ERPs) in adults are associated with the tendency of ADHD patients toward risky behavior. Clinically diagnosed ADHD patients ( n = 18) and healthy controls ( n = 18), aged between 18 and 29 (median 22 Yo), were screened with the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales and assessed by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, and by the 60-item HEXACO Personality Inventory. The characteristic personality traits of ADHD patients were the high level of impulsiveness associated with lower values of agreeableness. All participants performed a probability gambling task (PGT) with two frequencies of the feedback information of the outcome. For each trial, ERPs were triggered by the self-paced trial onset and by the gamble selection. After trial onset, N2-P3a ERP component associated with the attentional load peaked earlier in the ADHD group than in controls. An N500 component related to the feedback frequency condition after trial onset and an N400-like component after gamble selection suggest a large affective stake of the decision making and an emphasized post-decisional evaluation of the choice made by the ADHD participants. By combining ERPs, related to the emotions associated with the feedback frequency condition, and behavioral analyses during completion of PGT, this study provides new findings on the neural dynamics that differentiate controls and young ADHD adults. In the patients' group, we raise the hypothesis that the activity of frontocentral and centroparietal neural circuits drive the decision-making processes dictated by an impaired cognitive workload followed by the build-up of large emotional feelings generated by the conflict toward the outcome of the gambling choice. Our results can be used for new investigations aimed at studying the fine spatiotemporal distribution of cortical activity, and the neural circuits that underly the generation of that activity, associated with the behavioral deficits characteristic of ADHD.

Executive functions and risky decision-making in patients with opiate dependence.

PubMed

Brand, Matthias; Roth-Bauer, Martina; Driessen, Martin; Markowitsch, Hans J

2008-09-01

Recent evidence suggests that individuals with opiate dependence may have cognitive dysfunctions particularly within the spectrum of executive functioning and emotional processing. Such dysfunctions can also compromise daily decisions associated with risk-taking behaviors. However, it remains unclear whether patients addicted to opiates show impaired decision-making on gambling tasks that specify explicit rules for rewards and punishments and provide information about probabilities associated with different long-term outcomes. In this study, we examined 18 individuals with opiate dependence and 18 healthy comparison subjects, matched for age, gender, and education with the Game of Dice Task (GDT). The GDT is a gambling task with explicit rules for gains and losses and fix winning probabilities. In addition, all subjects completed a neuropsychological test battery that primarily focused on executive functions and a personality questionnaire. On the GDT, patients chose the risky alternatives more frequently than the control group. Patients' GDT performance was related to executive functioning but not to other neuropsychological constructs, personality or dependence specific variables with one exception that is the number of days of abstinence. Thus, patients with opiate dependence demonstrate abnormalities in decision-making that might be neuropsychologically associated with dysfunctional behavior in patients' daily lives. Decision-making and other neuropsychological functioning should be considered in the treatment of opiate dependence.

Indian Defense Procurements: Advantage Russia or USA?

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-17

reaching economic reforms to make India attractive to foreign investments ; ushering globalization.20 The gamble worked , and the Indian economy boomed...5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) Air War College,,Air University,,Maxwell AFB,,AL 8... paper argues that India has diversified its defense procurement policy in keeping abreast with the global realities; it’s standing in the world order

Alexithymia predicts loss chasing for people at risk for problem gambling.

PubMed

Bibby, Peter A; Ross, Katherine E

2017-12-01

Background and aims The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between alexithymia and loss-chasing behavior in people at risk and not at risk for problem gambling. Methods An opportunity sample of 58 (50 males and 8 females) participants completed the Problem Gambling Severity Index and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). They then completed the Cambridge Gambling Task from which a measure of loss-chasing behavior was derived. Results Alexithymia and problem gambling risk were significantly positively correlated. Subgroups of non-alexithymic and at or near caseness for alexithymia by low risk and at risk for problem gambling were identified. The results show a clear difference for loss-chasing behavior for the two alexithymia conditions, but there was no evidence that low and at-risk problem gamblers were more likely to loss chase. The emotion-processing components of the TAS-20 were shown to correlate with loss chasing. Discussion and conclusion These findings suggest that loss-chasing behavior may be particularly prevalent in a subgroup of problem gamblers those who are high in alexithymia.

A neurocognitive comparison of cognitive flexibility and response inhibition in gamblers with varying degrees of clinical severity.

PubMed

Odlaug, B L; Chamberlain, S R; Kim, S W; Schreiber, L R N; Grant, J E

2011-10-01

As a behavioral addiction with clinical and phenomenological similarities to substance addiction, recreational and pathological gambling represent models for studying the neurobiology of addiction, without the confounding deleterious brain effects which may occur from chronic substance abuse. A community sample of individuals aged 18-65 years who gamble was solicited through newspaper advertising. Subjects were grouped a priori into three groups (no-risk, at-risk, and pathological gamblers) based on a diagnostic interview. All subjects underwent a psychiatric clinical interview and neurocognitive tests assessing motor impulsivity and cognitive flexibility. Subjects with a current axis I disorder, history of brain injury/trauma, or implementation or dose changes of psychoactive medication within 6 weeks of study enrollment were excluded. A total of 135 no-risk, 69 at-risk and 46 pathological gambling subjects were assessed. Pathological gamblers were significantly older, and exhibited significant deficiencies in motor impulse control (stop-signal reaction times), response speed (median 'go' trial response latency) and cognitive flexibility [total intra-dimensional/extra-dimensional (IDED) errors] versus controls. The finding of impaired impulse control and cognitive flexibility was robust in an age-matched subgroup analysis of pathological gamblers. The no-risk and at-risk gambling groups did not significantly differ from each other on task performance. Impaired response inhibition and cognitive flexibility exist in people with pathological gambling compared with no-risk and at-risk gamblers. The early identification of such illness in adolescence or young adulthood may aid in the prevention of addiction onset of such disabling disorders.

Affective decision-making and externalizing behaviors: the role of autonomic activity.

PubMed

Bubier, Jennifer L; Drabick, Deborah A G

2008-08-01

We tested a conceptual model involving the inter-relations among affective decision-making (indexed by a gambling task), autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms in a largely impoverished, inner city sample of first through third grade children (N=63, 54% male). The present study hypothesized that impaired affective decision-making and decreased sympathetic and parasympathetic activation would be associated with higher levels of ADHD and ODD symptoms, and that low sympathetic and parasympathetic activation during an emotion-inducing task would mediate the relation between affective decision-making and child externalizing symptoms. In support of our model, disadvantageous decision-making on a gambling task was associated with ADHD hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms among boys, and attenuated sympathetic activation during an emotion-inducing task mediated this relation. Support for the model was not found among girls.

Parkinson's Disease and Dopaminergic Therapy--Differential Effects on Movement, Reward and Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rowe, J. B.; Hughes, L.; Ghosh, B. C. P.; Eckstein, D.; Williams-Gray, C. H.; Fallon, S.; Barker, R. A.; Owen, A. M.

2008-01-01

Cognitive deficits are very common in Parkinson's disease particularly for "executive functions" associated with frontal cortico-striatal networks. Previous work has identified deficits in tasks that require attentional control like task-switching, and reward-based tasks like gambling or reversal learning. However, there is a complex…

Healthy co-twins of patients with affective disorders show reduced risk-related activation of the insula during a monetary gambling task.

PubMed

Macoveanu, Julian; Miskowiak, Kamilla; Kessing, Lars V; Vinberg, Maj; Siebner, Hartwig R

2016-01-01

Healthy first-degree relatives of patients with affective disorders are at increased risk for affective disorders and express discrete structural and functional abnormalities in the brain reward system. However, value-based decision making is not well understood in these at-risk individuals. We investigated healthy monozygotic and dizygotic twins with or without a co-twin history of affective disorders (high-risk and low-risk groups, respectively) using functional MRI during a gambling task. We assessed group differences in activity related to gambling risk over the entire brain. We included 30 monozygotic and 37 dizygotic twins in our analysis. Neural activity in the anterior insula and ventral striatum increased linearly with the amount of gambling risk in the entire cohort. Individual neuroticism scores were positively correlated with the neural response in the ventral striatum to increasing gambling risk and negatively correlated with individual risk-taking behaviour. Compared with low-risk twins, the high-risk twins showed a bilateral reduction of risk-related activity in the middle insula extending into the temporal cortex with increasing gambling risk. Post hoc analyses revealed that this effect was strongest in dizygotic twins. The relatively old average age of the mono- and dizygotic twin cohort (49.2 yr) may indicate an increased resilience to affective disorders. The size of the monozygotic high-risk group was relatively small (n = 13). The reduced processing of risk magnitude in the middle insula may indicate a deficient integration of exteroceptive information related to risk-related cues with interoceptive states in individuals at familial risk for affective disorders. Impaired risk processing might contribute to increased vulnerability to affective disorders.

Reward-based Decision Making and Electrodermal Responding by Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders During a Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Faja, Susan; Murias, Michael; Beauchaine, Theodore P.; Dawson, Geraldine

2014-01-01

In this study, we explore reward-based decision making and electrodermal responding (EDR) among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during a children’s gambling task. In addition, we examine whether individual behavioral and EDR responses predict social communication, repetitive symptoms, parent reports of executive function, and behavioral challenges. The ability to form advantageous strategies for long-term gain is of interest for children with ASDs, who exhibit both difficulty with executive function and atypical responses to reward. Twenty-one children ages 6–7 years with ASD and no intellectual disability and 21 age- and IQ-matched typically developing children participated. Both groups exhibited a similar pattern of gambling selections, but children with ASD showed less knowledge of the reward contingencies of the decks after playing. In addition, although EDR was similar between groups in anticipation of selections, children with ASD exhibited greater EDR during feedback about rewards as the task progressed. Children with ASD who exhibited the greatest increases in EDR were more likely to exhibit repetitive symptoms, particularly rituals and the need for sameness, as well as internalizing behaviors and reduced executive function in other settings. PMID:23893954

Iowa gambling task performance in euthymic bipolar I disorder: A meta-analysis and empirical study

PubMed Central

Edge, Michael D.; Johnson, Sheri L.; Ng, Tommy; Carver, Charles S.

2013-01-01

Background The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been recommended as an index of reward sensitivity, which is elevated in bipolar disorder. We conducted a meta-analysis of IGT performance in euthymic bipolar I disorder compared with control participants. Findings indicated that people with bipolar disorder make more risky choices than control participants, though the effect is small (g=0.35). It is not clear which of the many processes involved in IGT performance are involved in producing the observed group difference. Methods Fifty-five euthymic people with bipolar disorder and 39 control participants completed the IGT. The Expectancy Valence Model was used to examine differences in IGT. We also examined whether variation in IGT performance within the bipolar group was related to current mood, illness course, impulsivity, or demographics. Results Bipolar and control groups did not differ on the total number of risky choices, rate of learning, or any of the parameters of the Expectancy Valence Model. IGT performance in bipolar disorder was not related to any of the examined individual differences. Limitations It is possible that there are group differences that are too small to detect at our sample size or that are not amenable to study via the Expectancy Valence Model. Conclusions We were unable to identify group differences on the IGT or correlates of IGT performance within bipolar disorder. Though the IGT may serve as a useful model for decision-making, its structure may make it unsuitable for behavioral assessment of reward sensitivity independent of punishment sensitivity. PMID:23219060

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Risk and Ambiguity Attitudes.

PubMed

Blankenstein, Neeltje E; Peper, Jiska S; Crone, Eveline A; van Duijvenvoorde, Anna C K

2017-11-01

Individual differences in attitudes to risk (a taste for risk, known probabilities) and ambiguity (a tolerance for uncertainty, unknown probabilities) differentially influence risky decision-making. However, it is not well understood whether risk and ambiguity are coded differently within individuals. Here, we tested whether individual differences in risk and ambiguity attitudes were reflected in distinct neural correlates during choice and outcome processing of risky and ambiguous gambles. To these ends, we developed a neuroimaging task in which participants ( n = 50) chose between a sure gain and a gamble, which was either risky or ambiguous, and presented decision outcomes (gains, no gains). From a separate task in which the amount, probability, and ambiguity level were varied, we estimated individuals' risk and ambiguity attitudes. Although there was pronounced neural overlap between risky and ambiguous gambling in a network typically related to decision-making under uncertainty, relatively more risk-seeking attitudes were associated with increased activation in valuation regions of the brain (medial and lateral OFC), whereas relatively more ambiguity-seeking attitudes were related to temporal cortex activation. In addition, although striatum activation was observed during reward processing irrespective of a prior risky or ambiguous gamble, reward processing after an ambiguous gamble resulted in enhanced dorsomedial PFC activation, possibly functioning as a general signal of uncertainty coding. These findings suggest that different neural mechanisms reflect individual differences in risk and ambiguity attitudes and that risk and ambiguity may impact overt risk-taking behavior in different ways.

Decision making in healthy participants on the Iowa Gambling Task: new insights from an operant approach

PubMed Central

Bull, Peter N.; Tippett, Lynette J.; Addis, Donna Rose

2015-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has contributed greatly to the study of affective decision making. However, researchers have observed high inter-study and inter-individual variability in IGT performance in healthy participants, and many are classified as impaired using standard criteria. Additionally, while decision-making deficits are often attributed to atypical sensitivity to reward and/or punishment, the IGT lacks an integrated sensitivity measure. Adopting an operant perspective, two experiments were conducted to explore these issues. In Experiment 1, 50 healthy participants completed a 200-trial version of the IGT which otherwise closely emulated Bechara et al.'s (1999) original computer task. Group data for Trials 1–100 closely replicated Bechara et al.'s original findings of high net scores and preferences for advantageous decks, suggesting that implementations that depart significantly from Bechara's standard IGT contribute to inter-study variability. During Trials 101–200, mean net scores improved significantly and the percentage of participants meeting the “impaired” criterion was halved. An operant-style stability criterion applied to individual data revealed this was likely related to individual differences in learning rate. Experiment 2 used a novel operant card task—the Auckland Card Task (ACT)—to derive quantitative estimates of sensitivity using the generalized matching law. Relative to individuals who mastered the IGT, persistent poor performers on the IGT exhibited significantly lower sensitivity to magnitudes (but not frequencies) of rewards and punishers on the ACT. Overall, our findings demonstrate the utility of operant-style analysis of IGT data and the potential of applying operant concurrent-schedule procedures to the study of human decision making. PMID:25904884

Health/functioning characteristics, gambling behaviors and gambling-related motivations in adolescents stratified by gambling problem severity: Findings from a high-school survey

PubMed Central

Yip, Sarah W.; Desai, Rani A.; Steinberg, Marvin A.; Rugle, Loreen; Cavallo, Dana A.; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Potenza, Marc N.

2013-01-01

In adults, different levels of gambling problem severity are differentially associated with measures of health and general functioning, gambling behaviors and gambling-related motivations. Here we present data from a survey of 2,484 Connecticut high school students, and investigate the data stratifying by gambling problem severity based on DSM-IV criteria for pathological gambling. Problem/pathological gambling was associated with a range of negative functions; e.g., poor academic performance, substance use, dysphoria/depression, and aggression. These findings suggest a need for improved interventions related to adolescent gambling and a need for additional research into the relationship (e.g., mediating factors) between gambling and risk and protective behaviors. PMID:21999494

Identification of canonical neural events during continuous gameplay of an 8-bit style video game.

PubMed

Cavanagh, James F; Castellanos, Joel

2016-06-01

Cognitive neuroscience suffers from a unique and pervasive problem of generalizability. Since neural findings are often interpreted in the context of a specific manipulation during a carefully controlled task, it is hard to transfer knowledge from one task to another. In this report we address problems of generalizability with two methodological advancements. First, we aimed to transcend status quo experimental procedures with a continuous, engaging task environment. To this end, we created a novel 8-bit style continuous space shooter video game that elicits a multitude of goal-oriented events, such as crashing into a wall or blowing up an enemy with a missile. Second, we aimed to objectively define the psychological significance of these events. To achieve this aim, we used pattern classification of EEG data to derive predictive weights from carefully controlled pre-game exemplar events (oddball target detection and gambling wins and losses) and transferred those weights to EEG activities during video game events. All major goal-oriented events (crashes into the wall, crashes into an enemy, missile hit on an enemy) had a significant between-task transfer bias towards oddball target weights in the time range of the canonical P3, indicating the presence of similar salience detection processes. Missile hits on an enemy were specifically identified as gambling wins, confirming the hypothesis that this goal-oriented event was appetitive. These findings suggest that it is possible to identify the contribution of canonical neural activities during otherwise ambiguous and uncontrolled task performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Circadian Rhythms in Executive Function during the Transition to Adolescence: The Effect of Synchrony between Chronotype and Time of Day

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hahn, Constanze; Cowell, Jason M.; Wiprzycka, Ursula J.; Goldstein, David; Ralph, Martin; Hasher, Lynn; Zelazo, Philip David

2012-01-01

To explore the influence of circadian rhythms on executive function during early adolescence, we administered a battery of executive function measures (including a Go-Nogo task, the Iowa Gambling Task, a Self-ordered Pointing task, and an Intra/Extradimensional Shift task) to Morning-preference and Evening-preference participants (N = 80) between…

The effect of developmental vitamin D deficiency in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats on decision-making using a rodent gambling task.

PubMed

Peak, J N; Turner, K M; Burne, T H J

2015-01-01

Developmental vitamin D (DVD) deficiency is a plausible risk factor for schizophrenia that has been associated with behavioural alterations including disruptions in latent inhibition and response inhibition. The rodent gambling task (rGT) assesses risk-based decision-making, which is a key cognitive deficit observed in schizophrenia patients. The primary aim of this study was to examine risk-based decision-making in DVD-deficient and control rats on the rGT. We also evaluated the performance of female Sprague-Dawley rats on the rGT for the first time. Adult male and female Sprague-Dawley rats from control and vitamin D deficient dams were trained to perform the rGT in standard operant chambers and their performance and choice-preferences were assessed. Female rats were significantly faster to reach rGT training criteria compared with male rats and DVD-deficient rats were faster to reach training criteria than control animals. After reaching stable performance on the rGT DVD-deficient and control rats showed a significant preference for the optimal choice-option in the rGT, but there were no significant effects of sex or diet on these responses. DVD deficiency did not alter the decision-making processes on the rGT because no significant changes in choice-preferences were evident. This is the first study to demonstrate that once established, the performance of females is comparable to male Sprague-Dawley rats on the rGT. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evidence for a dysfunctional prefrontal circuit in patients with an impulsive aggressive disorder

PubMed Central

Best, Mary; Williams, J. Michael; Coccaro, Emil F.

2002-01-01

Humans with lesions to the orbital/medial prefrontal cortex and interconnected areas display impulsive aggressive behavior. To examine further the relationship between impulsive aggression and orbital/medial prefrontal dysfunction, we measured the behavioral performance of psychiatric patients with a disorder characterized by impulsive aggression, Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED). Presently, no evidence exists for a localized brain lesion in IED subjects. However, on the basis of the location of brain lesions that produce acquired impulsive aggression, we hypothesized that IED subjects would exhibit test performance similar to patients with lesions to the orbital/medial prefrontal cortex. Subjects with IED and controls were administered three tests sensitive to lesions of the orbital/medial prefrontal circuit: the Iowa Gambling Task, facial emotion recognition, and odor identification, and two control tests of working memory. On the gambling task, IED subjects continued to make disadvantageous decisions throughout the 100 trials, whereas controls learned to avoid disadvantageous decisions. On the facial recognition test, IED subjects were impaired at recognizing “anger,” “disgust,” and “surprise,” and they were biased to label neutral faces with “disgust” and “fear.” On odor identification, IED subjects were mildly anosmic and were impaired relative to controls. However, on the working memory control tests, both groups performed similarly. Across tests, the performance of IED subjects resembles the performance of patients with orbital/medial prefrontal lesions in previous studies. These results extend the link between dysfunction of the orbital/medial prefrontal circuit and impulsive aggressive behavior. PMID:12034876

Web addiction in the brain: Cortical oscillations, autonomic activity, and behavioral measures.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Campanella, Salvatore; Finocchiaro, Roberta

2017-09-01

Background and aims Internet addiction (IA) was recently defined as a disorder tagging both the impulse control and the reward systems. Specifically, inhibitory deficits and reward bias were considered highly relevant in IA. This research aims to examine the electrophysiological correlates and autonomic activity [skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate] in two groups of young subjects (N = 25), with high or low IA profile [tested by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT)], with specific reference to gambling behavior. Methods Oscillatory brain activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and autonomic and behavioral measures [response times (RTs) and error rates (ERs)] were acquired during the performance of a Go/NoGo task in response to high-rewarding (online gambling videos and video games) or neutral stimuli. Results A better performance (reduced ERs and reduced RTs) was revealed for high IAT in the case of NoGo trials representing rewarding cues (inhibitory control condition), probably due to a "gain effect" induced by the rewarding condition. In addition, we also observed for NoGo trials related to gambling and video games stimuli that (a) increased low-frequency band (delta and theta) and SCR and (b) a specific lateralization effect (more left-side activity) delta and theta in high IAT. Discussion Both inhibitory control deficits and reward bias effect were considered to explain IA.

Web addiction in the brain: Cortical oscillations, autonomic activity, and behavioral measures

PubMed Central

Balconi, Michela; Campanella, Salvatore; Finocchiaro, Roberta

2017-01-01

Background and aims Internet addiction (IA) was recently defined as a disorder tagging both the impulse control and the reward systems. Specifically, inhibitory deficits and reward bias were considered highly relevant in IA. This research aims to examine the electrophysiological correlates and autonomic activity [skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate] in two groups of young subjects (N = 25), with high or low IA profile [tested by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT)], with specific reference to gambling behavior. Methods Oscillatory brain activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and autonomic and behavioral measures [response times (RTs) and error rates (ERs)] were acquired during the performance of a Go/NoGo task in response to high-rewarding (online gambling videos and video games) or neutral stimuli. Results A better performance (reduced ERs and reduced RTs) was revealed for high IAT in the case of NoGo trials representing rewarding cues (inhibitory control condition), probably due to a “gain effect” induced by the rewarding condition. In addition, we also observed for NoGo trials related to gambling and video games stimuli that (a) increased low-frequency band (delta and theta) and SCR and (b) a specific lateralization effect (more left-side activity) delta and theta in high IAT. Discussion Both inhibitory control deficits and reward bias effect were considered to explain IA. PMID:28718301

Behavioral preference in sequential decision-making and its association with anxiety.

PubMed

Zhang, Dandan; Gu, Ruolei

2018-06-01

In daily life, people often make consecutive decisions before the ultimate goal is reached (i.e., sequential decision-making). However, this kind of decision-making has been largely overlooked in the literature. The current study investigated whether behavioral preference would change during sequential decisions, and the neural processes underlying the potential changes. For this purpose, we revised the classic balloon analogue risk task and recorded the electroencephalograph (EEG) signals associated with each step of decision-making. Independent component analysis performed on EEG data revealed that four EEG components elicited by periodic feedback in the current step predicted participants' decisions (gamble vs. no gamble) in the next step. In order of time sequence, these components were: bilateral occipital alpha rhythm, bilateral frontal theta rhythm, middle frontal theta rhythm, and bilateral sensorimotor mu rhythm. According to the information flows between these EEG oscillations, we proposed a brain model that describes the temporal dynamics of sequential decision-making. Finally, we found that the tendency to gamble (as well as the power intensity of bilateral frontal theta rhythms) was sensitive to the individual level of trait anxiety in certain steps, which may help understand the role of emotion in decision-making. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abnormalities of functional brain networks in pathological gambling: a graph-theoretical approach

PubMed Central

Tschernegg, Melanie; Crone, Julia S.; Eigenberger, Tina; Schwartenbeck, Philipp; Fauth-Bühler, Mira; Lemènager, Tagrid; Mann, Karl; Thon, Natasha; Wurst, Friedrich M.; Kronbichler, Martin

2013-01-01

Functional neuroimaging studies of pathological gambling (PG) demonstrate alterations in frontal and subcortical regions of the mesolimbic reward system. However, most investigations were performed using tasks involving reward processing or executive functions. Little is known about brain network abnormalities during task-free resting state in PG. In the present study, graph-theoretical methods were used to investigate network properties of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging data in PG. We compared 19 patients with PG to 19 healthy controls (HCs) using the Graph Analysis Toolbox (GAT). None of the examined global metrics differed between groups. At the nodal level, pathological gambler showed a reduced clustering coefficient in the left paracingulate cortex and the left juxtapositional lobe (supplementary motor area, SMA), reduced local efficiency in the left SMA, as well as an increased node betweenness for the left and right paracingulate cortex and the left SMA. At an uncorrected threshold level, the node betweenness in the left inferior frontal gyrus was decreased and increased in the caudate. Additionally, increased functional connectivity between fronto-striatal regions and within frontal regions has also been found for the gambling patients. These findings suggest that regions associated with the reward system demonstrate reduced segregation but enhanced integration while regions associated with executive functions demonstrate reduced integration. The present study makes evident that PG is also associated with abnormalities in the topological network structure of the brain during rest. Since alterations in PG cannot be explained by direct effects of abused substances on the brain, these findings will be of relevance for understanding functional connectivity in other addictive disorders. PMID:24098282

Are normal decision-makers sensitive to changes in value contrast under uncertainty? Evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Lee, We-Kang; Su, Yi-An; Song, Tzu-Jiun; Chiu, Yao-Chu; Lin, Ching-Hung

2014-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) developed by Bechara et al. in 1994 is used to diagnose patients with Ventromedial Medial Prefrontal Cortex (VMPFC) lesions, and it has become a landmark in research on decision making. According to Bechara et al., the manipulation of progressive increments of monetary value can normalize the performance of patients with VMPFC lesions; thus, they developed a computerized version of the IGT. However, the empirical results showed that patients' performances did not improve as a result of this manipulation, which suggested that patients with VMPFC lesions performed myopically for future consequences. Using the original version of the IGT, some IGT studies have demonstrated that increments of monetary value significantly influence the performance of normal subjects in the IGT. However, other research has resulted in inconsistent findings. In this study, we used the computerized IGT (1X-IGT) and manipulated the value contrast of progressive increments (i.e., by designing the 10X-IGT, which contained 10 times of progressive increment) to investigate the influence of value contrast on the performance of normal subjects. The resulting empirical observations indicated that the value contrast (1X- vs. 10X-IGT) of the progressive increment had no effect on the performance of normal subjects. This study also provides a discussion of the issue of value in IGT-related studies. Moreover, we found the "prominent deck B phenomenon" in both versions of the IGT, which indicated that the normal subjects were guided mostly by the gain-loss frequency, rather than by the monetary value contrast. In sum, the behavioral performance of normal subjects demonstrated a low correlation with changes in monetary value, even in the 10X-IGT.

Effects of stress and alcohol cues in men with and without problem gambling and alcohol use disorder.

PubMed

Steinberg, Lindsay; Tremblay, Anne-Marie; Zack, Martin; Busto, Usoa E; Zawertailo, Laurie A

2011-12-01

Relapse is a serious challenge in problem gambling (PG), as it is in substance addiction. Stress and cues are implicated in relapse in both conditions. However, experimental research on motivational effects of stress in PG subjects is scant. This study examined subjective-motivational, cognitive and physiological effects of stress and alcohol cues in subjects with PG, alcohol use disorder (AD), co-occurring PG and AD (CO), and healthy controls (HC). Fifty-two (12/clinical group; 16 HC) physically healthy men received stress in the form of 10-min uncontrollable noise (U-Noise vs. controllable noise; C-Noise) and cues (355 ml non-alcoholic 'placebo' beer; P-Beer vs. soft drink) under Separate or Combined conditions on two test sessions. Visual analogue scales assessed subjective effects. Emotional Stroop and Go/No-Go 'Shift' tasks assessed inhibitory control. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) indexed physiological reactivity. U-Noise and C-Noise increased desire for alcohol in all groups. U-Noise selectively inhibited desire to gamble in PG subjects. Both U-Noise and C-Noise inhibited desire to gamble in CO subjects. Neither manipulation reliably altered cognitive performance. Compared to Neutral words, Alcohol words impaired Stroop color-naming in all groups except PG, which displayed relatively faster color-naming of Alcohol words (facilitation). U-Noise increased SBP relative to C-Noise in AD and HC groups. U-Noise plus P-Beer and U-Noise per se decreased SBP in PG and CO groups, respectively. Noise stress has opposite motivational and physiological effects in men with problem gambling vs. alcohol use disorder. A homeostatic process may explain the impact of stress in problem gamblers. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contribution of different regions of the prefrontal cortex and lesion laterality to deficit of decision-making on the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Ouerchefani, Riadh; Ouerchefani, Naoufel; Allain, Philippe; Ben Rejeb, Mohamed Riadh; Le Gall, Didier

2017-02-01

Few studies have examined the contribution of different sub-regions of the prefrontal cortex and lesion laterality to decision-making abilities. In addition, there are inconsistent findings about the role of ventromedial and dorsolateral lesions in decision-making deficit. In this study, decision-making processes are investigated following different damaged areas of the prefrontal cortex. We paid particular attention to the contribution of laterality, lesion location and lesion volume in decision-making deficit. Twenty-seven patients with discrete ventromedial lesions, dorsolateral lesions or extended-frontal lesions were compared with normal subjects on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Our results showed that all frontal subgroups were impaired on the IGT in comparison with normal subjects. We noted also that IGT performance did not vary systematically based on lesion laterality or location. More precisely, our lesion analysis revealed that decision-making processes depend on a large cerebral network, including both ventromedial and dorsolateral areas of the prefrontal cortex. Consistent with past findings, our results support the claim that IGT deficit is not solitarily associated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Does future-oriented thinking predict adolescent decision making?

PubMed

Eskritt, Michelle; Doucette, Jesslyn; Robitaille, Lori

2014-01-01

A number of theorists, as well as plain common sense, suggest that future-oriented thinking (FOT) should be involved in decision making; therefore, the development of FOT should be related to better quality decision making. FOT and quality of the decision making were measured in adolescents as well as adults in 2 different experiments. Though the results of the first experiment revealed an increase in quality of decision making across adolescence into adulthood, there was no relationship between FOT and decision making. In the second experiment, FOT predicted performance on a more deliberative decision-making task independent of age, but not performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Performance on the IGT was instead related to emotion regulation. The study's findings suggest that FOT can be related to reflective decision making but not necessarily decision making that is more intuitive.

Study protocol for a transversal study to develop a screening model for excessive gambling behaviours on a representative sample of users of French authorised gambling websites

PubMed Central

Hardouin, Jean-Benoit; Grall-Bronnec, Marie; Challet-Bouju, Gaëlle

2017-01-01

Introduction Since the legalisation of online gambling in France in 2010, gambling operators must implement responsible gambling measures to prevent excessive gambling practices. However, actually there is no screening procedure for identifying problematic gamblers. Although several studies have already been performed using several data sets from online gambling operators, the authors deplored several methodological and clinical limits that prevent scientifically validating the existence of problematic gambling behaviour. The aim of this study is to develop a model for screening excessive gambling practices based on the gambling behaviours observed on French gambling websites, coupled with a clinical validation. Methods and analysis The research is divided into three successive stages. All analyses will be performed for each major type of authorised online gambling in France. The first stage aims at defining a typology of users of French authorised gambling websites based on their gambling behaviour. This analysis will be based on data from the Authority for Regulating Online Gambling (ARJEL) and the Française Des Jeux (FDJ). For the second stage aiming at determining a score to predict whether a gambler is problematic or not, we will cross answers from the Canadian Problem Gambling Index with real gambling data. The objective of the third stage is to clinically validate the score previously developed. Results from the screening model will be compared (using sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve, and positive and negative predictive values) with the diagnosis obtained with a telephone clinical interview, including diagnostic criteria for gambling addiction. Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by the local Research Ethics Committee (GNEDS) on 25 March 2015. Results will be presented in national and international conferences, submitted to peer-reviewed journals and will be part of a PhD thesis. A final report with the study results will be presented to the ARJEL, especially the final screening model. Trial registration number NCT02415296. PMID:28515192

Cognitive flexibility and decision-making in eating disorders and obesity.

PubMed

Perpiñá, Conxa; Segura, Mara; Sánchez-Reales, Sergio

2017-09-01

The aim of the present study was to compare decision-making and cognitive flexibility in patients with disordered eating and weight, ranging from anorexia nervosa to obesity, and a healthy group. Participants were 113 patients (86 with eating disorders and 27 with obesity), and a group of 39 healthy subjects; all completed the Iowa gambling task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and several clinical self-report measures. Eating disordered and obese patients showed impaired performance on the decision-making task, and the obese group showed the worst performance on the set-shifting task. There were no associations between neuropsychological performance and eating or obsessive symptomatology, although significant associations were found with anxiety and depression measures. Considering the executive functions as a transdiagnostic process in ED and obesity could provide explanations for the inability to regulate food intake, present in both ED and obese patients. Implications of these executive impairments in the development and maintenance of ED and obesity are discussed.

Parcellating the neuroanatomical basis of impaired decision-making in traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Newcombe, Virginia F J; Outtrim, Joanne G; Chatfield, Doris A; Manktelow, Anne; Hutchinson, Peter J; Coles, Jonathan P; Williams, Guy B; Sahakian, Barbara J; Menon, David K

2011-03-01

Cognitive dysfunction is a devastating consequence of traumatic brain injury that affects the majority of those who survive with moderate-to-severe injury, and many patients with mild head injury. Disruption of key monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems, such as the dopaminergic system, may play a key role in the widespread cognitive dysfunction seen after traumatic axonal injury. Manifestations of injury to this system may include impaired decision-making and impulsivity. We used the Cambridge Gambling Task to characterize decision-making and risk-taking behaviour, outside of a learning context, in a cohort of 44 patients at least six months post-traumatic brain injury. These patients were found to have broadly intact processing of risk adjustment and probability judgement, and to bet similar amounts to controls. However, a patient preference for consistently early bets indicated a higher level of impulsiveness. These behavioural measures were compared with imaging findings on diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. Performance in specific domains of the Cambridge Gambling Task correlated inversely and specifically with the severity of diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities in regions that have been implicated in these cognitive processes. Thus, impulsivity was associated with increased apparent diffusion coefficient bilaterally in the orbitofrontal gyrus, insula and caudate; abnormal risk adjustment with increased apparent diffusion coefficient in the right thalamus and dorsal striatum and left caudate; and impaired performance on rational choice with increased apparent diffusion coefficient in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, and the superior frontal gyri, right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the dorsal and ventral striatum, and left hippocampus. Importantly, performance in specific cognitive domains of the task did not correlate with diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities in areas not implicated in their performance. The ability to dissociate the location and extent of damage with performance on the various task components using diffusion tensor imaging allows important insights into the neuroanatomical basis of impulsivity following traumatic brain injury. The ability to detect such damage in vivo may have important implications for patient management, patient selection for trials, and to help understand complex neurocognitive pathways.

Parcellating the neuroanatomical basis of impaired decision-making in traumatic brain injury

PubMed Central

Outtrim, Joanne G.; Chatfield, Doris A.; Manktelow, Anne; Hutchinson, Peter J.; Coles, Jonathan P.; Williams, Guy B.; Sahakian, Barbara J.; Menon, David K.

2011-01-01

Cognitive dysfunction is a devastating consequence of traumatic brain injury that affects the majority of those who survive with moderate-to-severe injury, and many patients with mild head injury. Disruption of key monoaminergic neurotransmitter systems, such as the dopaminergic system, may play a key role in the widespread cognitive dysfunction seen after traumatic axonal injury. Manifestations of injury to this system may include impaired decision-making and impulsivity. We used the Cambridge Gambling Task to characterize decision-making and risk-taking behaviour, outside of a learning context, in a cohort of 44 patients at least six months post-traumatic brain injury. These patients were found to have broadly intact processing of risk adjustment and probability judgement, and to bet similar amounts to controls. However, a patient preference for consistently early bets indicated a higher level of impulsiveness. These behavioural measures were compared with imaging findings on diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. Performance in specific domains of the Cambridge Gambling Task correlated inversely and specifically with the severity of diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities in regions that have been implicated in these cognitive processes. Thus, impulsivity was associated with increased apparent diffusion coefficient bilaterally in the orbitofrontal gyrus, insula and caudate; abnormal risk adjustment with increased apparent diffusion coefficient in the right thalamus and dorsal striatum and left caudate; and impaired performance on rational choice with increased apparent diffusion coefficient in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, and the superior frontal gyri, right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, the dorsal and ventral striatum, and left hippocampus. Importantly, performance in specific cognitive domains of the task did not correlate with diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities in areas not implicated in their performance. The ability to dissociate the location and extent of damage with performance on the various task components using diffusion tensor imaging allows important insights into the neuroanatomical basis of impulsivity following traumatic brain injury. The ability to detect such damage in vivo may have important implications for patient management, patient selection for trials, and to help understand complex neurocognitive pathways. PMID:21310727

Developmental and sex-related differences in preschoolers' affective decision making.

PubMed

Heilman, Renata M; Miu, Andrei C; Benga, Oana

2009-01-01

This study investigated developmental and sex-related differences in affective decision making, using a two-deck version of Children's Gambling Task administered to 3- and 4-year-old children. The main findings were that 4-year-old children displayed better decision-making performance than 3-year-olds. This effect was independent of developmental changes in inductive reasoning, language, and working memory. There were also sex differences in decision-making performance, which were apparent only in 3-year-old children and favored girls. Moreover, age predicted awareness of task and the correlation between the latter and decision-making performance was significant, but only in 4-year-old children. This study thus indicates that there is a remarkable developmental leap in affective decision making, whose effects are apparent around the age of 4, which according to our results, also marks the age when the correlation of declarative knowledge and decision-making performance becomes significant.

Decision making of heavy cannabis users on the Iowa Gambling Task: stronger association with THC of hair analysis than with personality traits of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire.

PubMed

Hermann, Derik; Leménager, Tagrid; Gelbke, Jan; Welzel, Helga; Skopp, Gisela; Mann, Karl

2009-01-01

It is unclear whether impairment in decision making, measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), in addiction is substance-induced or the consequence of personality structure. Analysis of the IGT, the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and cannabinoids in hair and urine were performed in 13 cannabis users and matched controls. Hair Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) correlated negatively with the last subtrial (cards 80-100) of the IGT (R = -0.67). In all participants (n = 26) the TPQ dimension, harm avoidance, correlated negatively with the total IGT score (R = -0.46). The last IGT-subtrial correlated with adventure seeking (R = 0.43), harm avoidance (R = -0.39) and reward dependence (R = -0.44). The last subtrial gives information on whether a participant has learned the IGT strategy. Multiple regression confirmed the impact of THC on the last subtrial, whereas TPQ personality traits did not additionally explain variance. Former indications of the IGT performance depending on the amount of cannabis consumed were replicated with an objective measurement of chronic cannabis consumption (hair THC). Multiple regression analysis argues for a stronger impact of chronic THC consumption than personality traits, but does not provide a causal relationship. Other factors (e.g. genetic) may also play a role. 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Hypothetical decision making in schizophrenia: The role of expected value computation and “irrational” biases

PubMed Central

Brown, Jaime K.; Waltz, James A.; Strauss, Gregory P.; McMahon, Robert P.; Frank, Michael J.; Gold, James M.

2013-01-01

The aim of the present study was to examine the contributions to decision making (DM) deficits in schizophrenia (SZ) patients, of expected value (EV) estimation and loss aversion. Patients diagnosed with SZ (n=46) and healthy controls (n=34) completed two gambling tasks. In one task, participants chose between two options with the same EV across two conditions: Loss frames and Keep frames. A second task involved accepting or rejecting gambles, in which gain and loss amounts varied, determining the EV of each trial. SZ patients showed a reduced “framing effect” relative to controls, as they did not show an increased tendency to gamble when faced with a certain loss. SZ patients also showed a reduced tendency to modify behavior as a function of EV. The degree to which choices tracked EV correlated significantly with several cognitive measures in both patients and controls. SZ patients show distinct deviations from normal behavior under risk when their decisions are based on prospective outcomes. These deviations are two-fold: cognitive deficits prevent value-based DM in more-impaired patients, and in less-impaired patients there is a lack of influence from well-established subjective biases found in healthy people. These abnormalities likely affect every-day DM strategies in schizophrenia patients. PMID:23664664

Hypothetical decision making in schizophrenia: the role of expected value computation and "irrational" biases.

PubMed

Brown, Jaime K; Waltz, James A; Strauss, Gregory P; McMahon, Robert P; Frank, Michael J; Gold, James M

2013-09-30

The aim of the present study was to examine the contributions to decision making (DM) deficits in schizophrenia (SZ) patients of expected value (EV) estimation and loss aversion. Patients diagnosed with SZ (n=46) and healthy controls (n=34) completed two gambling tasks. In one task, participants chose between two options with the same EV across two conditions: Loss frames and Keep frames. A second task involved accepting or rejecting gambles, in which gain and loss amounts varied, determining the EV of each trial. SZ patients showed a reduced "framing effect" relative to controls, as they did not show an increased tendency to gamble when faced with a certain loss. SZ patients also showed a reduced tendency to modify behavior as a function of EV. The degree to which choices tracked EV correlated significantly with several cognitive measures in both patients and controls. SZ patients show distinct deviations from normal behavior under risk when their decisions are based on prospective outcomes. These deviations are two-fold: cognitive deficits prevent value-based DM in more-impaired patients, and in less-impaired patients there is a lack of influence from well-established subjective biases found in healthy people. These abnormalities likely affect everyday DM strategies in schizophrenia patients. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Irrational beliefs, biases and gambling: exploring the role of animal models in elucidating vulnerabilities for the development of pathological gambling.

PubMed

Cocker, P J; Winstanley, C A

2015-02-15

Gambling is a heterogeneous and complex disorder. Multiple factors may lead to problem gambling, yet one of the most important appears to be the increased presence of cognitive biases or distortions. These biases are thought to precipitate gambling as they can lead to dysfunctional decision making under risk or ambiguity. Modelling these cognitive perturbations in animals can improve our understanding of their neurobiological bases, and potentially stimulate novel treatment options. The first aim of this review is to give a broad overview of some of the cognitive biases that are most commonly associated with gambling. Secondly, we will discuss several animal models that we have developed in which rodent decision-making appears hallmarked by the same cognitive inconsistencies as human choice. In particular, we will discuss two tasks that capture elements of risk and loss averse decision making, and another in which rats appear susceptible to the 'near-miss' effect. To date, findings from both human and non-human studies suggest that these different biases are neuropharmacologically and neurostructurally dissociable, and that dopamine plays a key role in their expression. Lastly, we will briefly discuss areas in both human and animal research where limitations within the field may be hampering a more complete understanding of pathological gambling as a disorder. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceived ownership impacts reward evaluation within medial-frontal cortex.

PubMed

Krigolson, Olave E; Hassall, Cameron D; Balcom, Lynsey; Turk, David

2013-06-01

Ownership is a powerful construct. Indeed, in a series of recent studies, perceived ownership has been shown to increase attentional capacity, facilitate a memorial advantage, and elicit positive attitudes. Here, we sought to determine whether self-relevance would bias reward evaluation systems within the brain. To accomplish this, we had participants complete a simple gambling task during which they could "win" or "lose" prizes for themselves or for someone else, while electroencephalographic data were recorded. Our results indicated that the amplitude of the feedback error-related negativity, a component of the event-related brain potential sensitive to reward evaluation, was diminished when participants were not gambling for themselves. Furthermore, our data suggest that the ownership cues that indicated who would win or lose a given gamble either were processed as a potential for an increase in utility (i.e., gain: self-gambles) or were processed in a nonutilitarian manner (other-gambles). Importantly, our results suggest that the medial-frontal reward system is sensitive to perceived ownership, to the extent that it may not process changes in utility when they are not directly relevant to self.

Cerebellar damage impairs the self-rating of regret feeling in a gambling task

PubMed Central

Clausi, Silvia; Coricelli, Giorgio; Pisotta, Iolanda; Pavone, Enea Francesco; Lauriola, Marco; Molinari, Marco; Leggio, Maria

2015-01-01

Anatomical, clinical, and neuroimaging evidence implicates the cerebellum in processing emotions and feelings. Moreover recent studies showed a cerebellar involvement in pathologies such as autism, schizophrenia and alexithymia, in which emotional processing have been found altered. However, cerebellar function in the modulation of emotional responses remains debated. In this study, emotions that are involved directly in decision-making were examined in 15 patients (six males; age range 17–60 years) affected by cerebellar damage and 15 well matched healthy controls. We used a gambling task, in which subjects’ choices and evaluation of outcomes with regard to their anticipated and actual emotional impact were analyzed. Emotions, such as regret and relief, were elicited, based on the outcome of the unselected gamble. Interestingly, despite their ability to avoid regret in subsequent choices, patients affected by cerebellar lesions were significantly impaired in evaluating the feeling of regret subjectively. These results demonstrate that the cerebellum is involved in conscious recognizing of negative feelings caused by the sense of self-responsibility for an incorrect decision. PMID:25999829

Development of Hot and Cool Executive Function during the Transition to Adolescence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prencipe, Angela; Kesek, Amanda; Cohen, Julia; Lamm, Connie; Lewis, Marc D.; Zelazo, Philip David

2011-01-01

This study examined the development of executive function (EF) in a typically developing sample from middle childhood to adolescence using a range of tasks varying in affective significance. A total of 102 participants between 8 and 15 years of age completed the Iowa Gambling Task, the Color Word Stroop, a Delay Discounting task, and a Digit Span…

An Analysis of Treatment-Seeking Behavior in Individuals with Gambling Disorder.

PubMed

Harries, Michael D; Redden, Sarah A; Grant, Jon E

2017-11-13

Gambling disorder affects approximately 1.1-3.5% of the population, with the rates being higher in young adults. Despite this high prevalence, little is known regarding which pathological gamblers decide to seek treatment. This study sought to examine the differences in three groups of pathological gamblers: those who did not seek treatment (n = 94), those who sought therapy (n = 106) and those who sought medication therapy (n = 680). All subjects were assessed on a variety of measures including demographics, family history, gambling history, comorbid psychiatric disorders and an assortment of clinical variables such as the Quality of Life Inventory, Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Rating Scales, Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale for Pathologic Gambling (PG-YBOCS), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Eysenck Impulsiveness Questionnaire and select cognitive tasks. Those seeking treatment were more likely to be Caucasian, have lost more money in the past year due to gambling, and were more likely to have legal and social problems as a result of their gambling. Those seeking therapy or medical treatment also scored significantly higher on the PG-YBOCS. This study suggests that pathologic gamblers seeking treatment were more likely to exhibit obsessive-compulsive tendencies likely leading to the increased legal and social problems that exist in this group.

Study protocol for a transversal study to develop a screening model for excessive gambling behaviours on a representative sample of users of French authorised gambling websites.

PubMed

Perrot, Bastien; Hardouin, Jean-Benoit; Costes, Jean-Michel; Caillon, Julie; Grall-Bronnec, Marie; Challet-Bouju, Gaëlle

2017-05-17

Since the legalisation of online gambling in France in 2010, gambling operators must implement responsible gambling measures to prevent excessive gambling practices. However, actually there is no screening procedure for identifying problematic gamblers. Although several studies have already been performed using several data sets from online gambling operators, the authors deplored several methodological and clinical limits that prevent scientifically validating the existence of problematic gambling behaviour. The aim of this study is to develop a model for screening excessive gambling practices based on the gambling behaviours observed on French gambling websites, coupled with a clinical validation. The research is divided into three successive stages. All analyses will be performed for each major type of authorised online gambling in France. The first stage aims at defining a typology of users of French authorised gambling websites based on their gambling behaviour. This analysis will be based on data from the Authority for Regulating Online Gambling (ARJEL) and the Française Des Jeux (FDJ). For the second stage aiming at determining a score to predict whether a gambler is problematic or not, we will cross answers from the Canadian Problem Gambling Index with real gambling data. The objective of the third stage is to clinically validate the score previously developed. Results from the screening model will be compared (using sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve, and positive and negative predictive values) with the diagnosis obtained with a telephone clinical interview, including diagnostic criteria for gambling addiction. This study was approved by the local Research Ethics Committee (GNEDS) on 25 March 2015. Results will be presented in national and international conferences, submitted to peer-reviewed journals and will be part of a PhD thesis. A final report with the study results will be presented to the ARJEL, especially the final screening model. NCT02415296. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

A Meramec Chronology of the Corps of Engineers and Missouri’s Meramec Basin. 1880-1983,

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-05-01

AUTHOR(o) 6. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER(O) James F. Gamble DACW43-83-M-2409 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT. TASK...episodic occurrences in the Basin’s water programming is the overall line that is followred here. The report is not a judgment or justification piece...Board. For doing a Committee - cooperative report through: A PROGRAM FOR THE MERAMEC RIVER BASIN Federal Aaencies August 1949 U.S. Departments of

Are the Effects of Response Inhibition on Gambling Long-Lasting?

PubMed Central

Verbruggen, Frederick; Adams, Rachel C.; van ‘t Wout, Felice; Stevens, Tobias; McLaren, Ian P. L.; Chambers, Christopher D.

2013-01-01

A recent study has shown that short-term training in response inhibition can make people more cautious for up to two hours when making decisions. However, the longevity of such training effects is unclear. In this study we tested whether training in the stop-signal paradigm reduces risky gambling when the training and gambling task are separated by 24 hours. Two independent experiments revealed that the aftereffects of stop-signal training are negligible after 24 hours. This was supported by Bayes factors that provided strong support for the null hypothesis. These findings indicate the need to better optimise the parameters of inhibition training to achieve clinical efficacy, potentially by strengthening automatic associations between specific stimuli and stopping. PMID:23922948

Characterization of the decision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions.

PubMed

Bechara, A; Tranel, D; Damasio, H

2000-11-01

On a gambling task that models real-life decisions, patients with bilateral lesions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VM) opt for choices that yield high immediate gains in spite of higher future losses. In this study, we addressed three possibilities that may account for this behaviour: (i) hypersensitivity to reward; (ii) insensitivity to punishment; and (iii) insensitivity to future consequences, such that behaviour is always guided by immediate prospects. For this purpose, we designed a variant of the original gambling task in which the advantageous decks yielded high immediate punishment but even higher future reward. The disadvantageous decks yielded low immediate punishment but even lower future reward. We measured the skin conductance responses (SCRs) of subjects after they had received a reward or punishment. Patients with VM lesions opted for the disadvantageous decks in both the original and variant versions of the gambling task. The SCRs of VM lesion patients after they had received a reward or punishment were not significantly different from those of controls. In a second experiment, we investigated whether increasing the delayed punishment in the disadvantageous decks of the original task or decreasing the delayed reward in the disadvantageous decks of the variant task would shift the behaviour of VM lesion patients towards an advantageous strategy. Both manipulations failed to shift the behaviour of VM lesion patients away from the disadvantageous decks. These results suggest that patients with VM lesions are insensitive to future consequences, positive or negative, and are primarily guided by immediate prospects. This 'myopia for the future' in VM lesion patients persists in the face of severe adverse consequences, i.e. rising future punishment or declining future reward.

The order of information processing alters economic gain-loss framing effects.

PubMed

Kwak, Youngbin; Huettel, Scott

2018-01-01

Adaptive decision making requires analysis of available information during the process of choice. In many decisions that information is presented visually - which means that variations in visual properties (e.g., salience, complexity) can potentially influence the process of choice. In the current study, we demonstrate that variation in the left-right positioning of risky and safe decision options can influence the canonical gain-loss framing effect. Two experiments were conducted using an economic framing task in which participants chose between gambles and certain outcomes. The first experiment demonstrated that the magnitude of the gain-loss framing effect was greater when the certain option signaling the current frame was presented on the left side of the visual display. Eye-tracking data during task performance showed a left-gaze bias for initial fixations, suggesting that the option presented on the left side was processed first. Combination of eye-tracking and choice data revealed that there was a significant effect of direction of first gaze (i.e. left vs. right) as well as an interaction between gaze direction and identity of the first fixated information (i.e. certain vs. gamble) regardless of frame. A second experiment presented the gamble and certain options in a random order, with a temporal delay between their presentations. We found that the magnitude of gain-loss framing was larger when the certain option was presented first, regardless of left and right positioning, only in individuals with lower risk-taking tendencies. The effect of presentation order on framing was not present in high risk-takers. These results suggest that the sequence of visual information processing as well as their left-right positioning can bias choices by changing the impact of the presented information during risky decision making. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Misfortune may be a blessing in disguise: Fairness perception and emotion modulate decision making.

PubMed

Liu, Hong-Hsiang; Hwang, Yin-Dir; Hsieh, Ming H; Hsu, Yung-Fong; Lai, Wen-Sung

2017-08-01

Fairness perception and equality during social interactions frequently elicit affective arousal and affect decision making. By integrating the dictator game and a probabilistic gambling task, this study aimed to investigate the effects of a negative experience induced by perceived unfairness on decision making using behavioral, model fitting, and electrophysiological approaches. Participants were randomly assigned to the neutral, harsh, or kind groups, which consisted of various asset allocation scenarios to induce different levels of perceived unfairness. The monetary gain was subsequently considered the initial asset in a negatively rewarded, probabilistic gambling task in which the participants were instructed to maintain as much asset as possible. Our behavioral results indicated that the participants in the harsh group exhibited increased levels of negative emotions but retained greater total game scores than the participants in the other two groups. Parameter estimation of a reinforcement learning model using a Bayesian approach indicated that these participants were more loss aversive and consistent in decision making. Data from simultaneous ERP recordings further demonstrated that these participants exhibited larger feedback-related negativity to unexpected outcomes in the gambling task, which suggests enhanced reward sensitivity and signaling of reward prediction error. Collectively, our study suggests that a negative experience may be an advantage in the modulation of reward-based decision making. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

The impact of precommitment on risk-taking while gambling: A preliminary study.

PubMed

Brevers, Damien; Noel, Xavier; Clark, Luke; Zyuzin, Jekaterina; Justin Park, Joohwan; Bechara, Antoine

2016-03-01

Background and aims Precommitment refers to the ability to prospectively restrict the access to temptations. This study examined whether risk-taking during gambling is decreased when an individual has the opportunity to precommit to his forthcoming bet. Methods Sixty individuals participated in a gambling task that consisted of direct choice (simply chose one monetary option among four available ones, ranging from low-risk to high-risk options) or precommitment trials (before choosing an amount, participants had the opportunity to make a binding choice that made high-risk options unavailable). Results We found that participants utilized the precommitment option, such that risk-taking was decreased on precommitment trials compared to direct choices. Within the precommitment trials, there was no significant difference in risk-taking following decisions to restrict versus non-restrict. Discussion These findings suggest that the opportunity to precommit may be sufficient to reduce the attractiveness of risk. Conclusions Present results might be exploited to create interventions aiming at enhancing one's ability to anticipate self-control failures while gambling.

Prevalence of Problem Gambling Among Adolescents: A Comparison Across Modes of Access, Gambling Activities, and Levels of Severity.

PubMed

González-Roz, Alba; Fernández-Hermida, José R; Weidberg, Sara; Martínez-Loredo, Victor; Secades-Villa, Roberto

2017-06-01

The high availability and accessibility of online gambling have recently caused public concern regarding the potential increase of gambling-related problems among young people. Nonetheless, few studies among adults and none among adolescents have explored specific characteristics of gamblers as a function of gambling venues to date. This study sought to analyze the prevalence of gambling among a sample of adolescents in the last year, as well as sociodemographic and gambling-related characteristics as possible predictors of at-risk and problem gambling. The sample comprised 1313 adolescents aged 14-18 years. Participants were asked to respond to several questions regarding their gambling behavior. Chi square and ANOVA tests were performed in order to explore differences between groups, and a set of multinomial regressions established significant severity predictors. The prevalence of at-risk and problem gambling was 4 and 1.2 %, respectively. Regression analyses showed that having a relative with gambling problems predicted at-risk gambling. Both living with only one parent or not living with parents at all, and the prevalence of Electronic Gambling Machines in the last year were associated with problem gambling. Mixed-mode gambling was a predictor of both at-risk and problem gambling. Our findings extend previous research on gambling among adolescents by exploring gambling behavior according to different modes of access. Although the prevalence of exclusive online gambling among the total sample was low, these results support the need to consider specific subgroups of gamblers and their concrete related features when conducting both indicated prevention and treatment protocols for adolescents.

On the Counterfactual Nature of Gambling Near-misses: An Experimental Study.

PubMed

Wu, Yin; van Dijk, Eric; Li, Hong; Aitken, Michael; Clark, Luke

2017-10-01

Research on gambling near-misses has shown that objectively equivalent outcomes can yield divergent emotional and motivational responses. The subjective processing of gambling outcomes is affected substantially by close but non-obtained outcomes (i.e. counterfactuals). In the current paper, we investigate how different types of near-misses influence self-perceived luck and subsequent betting behavior in a wheel-of-fortune task. We investigate the counterfactual mechanism of these effects by testing the relationship with a second task measuring regret/relief processing. Across two experiments (Experiment 1, n  = 51; Experiment 2, n  = 104), we demonstrate that near-wins (neutral outcomes that are close to a jackpot) decreased self-perceived luck, whereas near-losses (neutral outcomes that are close to a major penalty) increased luck ratings. The effects of near-misses varied by near-miss position (i.e. whether the spinner stopped just short of, or passed through, the counterfactual outcome), consistent with established distinctions between upward versus downward, and additive versus subtractive, counterfactual thinking. In Experiment 1, individuals who showed stronger counterfactual processing on the regret/relief task were more responsive to near-wins and near-losses on the wheel-of-fortune task. The effect of near-miss position was attenuated when the anticipatory phase (i.e. the spin and deceleration) was removed in Experiment 2. Further differences were observed within the objective gains and losses, between "clear" and "narrow" outcomes. Taken together, these results help substantiate the counterfactual mechanism of near-misses. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Behavioral Decision Making Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

On the Counterfactual Nature of Gambling Near‐misses: An Experimental Study

PubMed Central

van Dijk, Eric; Li, Hong; Aitken, Michael; Clark, Luke

2017-01-01

Abstract Research on gambling near‐misses has shown that objectively equivalent outcomes can yield divergent emotional and motivational responses. The subjective processing of gambling outcomes is affected substantially by close but non‐obtained outcomes (i.e. counterfactuals). In the current paper, we investigate how different types of near‐misses influence self‐perceived luck and subsequent betting behavior in a wheel‐of‐fortune task. We investigate the counterfactual mechanism of these effects by testing the relationship with a second task measuring regret/relief processing. Across two experiments (Experiment 1, n = 51; Experiment 2, n = 104), we demonstrate that near‐wins (neutral outcomes that are close to a jackpot) decreased self‐perceived luck, whereas near‐losses (neutral outcomes that are close to a major penalty) increased luck ratings. The effects of near‐misses varied by near‐miss position (i.e. whether the spinner stopped just short of, or passed through, the counterfactual outcome), consistent with established distinctions between upward versus downward, and additive versus subtractive, counterfactual thinking. In Experiment 1, individuals who showed stronger counterfactual processing on the regret/relief task were more responsive to near‐wins and near‐losses on the wheel‐of‐fortune task. The effect of near‐miss position was attenuated when the anticipatory phase (i.e. the spin and deceleration) was removed in Experiment 2. Further differences were observed within the objective gains and losses, between “clear” and “narrow” outcomes. Taken together, these results help substantiate the counterfactual mechanism of near‐misses. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Behavioral Decision Making Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. PMID:29081596

Tuning the Brake While Raising the Stake: Network Dynamics during Sequential Decision-Making.

PubMed

Meder, David; Haagensen, Brian Numelin; Hulme, Oliver; Morville, Tobias; Gelskov, Sofie; Herz, Damian Marc; Diomsina, Beata; Christensen, Mark Schram; Madsen, Kristoffer Hougaard; Siebner, Hartwig Roman

2016-05-11

When gathering valued goods, risk and reward are often coupled and escalate over time, for instance, during foraging, trading, or gambling. This escalating frame requires agents to continuously balance expectations of reward against those of risk. To address how the human brain dynamically computes these tradeoffs, we performed whole-brain fMRI while healthy young individuals engaged in a sequential gambling task. Participants were repeatedly confronted with the option to continue with throwing a die to accumulate monetary reward under escalating risk, or the alternative option to stop to bank the current balance. Within each gambling round, the accumulation of gains gradually increased reaction times for "continue" choices, indicating growing uncertainty in the decision to continue. Neural activity evoked by "continue" choices was associated with growing activity and connectivity of a cortico-subcortical "braking" network that positively scaled with the accumulated gains, including pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), inferior frontal gyrus, caudate, and subthalamic nucleus (STN). The influence of the STN on continue-evoked activity in the pre-SMA was predicted by interindividual differences in risk-aversion attitudes expressed during the gambling task. Furthermore, activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) reflected individual choice tendencies by showing increased activation when subjects made nondefault "continue" choices despite an increasing tendency to stop, but ACC activity did not change in proportion with subjective choice uncertainty. Together, the results implicate a key role of dorsal ACC, pre-SMA, inferior frontal gyrus, and STN in computing the trade-off between escalating reward and risk in sequential decision-making. Using a paradigm where subjects experienced increasing potential rewards coupled with increasing risk, this study addressed two unresolved questions in the field of decision-making: First, we investigated an "inhibitory" network of regions that has so far been investigated with externally cued action inhibition. In this study, we show that the dynamics in this network under increasingly risky decisions are predictive of subjects' risk attitudes. Second, we contribute to a currently ongoing debate about the anterior cingulate cortex's role in sequential foraging decisions by showing that its activity is related to making nondefault choices rather than to choice uncertainty. Copyright © 2016 Meder, Haagensen, et al.

Identification of Gambling Problems in Primary Care: Properties of the NODS-CLiP Screening Tool.

PubMed

Cowlishaw, Sean; McCambridge, Jim; Kessler, David

2018-06-25

There are several brief screening tools for gambling that possess promising psychometric properties, but have uncertain utility in generalist healthcare environments which prioritize prevention and brief interventions. This study describes an examination of the National Opinion Research Centre Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Screen for Gambling Problems (NODS-CLiP), in comparison with the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), when used to operationalize gambling problems across a spectrum of severity. Data were obtained from 1058 primary care attendees recruited from 11 practices in England who completed various measures including the NODS-CLiP and PGSI. The performance of the former was defined by estimates of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPVs), and negative predictive values (NPVs), when PGSI indicators of problem gambling (5+) and any gambling problems (1+), respectively, were reference standards. The NODS-CLiP demonstrated perfect sensitivity for problem gambling, along with high specificity and a NPV, but a low PPV. There was much lower sensitivity when the indicator of any gambling problems was the reference standard, with capture rates indicating only 20% of patients exhibiting low to moderate severity gambling problems (PGSI 1-4) were identified by the NODS-CLiP. The NODS-CLiP performs well when identifying severe cases of problem gambling, but lacks sensitivity for less severe problems and may be unsuitable for settings which prioritize prevention and brief interventions. There is a need for screening measures which are sensitive across the full spectrum of risk and severity, and can support initiatives for improving identification and responses to gambling problems in healthcare settings such as primary care.

A new approach to assess gambling-like behavior in laboratory rats: using intracranial self-stimulation as a positive reinforcer

PubMed Central

Tedford, Stephanie E.; Holtz, Nathan A.; Persons, Amanda L.; Napier, T. Celeste

2014-01-01

Pathological gambling is one manifestation of impulse control disorders. The biological underpinnings of these disorders remain elusive and treatment is far from ideal. Animal models of impulse control disorders are a critical research tool for understanding this condition and for medication development. Modeling such complex behaviors is daunting, but by its deconstruction, scientists have recapitulated in animals critical aspects of gambling. One aspect of gambling is cost/benefit decision-making wherein one weighs the anticipated costs and expected benefits of a course of action. Risk/reward, delay-based and effort-based decision-making all represent cost/benefit choices. These features are studied in humans and have been translated to animal protocols to measure decision-making processes. Traditionally, the positive reinforcer used in animal studies is food. Here, we describe how intracranial self-stimulation can be used for cost/benefit decision-making tasks and overview our recent studies showing how pharmacological therapies alter these behaviors in laboratory rats. We propose that these models may have value in screening new compounds for the ability to promote and prevent aspects of gambling behavior. PMID:24966822

Traumatic event exposure and gambling: associations with clinical, neurocognitive, and personality variables.

PubMed

Leppink, Eric W; Grant, Jon E

2015-02-01

Epidemiological research has shown high comorbidity rates between at-risk/problem (ARP) gambling and trauma. However, few studies have assessed the neurocognitive implications of this comorbidity, and even fewer have been conducted with young adults. The present study sought to determine the neurocognitive, clinical, personality types associated with trauma in ARP gamblers. The present study analyzed young adult gamblers age 18 to 29 drawn from a study investigating impulsivity. Of the 230 gamblers, 52 (22.6%) reported experiencing a traumatic event during their life to which they responded with intense fear, helplessness, or horror. The remaining participants indicated no experience with trauma. ARP gamblers who had experienced trauma showed significant neurocognitive deficits on tasks related to decision-making, risk adjustment, sustained attention, and spatial working memory. We did not detect significant differences in gambling severity. Trauma was associated with lower perceived quality of life and self-esteem, and higher rates of current comorbid diagnoses, suicidality, substance use disorders, and nicotine use. This study suggests that trauma may not exacerbate the severity of gambling in ARP gamblers. However, significant differences in supplemental clinical and neurocognitive measures may indicate that trauma is an important consideration when assessing problems beyond those related directly to gambling severity.

Early Huntington's Disease: Impulse Control Deficits but Correct Judgment Regarding Risky Situations.

PubMed

Galvez, Victor; Fernandez-Ruiz, Juan; Bayliss, Leo; Ochoa-Morales, Adriana; Hernandez-Castillo, Carlos R; Díaz, Rosalinda; Campos-Romo, Aurelio

2017-01-01

Huntington's disease (HD) patients show alterations in decision making tasks. However, it is still uncertain if these deficits are due to poor judgment regarding risky situations, or to impulse control deficits. To elucidate whether decision-making in patients is related to genuine risk behavior or to impulse control deficits. To test between these two alternative possibilities, we evaluated the performance of 19 prodromal HD patients and 19 matched healthy controls in the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT). This task assesses decision-making while dissociating between genuine risk-taking behaviors (ascending condition) from impulsive behavior (descending condition). The results showed that patients and controls had the same performance during all trials in the ascending condition, reflecting a correct judgment regarding risky situations; however, during the descending condition, patients responded before the controls in all trials, making a significantly larger number of higher bets. Unlike the control group, they did not wait for more optimal subsequent options. These results suggest impulse control deficits in HD gene carriers, but unimpaired risk-taking judgment.

Conscious knowledge influences decision-making differently in substance abusers with and without co-morbid antisocial personality disorder.

PubMed

Mellentin, Angelina I; Skøt, Lotte; Teasdale, Thomas W; Habekost, Thomas

2013-08-01

Decision-making impairment, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), is a consistent finding among individuals with substance use disorder (SUD). We studied how this impairment is influenced by co-morbid antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and conscious knowledge of the task. Three groups were investigated: SUD individuals without co-morbid ASPD (n = 30), SUD individuals with co-morbid ASPD (n = 16), and healthy controls (n = 17). Both SUD and SUD+ASPD participants had poor overall IGT performance. A block-by-block analysis revealed that SUD participants exhibited slow but steady improvement across the IGT, whereas SUD+ASPD participants exhibited initial normal improvement, but dropped off during the last 40 trials. Conscious knowledge of the task was significantly correlated to performance for controls and SUD participants, but not for SUD+ASPD participants. Our findings suggest that decision-making proceeds differently in SUD and SUD+ASPD individuals due to differences in acquisition and application of conscious knowledge. © 2013 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Implicit Valuation of the Near-Miss is Dependent on Outcome Context.

PubMed

Banks, Parker J; Tata, Matthew S; Bennett, Patrick J; Sekuler, Allison B; Gruber, Aaron J

2018-03-01

Gambling studies have described a "near-miss effect" wherein the experience of almost winning increases gambling persistence. The near-miss has been proposed to inflate the value of preceding actions through its perceptual similarity to wins. We demonstrate here, however, that it acts as a conditioned stimulus to positively or negatively influence valuation, dependent on reward expectation and cognitive engagement. When subjects are asked to choose between two simulated slot machines, near-misses increase valuation of machines with a low payout rate, whereas they decrease valuation of high payout machines. This contextual effect impairs decisions and persists regardless of manipulations to outcome feedback or financial incentive provided for good performance. It is consistent with proposals that near-misses cause frustration when wins are expected, and we propose that it increases choice stochasticity and overrides avoidance of low-valued options. Intriguingly, the near-miss effect disappears when subjects are required to explicitly value machines by placing bets, rather than choosing between them. We propose that this task increases cognitive engagement and recruits participation of brain regions involved in cognitive processing, causing inhibition of otherwise dominant systems of decision-making. Our results reveal that only implicit, rather than explicit strategies of decision-making are affected by near-misses, and that the brain can fluidly shift between these strategies according to task demands.

Scopolamine and amphetamine produce similar decision-making deficits on a rat gambling task via independent pathways.

PubMed

Silveira, Mason M; Malcolm, Emma; Shoaib, Mohammed; Winstanley, Catharine A

2015-03-15

Disorders characterized by disturbed cholinergic signaling, such as schizophrenia, exhibit impaired performance on measures of real-world cost/benefit decision-making. Whether the cholinergic system contributes to the choice deficits observed is currently unknown. We therefore determined the effects of broad-acting agonists and antagonists at the nicotinic and muscarinic receptor on decision making, as measured by the rodent gambling task (rGT). Given the anatomical and functional connectivity of the cholinergic and dopaminergic systems, we also sought to modulate amphetamine's previously reported effect on rGT performance via the cholinergic system. Male rats were trained on the rGT, during which animals chose from four different options. The optimal strategy on the rGT is to favor options associated with smaller immediate rewards and less punishment/loss. Impulsive action was also measured by recording the number of premature responses made. Performance on the rGT was assessed following acute treatment with the muscarinic receptor agonist oxotremorine, the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine, nicotine, and the nicotinic receptor antagonist mecamylamine. Similar to the effect produced by amphetamine, muscarinic receptor antagonism with scopolamine (0.1mg/kg) impaired decision making, albeit to a lesser degree. Prior muscarinic agonism with oxotremorine was unable to attenuate amphetamine's effects on rGT performance. Oxotremorine, nicotine, and mecamylamine did not affect the choice profile. We therefore conclude that modulation of the muscarinic, but not nicotinic, receptor system can affect decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Such findings contribute to a broader understanding of the cognitive deficits observed in disorders in which cholinergic signaling is compromised. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A further assessment of decision-making in anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Adoue, C; Jaussent, I; Olié, E; Beziat, S; Van den Eynde, F; Courtet, P; Guillaume, S

2015-01-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) may be associated with impaired decision-making. Cognitive processes underlying this impairment remain unclear, mainly because previous assessments of this complex cognitive function were completed with a single test. Furthermore, clinical features such as mood status may impact this association. We aim to further explore the hypothesis of altered decision-making in AN. Sixty-three adult women with AN and 49 female controls completed a clinical assessment and were assessed by three tasks related to decision-making [Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Probabilistic Reversal Learning Task (PRLT)]. People with AN had poorer performance on the IGT and made less risky choices on the BART, whereas performances were not different on PRLT. Notably, AN patients with a current major depressive disorder showed similar performance to those with no current major depressive disorder. These results tend to confirm an impaired decision making-process in people with AN and suggest that various cognitive processes such as inhibition to risk-taking or intolerance of uncertainty may underlie this condition Furthermore, these impairments seem unrelated to the potential co-occurent major depressive disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

The framing effect in a monetary gambling task is robust in minimally verbal language switching contexts.

PubMed

Korn, Christoph W; Heekeren, Hauke R; Oganian, Yulia

2018-04-01

Decision-making biases, in particular the framing effect, can be altered in foreign language settings (foreign language effect) and following switching between languages (the language switching effect on framing). Recently, it has been suggested that the framing effect is only affected by foreign language use if the task is presented in a rich textual form. Here, we assess whether an elaborate verbal task is also a prerequisite for the language switching effect on framing. We employed a financial gambling task that induces a robust framing effect but is less verbal than the classical framing paradigms (e.g., the Asian disease problem). We conducted an online experiment ( n = 485), where we orthogonally manipulated language use and language switching between trials. The results showed no effects of foreign language use or language switching throughout the experiment. This online result was confirmed in a laboratory experiment ( n = 27). Overall, we find that language switching does not reduce the framing effect in a paradigm with little verbal content and thus that language switching effects seem contingent on the amount of verbal processing required.

Reactive and regulative temperament in patients with compulsive buying and non-clinical controls measured by self-report and performance-based tasks.

PubMed

Voth, Eva M; Claes, Laurence; Georgiadou, Ekaterini; Selle, Janine; Trotzke, Patrick; Brand, Matthias; de Zwaan, Martina; Müller, Astrid

2014-10-01

To examine reactive and regulative temperament in patients with compulsive buying (CB) by means of self-report measures and performance-based tasks and to explore the relationship between both measurement approaches. The study included 31 treatment-seeking patients with CB (25 women, 6 men) and an age and gender matched non-clinical control group without CB (CG). All participants answered the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS). Reactive temperament was assessed using the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System Scales (BIS/BAS) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Regulative temperament was measured using the Effortful Control subscale of the Adult Temperament Questionnaire (ATQ-EC) and a computerized version of the Stroop Task. To control the results for depression, the Patient Health Questionnaire-Depression Scale (PHQ-9) was administered. Crude group comparisons revealed higher BIS and BAS scores, poorer IGT performance and lower ATQ-EC scores in the CB-group compared to the CG. The groups did not differ in their performance on the Stroop task. After controlling for depressive symptoms that were significantly higher in the CB-group, only the group differences in BAS reactivity remained significant. No significant associations were found between questionnaires and performance-based tasks. Overall, the findings indicate that CB in the present clinical sample of treatment-seeking patients was mainly associated with higher approach tendencies and more depressive symptoms. The lacking correlation between self-reports and performance-based tasks is in line with prior research and suggests that both methodologies tap into different aspects of temperament. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Age differences in experiential and deliberative processes in unambiguous and ambiguous decision making.

PubMed

Huang, Yumi H; Wood, Stacey; Berger, Dale E; Hanoch, Yaniv

2015-09-01

Older adults experience declines in deliberative decisional capacities, while their affective or experiential abilities tend to remain intact (Peters & Bruine de Bruin, 2012). The current study used this framework to investigate age differences in description-based and experience-based decision-making tasks. Description-based tasks emphasize deliberative processing by allowing decision makers to analyze explicit descriptions of choice-reward information. Experience-based tasks emphasize affective or experiential processing because they lack the explicit choice-reward information, forcing decision makers to rely on feelings and information derived from past experiences. This study used the Columbia Card Task (CCT) as a description-based task where probability information is provided and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) as an experience-based task, where it is not. As predicted, compared to younger adults (N = 65), older adults (N = 65) performed more poorly on the CCT but performed similarly on the IGT. Deliberative capacities (i.e., executive control and numeracy abilities) explained the relationship between age and performance on the CCT, suggesting that age-related differences in description-based decision-making tasks are related to declines in deliberative capacities. However, deliberative capacities were not associated with performance on the IGT for either older or younger adults. Nevertheless, on the IGT, older adults reported more use of affect-based strategies versus deliberative strategies, whereas younger adults reported similar use of these strategies. This finding offers partial support for the idea that decision-making tasks that rely on deliberate processing are more likely to demonstrate age effects than those that are more experiential. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Latent class analysis of gambling subtypes and impulsive/compulsive associations: Time to rethink diagnostic boundaries for gambling disorder?

PubMed

Chamberlain, Samuel R; Stochl, Jan; Redden, Sarah A; Odlaug, Brian L; Grant, Jon E

2017-09-01

Gambling disorder has been associated with cognitive dysfunction and impaired quality of life. The current definition of non-pathological, problem, and pathological types of gambling is based on total symptom scores, which may overlook nuanced underlying presentations of gambling symptoms. The aims of the current study were (i) to identify subtypes of gambling in young adults, using latent class analysis, based on individual responses from the Structured Clinical Interview for Gambling Disorder (SCI-GD); and (ii) to explore relationships between these gambling subtypes, and clinical/cognitive measures. Total 582 non-treatment seeking young adults were recruited from two US cities, on the basis of gambling five or more times per year. Participants undertook clinical and neurocognitive assessment, including stop-signal, decision-making, and set-shifting tasks. Data from individual items of the Structured Clinical Interview for Gambling Disorder (SCI-GD) were entered into latent class analysis. Optimal number of classes representing gambling subtypes was identified using Bayesian Information Criterion and differences between them were explored using multivariate analysis of variance. Three subtypes of gambling were identified, termed recreational gamblers (60.2% of the sample; reference group), problem gamblers (29.2%), and pathological gamblers (10.5%). Common quality of life impairment, elevated Barratt Impulsivity scores, occurrence of mainstream mental disorders, having a first degree relative with an addiction, and impaired decision-making were evident in both problem and pathological gambling groups. The diagnostic item 'chasing losses' most discriminated recreational from problem gamblers, while endorsement of 'social, financial, or occupational losses due to gambling' most discriminated pathological gambling from both other groups. Significantly higher rates of impulse control disorders occurred in the pathological group, versus the problem group, who in turn showed significantly higher rates than the reference group. The pathological group also had higher set-shifting errors and nicotine consumption. Even problem gamblers who had a relatively low total SCI-PG scores (mean endorsement of two items) exhibited impaired quality of life, objective cognitive impairment on decision-making, and occurrence of other mental disorders that did not differ significantly from those seen in the pathological gamblers. Furthermore, problem/pathological gambling was associated with other impulse control disorders, but not increased alcohol use. Groups differed on quality of life when classified using the data-driven approach, but not when classified using DSM cut-offs. Thus, the current DSM-5 approach will fail to discriminate a significant fraction of patients with biologically plausible, functionally impairing illness, and may not be ideal in terms of diagnostic classification. Cognitive distortions related to 'chasing losses' represent a particularly important candidate treatment target for early intervention. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Age-related variance in decisions under ambiguity is explained by changes in reasoning, executive functions, and decision-making under risk.

PubMed

Schiebener, Johannes; Brand, Matthias

2017-06-01

Previous literature has explained older individuals' disadvantageous decision-making under ambiguity in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) by reduced emotional warning signals preceding decisions. We argue that age-related reductions in IGT performance may also be explained by reductions in certain cognitive abilities (reasoning, executive functions). In 210 participants (18-86 years), we found that the age-related variance on IGT performance occurred only in the last 60 trials. The effect was mediated by cognitive abilities and their relation with decision-making performance under risk with explicit rules (Game of Dice Task). Thus, reductions in cognitive functions in older age may be associated with both a reduced ability to gain explicit insight into the rules of the ambiguous decision situation and with failure to choose the less risky options consequently after the rules have been understood explicitly. Previous literature may have underestimated the relevance of cognitive functions for age-related decline in decision-making performance under ambiguity.

Reward value comparison via mutual inhibition in ventromedial prefrontal cortex

PubMed Central

Strait, Caleb E.; Blanchard, Tommy C.; Hayden, Benjamin Y.

2014-01-01

Recent theories suggest that reward-based choice reflects competition between value signals in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). We tested this idea by recording vmPFC neurons while macaques performed a gambling task with asynchronous offer presentation. We found that neuronal activity shows four patterns consistent with selection via mutual inhibition. (1) Correlated tuning for probability and reward size, suggesting that vmPFC carries an integrated value signal, (2) anti-correlated tuning curves for the two options, suggesting mutual inhibition, (3) neurons rapidly come to signal the value of the chosen offer, suggesting the circuit serves to produce a choice, (4) after regressing out the effects of option values, firing rates still could predict choice – a choice probability signal. In addition, neurons signaled gamble outcomes, suggesting that vmPFC contributes to both monitoring and choice processes. These data suggest a possible mechanism for reward-based choice and endorse the centrality of vmPFC in that process. PMID:24881835

Altered Brain Activity during Reward Anticipation in Pathological Gambling and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

PubMed Central

Choi, Jung-Seok; Shin, Young-Chul; Jung, Wi Hoon; Jang, Joon Hwan; Kang, Do-Hyung; Choi, Chi-Hoon; Choi, Sam-Wook; Lee, Jun-Young; Hwang, Jae Yeon; Kwon, Jun Soo

2012-01-01

Background Pathological gambling (PG) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are conceptualized as a behavioral addiction, with a dependency on repetitive gambling behavior and rewarding effects following compulsive behavior, respectively. However, no neuroimaging studies to date have examined reward circuitry during the anticipation phase of reward in PG compared with in OCD while considering repetitive gambling and compulsion as addictive behaviors. Methods/Principal Findings To elucidate the neural activities specific to the anticipation phase of reward, we performed event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in young adults with PG and compared them with those in patients with OCD and healthy controls. Fifteen male patients with PG, 13 patients with OCD, and 15 healthy controls, group-matched for age, gender, and IQ, participated in a monetary incentive delay task during fMRI scanning. Neural activation in the ventromedial caudate nucleus during anticipation of both gain and loss decreased in patients with PG compared with that in patients with OCD and healthy controls. Additionally, reduced activation in the anterior insula during anticipation of loss was observed in patients with PG compared with that in patients with OCD which was intermediate between that in OCD and healthy controls (healthy controls < PG < OCD), and a significant positive correlation between activity in the anterior insula and South Oaks Gambling Screen score was found in patients with PG. Conclusions Decreased neural activity in the ventromedial caudate nucleus during anticipation may be a specific neurobiological feature for the pathophysiology of PG, distinguishing it from OCD and healthy controls. Correlation of anterior insular activity during loss anticipation with PG symptoms suggests that patients with PG fit the features of OCD associated with harm avoidance as PG symptoms deteriorate. Our findings have identified functional disparities and similarities between patients with PG and OCD related to the neural responses associated with reward anticipation. PMID:23029329

Betting on DBS: Effects of Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation on Risk-Taking and Decision-Making in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

PubMed Central

Brandt, Jason; Rogerson, Mark; Al-Joudi, Haya; Reckess, Gila; Shpritz, Barnett; Umeh, Chizoba C.; Aljehani, Noha; Mills, Kelly; Mari, Zoltan

2014-01-01

Objective Concerns persist that deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s disease (PD) increases impulsivity and/or induces excessive reward-seeking. We report here the performance of PD patients with implanted subthalamic nucleus electrodes, with stimulation on and off, on three laboratory tasks of risk-taking and decision-making. They are compared to PD patients maintained on medication and normal control subjects. Methods and Results In the Game of Dice Task, a test of “risky” decision-making, PD patients with or without DBS made highest-risk bets more often, and ended up with less money, than normal controls. There was a trend for DBS stimulation to ameliorate this effect. Deal or No-Deal is an “ambiguous” decision-making task that assessed preference for risk (holding on to one’s briefcase) over a “sure thing” (accepting the banker’s offer). Here, DBS patients were more conservative with stimulation on than off. They accepted smaller offers from the banker and won less money in the DBS-on condition. Overall, the two PD groups won less money than healthy participants. The Framing Paradigm assessed willingness to gamble on a fixed (unambiguous) prize depending on whether the reward was “framed” as a loss or a gain. Nonsurgical PD patients tended to be more risk-averse than normal subjects, whereas DBS patients were more willing to gamble for gains as well as losses both on and off stimulation. Conclusions On “risky” decision-making tasks, DBS patients were more risk-taking than normal, but stimulation may temper this tendency. In contrast, in an “ambiguous risk” situation, DBS patients were more risk-averse (conservative) than normal, and this tendency was greatest with stimulation. PMID:25486385

Betting on DBS: Effects of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation on risk taking and decision making in patients with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Brandt, Jason; Rogerson, Mark; Al-Joudi, Haya; Reckess, Gila; Shpritz, Barnett; Umeh, Chizoba C; Aljehani, Noha; Mills, Kelly; Mari, Zoltan

2015-07-01

Concerns persist that deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD) increases impulsivity or induces excessive reward seeking. We report here the performance of PD patients with implanted subthalamic nucleus electrodes, with stimulation on and off, on 3 laboratory tasks of risk taking and decision making. They are compared with PD patients maintained on medication and healthy participants. In the Game of Dice Task, a test of "risky" decision making, PD patients with or without DBS made highest risk bets more often and ended up with less money than did healthy participants. There was a trend for DBS stimulation to ameliorate this effect. Deal or No-Deal is an "ambiguous" decision-making task that assessed preference for risk (holding on to one's briefcase) over a "sure thing" (accepting the banker's offer). Here, DBS patients were more conservative with stimulation on than with it off. They accepted smaller offers from the banker and won less money in the DBS-on condition. Overall, the 2 PD groups won less money than did healthy participants. The Framing Paradigm assessed willingness to gamble on a fixed (unambiguous) prize depending on whether the reward was "framed" as a loss or a gain. Nonsurgical PD patients tended to be more risk-averse than were healthy participants, whereas DBS patients were more willing to gamble for gains as well as losses both on and off stimulation. On risky decision-making tasks, DBS patients took more risks than did healthy participants, but stimulation may temper this tendency. In contrast, in an ambiguous-risk situation, DBS patients were more risk-averse (conservative) than were healthy participants, and this tendency was greatest with stimulation. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Imbalance in the sensitivity to different types of rewards in pathological gambling.

PubMed

Sescousse, Guillaume; Barbalat, Guillaume; Domenech, Philippe; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2013-08-01

Pathological gambling is an addictive disorder characterized by a persistent and compulsive desire to engage in gambling activities. This maladaptive behaviour has been suggested to result from a decreased sensitivity to experienced rewards, regardless of reward type. Alternatively, pathological gambling might reflect an imbalance in the sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary incentives. To directly test these two hypotheses, we examined how the brain reward circuit of pathological gamblers responds to different types of rewards. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we compared the brain responses of 18 pathological gamblers and 20 healthy control subjects while they engaged in a simple incentive task manipulating both monetary and visual erotic rewards. During reward anticipation, the ventral striatum of pathological gamblers showed a differential response to monetary versus erotic cues, essentially driven by a blunted reactivity to cues predicting erotic stimuli. This differential response correlated with the severity of gambling symptoms and was paralleled by a reduced behavioural motivation for erotic rewards. During reward outcome, a posterior orbitofrontal cortex region, responding to erotic rewards in both groups, was further recruited by monetary gains in pathological gamblers but not in control subjects. Moreover, while ventral striatal activity correlated with subjective ratings assigned to monetary and erotic rewards in control subjects, it only correlated with erotic ratings in gamblers. Our results point to a differential sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary rewards in pathological gambling, both at the motivational and hedonic levels. Such an imbalance might create a bias towards monetary rewards, potentially promoting addictive gambling behaviour.

Neural substrates of cue reactivity and craving in gambling disorder

PubMed Central

Limbrick-Oldfield, E H; Mick, I; Cocks, R E; McGonigle, J; Sharman, S P; Goldstone, A P; Stokes, P R A; Waldman, A; Erritzoe, D; Bowden-Jones, H; Nutt, D; Lingford-Hughes, A; Clark, L

2017-01-01

Cue reactivity is an established procedure in addictions research for examining the subjective experience and neural basis of craving. This experiment sought to quantify cue-related brain responses in gambling disorder using personally tailored cues in conjunction with subjective craving, as well as a comparison with appetitive non-gambling stimuli. Participants with gambling disorder (n=19) attending treatment and 19 controls viewed personally tailored blocks of gambling-related cues, as well as neutral cues and highly appetitive (food) images during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan performed ~2–3 h after a usual meal. fMRI analysis examined cue-related brain activity, cue-related changes in connectivity and associations with block-by-block craving ratings. Craving ratings in the participants with gambling disorder increased following gambling cues compared with non-gambling cues. fMRI analysis revealed group differences in left insula and anterior cingulate cortex, with the gambling disorder group showing greater reactivity to the gambling cues, but no differences to the food cues. In participants with gambling disorder, craving to gamble correlated positively with gambling cue-related activity in the bilateral insula and ventral striatum, and negatively with functional connectivity between the ventral striatum and the medial prefrontal cortex. Gambling cues, but not food cues, elicit increased brain responses in reward-related circuitry in individuals with gambling disorder (compared with controls), providing support for the incentive sensitization theory of addiction. Activity in the insula co-varied with craving intensity, and may be a target for interventions. PMID:28045460

[Cognitive dysfunction in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism].

PubMed

Fernandes, Robertta Soares Miranda; Alvarenga, Nathália Bueno; Silva, Tamara Inácio da; Rocha, Felipe Filardi da

2011-04-01

Evaluate neuropsychological changes in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SH). Cross-sectional study comparing the results of the neuropsychological evaluation of 89 SH patients and 178 individuals without thyroid disease. The participants underwent the following neuropsychological assessment: Conner's Continuous Performance Test (CPT-II), Iowa Gambling Task, Stroop Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Verbal Fluency Test (semantic and phonologic categories) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Among the neuropsychological tests, patients showed worse performance only in cognitive flexibility (WCST) and the ability to maintain sustained attention (omission errors on the CPT-II). These losses can cause detriments in the daily lives of patients, constituting potential treatment indications.

A study investigating the acute dose-response effects of 13 mg and 17 mg Delta 9- tetrahydrocannabinol on cognitive-motor skills, subjective and autonomic measures in regular users of marijuana.

PubMed

Weinstein, A; Brickner, O; Lerman, H; Greemland, M; Bloch, M; Lester, H; Chisin, R; Sarne, Y; Mechoulam, R; Bar-Hamburger, R; Freedman, N; Even-Sapir, E

2008-06-01

Heavy use of marijuana is claimed to damage critical skills related to short-term memory, visual scanning and attention. Motor skills and driving safety may be compromised by the acute effects of marijuana. The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of 13 mg and 17 mg Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on skills important for coordinated movement and driving and on subjective and autonomic measures in regular users of marijuana. Fourteen regular users of marijuana were enrolled. Each subject was tested on two separate days. On each test day, subjects smoked two low-nicotine cigarettes, one with and the other without THC. Seventeen mg THC was included in the cigarette on one test day and 13 mg on the other day. The sequence of cigarette types was unknown to the subject. During smoking, heart rate and blood pressure were monitored, and the subjects performed a virtual reality maze task requiring attention and motor coordination, followed by 3 other cognitive tasks (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), a "gambling" task and estimation of time and distance from an approaching car). After smoking a cigarette with 17 mg THC, regular marijuana users hit the walls more often on the virtual maze task than after smoking cigarettes without THC; this effect was not seen in patients after they smoked cigarettes with 13 mg THC. Performance in the WCST was affected with 17 mg THC and to a lesser extent with the use of 13 mg THC. Decision making in the gambling task was affected after smoking cigarettes with 17 mg THC, but not with 13 m THC. Smoking cigarettes with 13 and 17 mg THC increased subjective ratings of pleasure and satisfaction, drug "effect" and drug "high". These findings imply that smoking of 17 mg THC results in impairment of cognitive-motor skills that could be important for coordinated movement and driving, whereas the lower dose of 13 mg THC appears to cause less impairment of such skills in regular users of marijuana.

Affective differences in Iowa Gambling Task performance associated with sexual risk taking and substance use among HIV-positive and HIV-negative men who have sex with men

PubMed Central

Golub, Sarit A.; Thompson, Louisa I.; Kowalczyk, William J.

2016-01-01

We investigated the relationship between emotional distress and decision-making in sexual risk and substance use behavior among 174 (ages 25 to 50, 53% black) men who have sex with men (MSM), a population at increased risk for HIV. The sample was stratified by HIV status. Measures of affective decision-making (Iowa Gambling Task, IGT, Bechara et al., 1994), depression, anxiety, sex acts, and substance use during the past 60 days were collected at our research center. Negative binomial regression models were used to examine the relationship between age, HIV status, anxiety, depression, and IGT performance in the prediction of number of risky sex acts and substance use days. Among those without anxiety or depression, both number of risky sex acts and drug use days decreased with better performance during risky trials (i.e., last two blocks) of the IGT. For those with higher rates of anxiety, but not depression, IGT risk trial performance and risky sex acts increased concomitantly. Anxiety also interacted with IGT performance across all trials to predict substance use, such that anxiety was associated with greater substance use among those with better IGT performance. The opposite was true for those with depression, but only during risk trials. HIV-positive participants reported fewer substance use days than HIV-negative participants, but there was no difference in association between behavior and IGT performance by HIV status. Our findings suggest that anxiety may exacerbate risk-taking behavior when affective decision-making ability is intact. The relationship between affective decision-making and risk taking may be sensitive to different profiles of emotional distress, as well as behavioral context. Investigations of affective decision-making in sexual risk taking and substance use should examine different distress profiles separately, with implications for HIV prevention efforts. PMID:26745769

Characteristics of older adult problem gamblers calling a gambling helpline.

PubMed

Potenza, Marc N; Steinberg, Marvin A; Wu, Ran; Rounsaville, Bruce J; O'malley, Stephanie S

2006-06-01

Few investigations have characterized groups of older adults with gambling problems, and published reports are currently limited by small samples of older adult problem gamblers. Gambling helplines represent a widespread mechanism for assisting problem gamblers to move into treatment settings. Given data from older adult problem gamblers in treatment, we hypothesized that older as compared with younger adult problem gamblers calling a gambling helpline would be less likely to report gambling-related problems. Logistic regression analyses were performed on data obtained from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2001, inclusive, from callers with gambling problems (N = 1,084) contacting the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling Helpline. Of the 1,018 phone calls used in the logistic regression analyses, 168 (16.5%) were from older adults and 850 (83.5%) from younger adults. Age-related differences were observed in demographic features, types and patterns of gambling reported as problematic, gambling-related problems and psychiatric symptoms, substance use problems, patterns of indebtedness, and family histories of addictive disorders. Older as compared with younger adult problem gamblers were more likely to report having lower incomes, longer durations of gambling, fewer types of problematic gambling, and problems with casino slot machine gambling and less likely to report gambling-related anxiety, family problems, illegal behaviors and arrests, drug problems, indebtedness to bookies or acquaintances, family histories of drug abuse, and problems with casino table gambling. Older as compared with younger adult problem gamblers calling a gambling helpline differ on many clinically relevant features. The findings suggest the need for improved and unique prevention and treatment strategies for older adults with gambling problems.

Affective-motivational influences on feedback-related ERPs in a gambling task.

PubMed

Masaki, Hiroaki; Takeuchi, Shigeki; Gehring, William J; Takasawa, Noriyoshi; Yamazaki, Katuo

2006-08-11

Theories have proposed that both the stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) and the medial frontal negativity (MFN) reflect affective/motivational processing. We examined the effect of the motivational impact of feedback stimuli on these ERPs using a simple gambling task, focusing on the influence of prior losses and gains on ERPs and choice behavior. Choices were riskier following large losses than following small losses or large gains. The MFN, however, was larger following larger gains. The SPN preceding the outcome was also larger after a greater gain. Thus, we confirmed that both the MFN and the SPN respond to the motivational properties of the feedback. A dissociation between risk-taking behavior and these ERPs suggests that there could be two monitoring systems: one that leads to riskier responses following losses and a second that leads to heightened expectancy.

Poor decision-making by chronic marijuana users is associated with decreased functional responsiveness to negative consequences.

PubMed

Wesley, Michael J; Hanlon, Colleen A; Porrino, Linda J

2011-01-30

Chronic marijuana users (MJ Users) perform poorly on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a complex decision-making task in which monetary wins and losses guide strategy development. This functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study sought to determine if the poor performance of MJ Users was related to differences in brain activity while evaluating wins and losses during the strategy development phase of the IGT. MJ Users (16) and Controls (16) performed a modified IGT in an MRI scanner. Performance was tracked and functional activity in response to early wins and losses was examined. While the MJ Users continued to perform poorly at the end of the task, there was no difference in group performance during the initial strategy development phase. During this phase, before the emergence of behavioral differences, Controls exhibited significantly greater activity in response to losses in the anterior cingulate cortex, medial frontal cortex, precuneus, superior parietal lobe, occipital lobe and cerebellum as compared to MJ Users. Furthermore, in Controls, but not MJ Users, the functional response to losses in the anterior cingulate cortex, ventral medial prefrontal cortex and rostral prefrontal cortex positively correlated with performance over time. These data suggest MJ Users are less sensitive to negative feedback during strategy development. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Selective impairment of decision making under ambiguity in alexithymia.

PubMed

Zhang, Lei; Wang, Xue; Zhu, Yu; Li, Hongchen; Zhu, Chunyan; Yu, Fengqiong; Wang, Kai

2017-11-28

Alexithymia is characterised by difficulties identifying and describing emotions. Few studies have investigated how alexithymia influences decision-making under different conditions (ambiguity and risk). This study aimed to examine whether alexithymia contributes to impairment in decision-making. This study included 42 participants with high scores in the Chinese version of Toronto Alexithymia Scale (alexithymia group), and 44 matched subjects with low scores (control group). Decision-making was measured using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT). The main findings of this study revealed selective deficits in IGT performance for the alexithymia group, while GDT performance was unimpaired when compared with the control group. In IGT, total netscores were lower for the alexithymia group compared to the control group, particularly with regard to block 5. Moreover, the alexithymia individuals selected significantly more adverse cards than the controls, indicating significant decision-making impairments. Alexithymia selectively influences decision-making under ambiguity.

Electrophysiological Responses to Expectancy Violations in Semantic and Gambling Tasks: A Comparison of Different EEG Reference Approaches

PubMed Central

Li, Ya; Wang, Yongchun; Zhang, Baoqiang; Wang, Yonghui; Zhou, Xiaolin

2018-01-01

Dynamically evaluating the outcomes of our actions and thoughts is a fundamental cognitive ability. Given its excellent temporal resolution, the event-related potential (ERP) technology has been used to address this issue. The feedback-related negativity (FRN) component of ERPs has been studied intensively with the averaged linked mastoid reference method (LM). However, it is unknown whether FRN can be induced by an expectancy violation in an antonym relations context and whether LM is the most suitable reference approach. To address these issues, the current research directly compared the ERP components induced by expectancy violations in antonym expectation and gambling tasks with a within-subjects design and investigated the effect of the reference approach on the experimental effects. Specifically, we systematically compared the influence of the LM, reference electrode standardization technique (REST) and average reference (AVE) approaches on the amplitude, scalp distribution and magnitude of ERP effects as a function of expectancy violation type. The expectancy deviation in the antonym expectation task elicited an N400 effect that differed from the FRN effect induced in the gambling task; this difference was confirmed by all the three reference methods. Both the amplitudes of the ERP effects (N400 and FRN) and the magnitude as the expectancy violation increased were greater under the LM approach than those under the REST approach, followed by those under the AVE approach. Based on the statistical results, the electrode sites that showed the N400 and FRN effects critically depended on the reference method, and the results of the REST analysis were consistent with previous ERP studies. Combined with evidence from simulation studies, we suggest that REST is an optional reference method to be used in future ERP data analysis. PMID:29615858

The Neural Basis of Decision-Making and Reward Processing in Adults with Euthymic Bipolar Disorder or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

PubMed Central

Ibanez, Agustin; Cetkovich, Marcelo; Petroni, Agustin; Urquina, Hugo; Baez, Sandra; Gonzalez-Gadea, Maria Luz; Kamienkowski, Juan Esteban; Torralva, Teresa; Torrente, Fernando; Strejilevich, Sergio; Teitelbaum, Julia; Hurtado, Esteban; Guex, Raphael; Melloni, Margherita; Lischinsky, Alicia; Sigman, Mariano; Manes, Facundo

2012-01-01

Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder (BD) share DSM-IV criteria in adults and cause problems in decision-making. Nevertheless, no previous report has assessed a decision-making task that includes the examination of the neural correlates of reward and gambling in adults with ADHD and those with BD. Methodology/Principal Findings We used the Iowa gambling task (IGT), a task of rational decision-making under risk (RDMUR) and a rapid-decision gambling task (RDGT) which elicits behavioral measures as well as event-related potentials (ERPs: fERN and P3) in connection to the motivational impact of events. We did not observe between-group differences for decision-making under risk or ambiguity (RDMUR and IGT); however, there were significant differences for the ERP-assessed RDGT. Compared to controls, the ADHD group showed a pattern of impaired learning by feedback (fERN) and insensitivity to reward magnitude (P3). This ERP pattern (fERN and P3) was associated with impulsivity, hyperactivity, executive function and working memory. Compared to controls, the BD group showed fERN- and P3-enhanced responses to reward magnitude regardless of valence. This ERP pattern (fERN and P3) was associated with mood and inhibitory control. Consistent with the ERP findings, an analysis of source location revealed reduced responses of the cingulate cortex to the valence and magnitude of rewards in patients with ADHD and BD. Conclusions/Significance Our data suggest that neurophysiological (ERPs) paradigms such as the RDGT are well suited to assess subclinical decision-making processes in patients with ADHD and BD as well as for linking the cingulate cortex with action monitoring systems. PMID:22624011

The neural basis of decision-making and reward processing in adults with euthymic bipolar disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

PubMed

Ibanez, Agustin; Cetkovich, Marcelo; Petroni, Agustin; Urquina, Hugo; Baez, Sandra; Gonzalez-Gadea, Maria Luz; Kamienkowski, Juan Esteban; Torralva, Teresa; Torrente, Fernando; Strejilevich, Sergio; Teitelbaum, Julia; Hurtado, Esteban; Guex, Raphael; Melloni, Margherita; Lischinsky, Alicia; Sigman, Mariano; Manes, Facundo

2012-01-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder (BD) share DSM-IV criteria in adults and cause problems in decision-making. Nevertheless, no previous report has assessed a decision-making task that includes the examination of the neural correlates of reward and gambling in adults with ADHD and those with BD. We used the Iowa gambling task (IGT), a task of rational decision-making under risk (RDMUR) and a rapid-decision gambling task (RDGT) which elicits behavioral measures as well as event-related potentials (ERPs: fERN and P3) in connection to the motivational impact of events. We did not observe between-group differences for decision-making under risk or ambiguity (RDMUR and IGT); however, there were significant differences for the ERP-assessed RDGT. Compared to controls, the ADHD group showed a pattern of impaired learning by feedback (fERN) and insensitivity to reward magnitude (P3). This ERP pattern (fERN and P3) was associated with impulsivity, hyperactivity, executive function and working memory. Compared to controls, the BD group showed fERN- and P3-enhanced responses to reward magnitude regardless of valence. This ERP pattern (fERN and P3) was associated with mood and inhibitory control. Consistent with the ERP findings, an analysis of source location revealed reduced responses of the cingulate cortex to the valence and magnitude of rewards in patients with ADHD and BD. Our data suggest that neurophysiological (ERPs) paradigms such as the RDGT are well suited to assess subclinical decision-making processes in patients with ADHD and BD as well as for linking the cingulate cortex with action monitoring systems.

In Search of Executive Impairment in Pathological Gambling: A Neuropsychological Study on Non-treatment Seeking Gamblers.

PubMed

Kapsomenakis, Alexandros; Simos, Panagiotis G; Konstantakopoulos, Georgios; Kasselimis, Dimitrios S

2018-02-17

Pathological gambling is characterized by a persisting maladaptive and recurrent behavior with severe social and psychological consequences. There is evidence of strong comorbidity with psychiatric manifestations as well as cognitive mainly involving executive functions. This study aimed to investigate impairment in executive functions and working memory, and personality traits in a sample of Greek gamblers. Twenty-four men involved in various gambling activities were recruited from ecological settings as probable pathological gamblers. They were assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery involving several executive tasks, the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire, the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. An age- and education-level matched group of 21 men without history of habitual gambling served as controls. As a group, gamblers displayed significantly lower scores on indices of inhibition, decision making and self-reported emotional awareness, and scored higher on impulsivity/sensation seeking personality traits. Notably, gamblers scored similarly or significantly higher on measures of verbal and visuospatial working memory, cognitive flexibility, processing speed, verbal fluency, and sustained attention. Overall, we argue that gamblers do present with specific cognitive deficits, but there is no evidence for a generalized executive impairment, and further stress the importance of investigating cognitive, personality, and psychiatric aspects of gambling on the basis of an ecologically valid sampling.

Single-trial EEG-informed fMRI analysis of emotional decision problems in hot executive function.

PubMed

Guo, Qian; Zhou, Tiantong; Li, Wenjie; Dong, Li; Wang, Suhong; Zou, Ling

2017-07-01

Executive function refers to conscious control in psychological process which relates to thinking and action. Emotional decision is a part of hot executive function and contains emotion and logic elements. As a kind of important social adaptation ability, more and more attention has been paid in recent years. Gambling task can be well performed in the study of emotional decision. As fMRI researches focused on gambling task show not completely consistent brain activation regions, this study adopted EEG-fMRI fusion technology to reveal brain neural activity related with feedback stimuli. In this study, an EEG-informed fMRI analysis was applied to process simultaneous EEG-fMRI data. First, relative power-spectrum analysis and K-means clustering method were performed separately to extract EEG-fMRI features. Then, Generalized linear models were structured using fMRI data and using different EEG features as regressors. The results showed that in the win versus loss stimuli, the activated regions almost covered the caudate, the ventral striatum (VS), the orbital frontal cortex (OFC), and the cingulate. Wide activation areas associated with reward and punishment were revealed by the EEG-fMRI integration analysis than the conventional fMRI results, such as the posterior cingulate and the OFC. The VS and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) were found when EEG power features were performed as regressors of GLM compared with results entering the amplitudes of feedback-related negativity (FRN) as regressors. Furthermore, the brain region activation intensity was the strongest when theta-band power was used as a regressor compared with the other two fusion results. The EEG-based fMRI analysis can more accurately depict the whole-brain activation map and analyze emotional decision problems.

The neural correlates of risky decision making across short and long runs

PubMed Central

Rao, Li-Lin; Dunn, John C.; Zhou, Yuan; Li, Shu

2015-01-01

People frequently change their preferences for options of gambles which they play once compared to those they play multiple times. In general, preferences for repeated play gambles are more consistent with the expected values of the options. According to the one-process view, the change in preference is due to a change in the structure of the gamble that is relevant to decision making. According to the two-process view, the change is attributable to a shift in the decision making strategy that is used. To adjudicate between these two theories, we asked participants to choose between gambles played once or 100 times, and to choose between them based on their expected value. Consistent with the two-process theory, we found a set of brain regions that were sensitive to the extent of behavioral change between single and aggregated play and also showed significant (de)activation in the expected value choice task. These results support the view that people change their decision making strategies for risky choice considered once or multiple times. PMID:26516095

The impact of precommitment on risk-taking while gambling: A preliminary study

PubMed Central

Brevers, Damien; Noel, Xavier; Clark, Luke; Zyuzin, Jekaterina; Justin park, Joohwan; Bechara, Antoine

2016-01-01

Background and aims Precommitment refers to the ability to prospectively restrict the access to temptations. This study examined whether risk-taking during gambling is decreased when an individual has the opportunity to precommit to his forthcoming bet. Methods Sixty individuals participated in a gambling task that consisted of direct choice (simply chose one monetary option among four available ones, ranging from low-risk to high-risk options) or precommitment trials (before choosing an amount, participants had the opportunity to make a binding choice that made high-risk options unavailable). Results We found that participants utilized the precommitment option, such that risk-taking was decreased on precommitment trials compared to direct choices. Within the precommitment trials, there was no significant difference in risk-taking following decisions to restrict versus non-restrict. Discussion These findings suggest that the opportunity to precommit may be sufficient to reduce the attractiveness of risk. Conclusions Present results might be exploited to create interventions aiming at enhancing one’s ability to anticipate self-control failures while gambling. PMID:28092193

DSM-based problem gambling: increasing the odds of heavy drinking in a national sample of U.S. college athletes?

PubMed

Huang, Jiun-Hau; Jacobs, Durand F; Derevensky, Jeffrey L

2011-03-01

Despite previously found co-occurrence of youth gambling and alcohol use, their relationship has not been systematically explored in a national sample using DSM-based gambling measures and multivariate modeling, adjusted for potential confounders. This study aimed to empirically examine the prevalence patterns and odds of at-least-weekly alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking (HED) in relation to various levels of gambling severity in college athletes. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed on data from a national sample of 20,739 U.S. college athletes from the first National Collegiate Athletic Association national survey of gambling and health-risk behaviors. Prevalence of at-least-weekly alcohol use significantly increased as DSM-IV-based gambling severity increased, from non-gambling (24.5%) to non-problem gambling (43.7%) to sub-clinical gambling (58.5%) to problem gambling (67.6%). Multivariate results indicated that all levels of gambling were associated with significantly elevated risk of at-least-weekly HED, from non-problem (OR = 1.25) to sub-clinical (OR = 1.75) to problem gambling (OR = 3.22); the steep increase in the relative risk also suggested a possible quadratic relationship between gambling level and HED risk. Notably, adjusted odds ratios showed problem gambling had the strongest association with at-least-weekly HED, followed by marijuana (OR = 3.08) and cigarette use (OR = 2.64). Gender interactions and differences were also identified and assessed. In conclusion, attention should be paid to college athletes exhibiting gambling problems, especially considering their empirical multivariate associations with high-risk drinking; accordingly, screening for problem gambling is recommended. More research is warranted to elucidate the etiologic mechanisms of these associations. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impaired decision-making under risk in individuals with alcohol dependence

PubMed Central

Brevers, Damien; Bechara, Antoine; Cleeremans, Axel; Kornreich, Charles; Verbanck, Paul; Noël, Xavier

2014-01-01

Background Alcohol dependence is associated with poor decision-making under ambiguity, that is, when decisions are to be made in the absence of known probabilities of reward and loss. However, little is known regarding decisions made by individuals with alcohol dependence in the context of known probabilities (decision under risk). In this study, we investigated the relative contribution of these distinct aspects of decision making to alcohol dependence. Methods Thirty recently detoxified and sober asymptomatic alcohol-dependent individuals, and thirty healthy control participants were tested for decision-making under ambiguity (using the Iowa Gambling Task), and decision-making under-risk (using the Cups Task and Coin Flipping Task). We also tested their capacities for working memory storage (Digit-span Forward), and dual-tasking (Operation-span Task). Results Compared to healthy control participants, alcohol-dependent individuals made disadvantageous decisions on the Iowa Gambling Task, reflecting poor decisions under ambiguity. They also made more risky choices on the Cups and Coin Flipping Tasks reflecting poor decision-making under risk. In addition, alcohol-dependent participants showed some working memory impairments, as measured by the dual tasking, and the degree of this impairment correlated with high-risk decision-making, thus suggesting a relationship between processes sub-serving working memory and risky decisions. Conclusion These results suggest that alcohol dependent individuals are impaired in their ability to decide optimally in multiple facets of uncertainty (i.e., both risk and ambiguity), and that at least some aspects of these deficits are linked to poor working memory processes. PMID:24948198

Genome-wide Association Study of a Quantitative Disordered Gambling Trait

PubMed Central

Lind, Penelope A.; Zhu, Gu; Montgomery, Grant W; Madden, Pamela A.F.; Heath, Andrew C.; Martin, Nicholas G.; Slutske, Wendy S.

2012-01-01

Disordered gambling is a moderately heritable trait, but the underlying genetic basis is largely unknown. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for disordered gambling using a quantitative factor score in 1,312 twins from 894 Australian families. Association was conducted for 2,381,914 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using the family-based association test in Merlin followed by gene and pathway enrichment analyses. Although no SNP reached genome-wide significance, six achieved P-values < 1 × 10−5 with variants in three genes (MT1X, ATXN1 and VLDLR) implicated in disordered gambling. Secondary case-control analyses found two SNPs on chromosome 9 (rs1106076 and rs12305135 near VLDLR) and rs10812227 near FZD10 on chromosome 12 to be significantly associated with lifetime DSM-IV pathological gambling and SOGS classified probable pathological gambling status. Furthermore, several addiction-related pathways were enriched for SNPs associated with disordered gambling. Finally, gene-based analysis of 24 candidate genes for dopamine agonist induced gambling in individuals with Parkinson’s disease suggested an enrichment of SNPs associated with disordered gambling. We report the first GWAS of disordered gambling. While further replication is required, the identification of susceptibility loci and biological pathways will be important in characterizing the biological mechanisms that underpin disordered gambling. PMID:22780124

A biopsychological review of gambling disorder

PubMed Central

Quintero, Gabriel C

2017-01-01

The present review is an overview of previous experimental work on biopsychological aspects of gambling disorder. It includes the topics 1) gambling disorder from the neuroimaging and electroencephalography (EEG) perspective, 2) cognitive, executive functioning, and neuropsychological aspects of gambling disorder, and 3) rodent models of gambling disorder. Penalties and losses in gambling can differ in terms of brain activity. Also, specific patterns of brain activity, brain anatomical traits, EEG responses, and cognitive and executive performance can discriminate pathological gamblers from nonpathological gamblers. Also, pathological gamblers can display dysfunction in such brain areas as the insula, frontal lobe, and orbitofrontal cortex. Pathological gambling is a heterogeneous disorder that can vary depending on the severity of cognition, the style of gambling (strategic or not), the prospect of recovery, proneness to relapse, and proneness to treatment withdrawal. Finally, based on rodent models of gambling, the appropriateness of gambling decision is influenced by the presence of cues, the activity of dopamine receptors, and the activity of some brain areas (infralimbic, prelimbic, or rostral agranular insular cortex). Pathological gamblers differed in terms of frontoparietal brain activation compared to nonpathological gamblers (if winning or losing a game). Pathological gamblers had dysfunctional EEG activity. The severity of gambling was linked to the magnification and content of cognitive distortions. The insula was fundamental in the distortion of cognitions linked to result analysis during gambling activity. PMID:28096672

A model-based analysis of impulsivity using a slot-machine gambling paradigm

PubMed Central

Paliwal, Saee; Petzschner, Frederike H.; Schmitz, Anna Katharina; Tittgemeyer, Marc; Stephan, Klaas E.

2014-01-01

Impulsivity plays a key role in decision-making under uncertainty. It is a significant contributor to problem and pathological gambling (PG). Standard assessments of impulsivity by questionnaires, however, have various limitations, partly because impulsivity is a broad, multi-faceted concept. What remains unclear is which of these facets contribute to shaping gambling behavior. In the present study, we investigated impulsivity as expressed in a gambling setting by applying computational modeling to data from 47 healthy male volunteers who played a realistic, virtual slot-machine gambling task. Behaviorally, we found that impulsivity, as measured independently by the 11th revision of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), correlated significantly with an aggregate read-out of the following gambling responses: bet increases (BIs), machines switches (MS), casino switches (CS), and double-ups (DUs). Using model comparison, we compared a set of hierarchical Bayesian belief-updating models, i.e., the Hierarchical Gaussian Filter (HGF) and Rescorla–Wagner reinforcement learning (RL) models, with regard to how well they explained different aspects of the behavioral data. We then examined the construct validity of our winning models with multiple regression, relating subject-specific model parameter estimates to the individual BIS-11 total scores. In the most predictive model (a three-level HGF), the two free parameters encoded uncertainty-dependent mechanisms of belief updates and significantly explained BIS-11 variance across subjects. Furthermore, in this model, decision noise was a function of trial-wise uncertainty about winning probability. Collectively, our results provide a proof of concept that hierarchical Bayesian models can characterize the decision-making mechanisms linked to the impulsive traits of an individual. These novel indices of gambling mechanisms unmasked during actual play may be useful for online prevention measures for at-risk players and future assessments of PG. PMID:25071497

Effects of High Frequency Repeated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation on Gambling Reinforcement, Delay Discounting, and Stroop Interference in Men with Pathological Gambling.

PubMed

Zack, Martin; Cho, Sang Soo; Parlee, Jennifer; Jacobs, Mark; Li, Crystal; Boileau, Isabelle; Strafella, Antonio

Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can reduce cravings and improve cognitive function in substance dependent individuals. Whether these benefits extend to individuals with pathological gambling (PG) is unclear. High-frequency rTMS of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) of the right dorsolateral PFC can reduce impulsive choice in healthy volunteers. This study aimed to assess the effects of these two protocols on gambling reinforcement and related responses in otherwise healthy men with PG. Participants (n = 9) underwent active or sham treatments at weekly intervals in a repeated-measures, Latin square design. Subjective and physiological responses were assessed before and after a 15-min slot machine game on each session. Delay discounting and Stroop tasks measured post-game impulsive choice and attentional control. Multivariate analysis of covariance, controlling for winnings on the slot machine under each treatment, found that rTMS reduced the post-game increase in Desire to Gamble; cTBS reduced amphetamine-like effects, and decreased diastolic blood pressure. Treatment had no significant univariate effects on bet size or speed of play in the game; however, a multivariate effect for the two indices suggested that treatment decreased behavioral activation. Neither treatment reduced impulsive choice, while both treatments increased Stroop interference. rTMS and cTBS can reduce gambling reinforcement in non-comorbid men with PG. Separate processes appear to mediate gambling reinforcement and betting behavior as against delay discounting and Stroop interference. Interventions that modify risky as opposed to temporal aspects of decision making may better predict therapeutic response in PG. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gambling problem severity and psychiatric disorders among Hispanic and white adults: findings from a nationally representative sample.

PubMed

Barry, Declan T; Stefanovics, Elina A; Desai, Rani A; Potenza, Marc N

2011-03-01

To examine differences in the associations of gambling problem severity and psychiatric disorders among a nationally representative sample of Hispanic and white adults. Chi-square tests and multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed on data obtained from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions from 31,830 adult respondents (13% Hispanic; 87% white), who were categorized according to three levels of gambling problem severity (i.e., no gambling or low-frequency gambling [NG], low-risk or at-risk gambling [LRG], problem or pathological gambling [PPG]). Hispanic respondents in comparison to white respondents were more likely to exhibit PPG. Problem gambling severity was associated with past-year Axis I and lifetime Axis II psychiatric disorders in both Hispanic and white respondents, with the largest odds typically observed in association with the most severe gambling pathology. A stronger relationship between subsyndromal gambling and a broad range of Axis I disorders (mood, anxiety and substance use disorders) and Axis II disorders (particularly cluster B) was observed in Hispanic respondents as compared to white ones. Levels of problem gambling severity are associated with the prevalence of Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders in both Hispanics and whites. Differences in the patterns of co-occurring disorders between subsyndromal levels of gambling in Hispanic and white respondents indicate the importance of considering ethnicity/race-related factors related to subthreshold levels of gambling in developing improved mental health prevention and treatment strategies. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seeing the forest through the trees: improving decision making on the Iowa gambling task by shifting focus from short- to long-term outcomes

PubMed Central

Buelow, Melissa T.; Okdie, Bradley M.; Blaine, Amber L.

2013-01-01

Introduction: The present study sought to examine two methods by which to improve decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT): inducing a negative mood and providing additional learning trials. Method: In the first study, 194 undergraduate students [74 male; Mage = 19.44 (SD = 3.69)] were randomly assigned to view a series of pictures to induce a positive, negative, or neutral mood immediately prior to the IGT. In the second study, 276 undergraduate students [111 male; Mage = 19.18 (SD = 2.58)] completed a delay discounting task and back-to-back administrations of the IGT. Results: Participants in an induced negative mood selected more from Deck C during the final trials than those in an induced positive mood. Providing additional learning trials resulted in better decision making: participants shifted their focus from the frequency of immediate gains/losses (i.e., a preference for Decks B and D) to long-term outcomes (i.e., a preference for Deck D). In addition, disadvantageous decision making on the additional learning trials was associated with larger delay discounting (i.e., a preference for more immediate but smaller rewards). Conclusions: The present results indicate that decision making is affected by negative mood state, and that decision making can be improved by increasing the number of learning trials. In addition, the current results provide evidence of a relationship between performance on the IGT and on a separate measure of decision making, the delay discounting task. Moreover, the present results indicate that improved decision making on the IGT can be attributed to shifting focus toward long-term outcomes, as evidenced by increased selections from advantageous decks as well as correlations between the IGT and delay discounting task. Implications for the assessment of decision making using the IGT are discussed. PMID:24151485

Prevention of problematic gambling behavior among adolescents: testing the efficacy of an integrative intervention.

PubMed

Donati, Maria Anna; Primi, Caterina; Chiesi, Francesca

2014-12-01

This study aimed at testing the efficacy of an integrative intervention to prevent adolescent problem gambling acting on a multidimensional set of factors including gambling related knowledge and misconceptions, economic perception of gambling, and superstitious thinking. A pre- and post-test design was performed with 181 Italian adolescents (64% boys; Mean age = 15.95) randomly assigned to two groups (Training and No Training). Results revealed that the intervention was effective in improving correct knowledge about gambling and reducing misconceptions, perception of gambling's profitability, and superstitious thinking. Except for misconceptions, these effects were obtained both in participants who were classified as Non-problem and At-Risk/Problem gamblers at the beginning of the intervention. Findings attested also that the training effects were stable over time, and that some changes in gambling behavior were produced. Findings were discussed referring to indications for future research aiming at confirming and extending the present results.

The Somatic Marker Hypothesis and Sexual Decision Making: Understanding the Role of Iowa Gambling Task Performance and Daily Sexual Arousal on the Sexual Behavior of Gay and Bisexual Men.

PubMed

Rendina, H Jonathon; Millar, Brett M; Dash, Genevieve; Feldstein Ewing, Sarah W; Parsons, Jeffrey T

2018-04-19

The sexual decision-making literature suggests that sexual arousal and behavior are associated. The somatic marker hypothesis suggests that individual neuropsychological differences in decision making, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), may moderate these associations; however, this hypothesis has yet to be tested with event-level sexual behavior data. We hypothesized that (a) daily sexual arousal would be positively associated with likelihood of engaging in sex and condomless anal sex (CAS) and (b) IGT scores would moderate these associations such that the associations would be stronger among those with higher IGT scores. We used daily diary data from 334 highly sexually active gay and bisexual men to examine the main and interaction effects of sexual arousal and IGT scores on sexual engagement and CAS. As hypothesized, daily sexual arousal was positively associated with greater odds of both sexual engagement and CAS with casual male partners. Individual-level IGT performance significantly moderated the day-level association between arousal and sexual engagement, which was stronger for men with higher IGT scores. There was no main effect of IGT scores on either sexual behavior outcome, nor did it moderate the association between arousal and CAS. These findings highlight the influence of sexual arousal on sexual engagement, which differed by IGT scores; the effect of arousal on CAS was much less variable and may not be moderated by neurocognitive factors. This study supports the importance of exploring integrated behavioral/biomedical interventions to improve individual decision making to prevent HIV infection.

The impact of frontal and cerebellar lesions on decision making: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Cardoso, Caroline de Oliveira; Branco, Laura Damiani; Cotrena, Charles; Kristensen, Christian Haag; Schneider Bakos, Daniela Di Giorge; Fonseca, Rochele Paz

2014-01-01

Although the frontal lobes have traditionally been considered the neural substrates of executive functioning (EF), recent studies have suggested that other structures, such as the cerebellum, may be associated with these abilities. The role of the cerebellum has only been sparsely investigated in connection with decision making (DM), an important component of EF, and the few results obtained on this front have been inconclusive. The current study sought to investigate the role of the cerebellum in DM by comparing the performance of patients with cerebellar strokes, frontal-damaged patients, and a healthy control group on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). A total of nine cerebellar-damaged adults participated in the study, as well as nine individuals with frontal strokes and 18 control individuals. Patients were administered a version of the IGT adapted to the population of Southern Brazil. There was a marginal difference in mean IGT net scores between the two clinical groups, although both displayed impaired performance as compared to the control group. Overall, the DM ability of patients with cerebellar damage proved to be more preserved than that of individuals with frontal lobe strokes, but less preserved than that of the control group. These data suggested that, while the frontal lobes may be the most important brain structures for DM, the cerebellum might also play an active role in this cognitive function. Future studies assessing participants with lesions in different cerebellar regions and hemispheres will prove invaluable for the understanding of the neural structures involved in DM, and make significant contributions to the globalist-localizationist debate in DM neuroscience. PMID:24782697

Depressive symptoms and poorer performance on the Stroop Task are associated with weight gain.

PubMed

Stinson, Emma J; Krakoff, Jonathan; Gluck, Marci E

2018-03-15

Executive function impairments and depression are associated with obesity but whether they predict weight gain is unclear. Forty-six individuals (35m, 37±10y) completed the Stroop Task, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST), Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-SR), Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Body composition (DXA) and fasting glucose were also measured. Data from return visits were used to assess changes in weight. Poorer Stroop and WCST performance associated with higher BMI whereas poorer IGT and WCST performance associated with higher body fat (%; all p's≤0.05). Stroop interference (p=0.04; p=0.05) and IDS-SR (p=0.06; p=0.02) associated with increased BMI and weight gain (%/yr). In a multivariate linear model Stroop interference (β=0.40, p<0.01; β=0.35, p<0.01) and IDS-SR (β=0.38, p<0.01; β=0.37, p<0.01) independently predicted increased BMI and weight gain (%/yr) even after controlling for baseline weight and glucose levels. Poorer response inhibition and depressive symptoms, but not glucose levels, predicted weight gain. Evaluating neurocognitive and mood deficits could improve current treatment strategies for weight loss. Clinical Trial Registration Numbers NCT00523627, NCT00342732, NCT01224704. clinicaltrials.gov. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Aging and risky decision-making: New ERP evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Di Rosa, Elisa; Mapelli, Daniela; Arcara, Giorgio; Amodio, Piero; Tamburin, Stefano; Schiff, Sami

2017-02-15

Several pieces of evidence have highlighted the presence of an age-related decline in risky decision-making (DM), but the reason of this decline is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neural correlates of feedback processing in risky DM. Twenty-one younger (age <50 years) and 15 older (age >50 years) adults were tested with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) during Event Related Potentials (ERP) recording. The analysis was focused on the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and P3, two ERP components that represent different stages of feedback processing. Behavioral results revealed that older adults, despite showing a significant learning trend, completed the IGT with a gain of a smaller amount of money compared to the younger ones. ERP results revealed that while the FRN response was comparable in the two groups, the P3 amplitude was significantly reduced after negative feedback in older adults, compared with the younger ones. Furthermore, the difference in the P3 amplitude evoked by positive and negative feedback was significantly correlated with age. Hence, the present findings suggest that older adults seem to be less willing to shift attention from positive to negative information, and that this relevant change in the later stages of feedback processing could be the cause of a poor performance in risky DM contexts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Conditional responding is impaired in chronic alcoholics.

PubMed

Hildebrandt, Helmut; Brokate, B; Hoffmann, E; Kröger, B; Eling, P

2006-07-01

Bechara (2003) describes a model for disturbances in executive functions related to addiction. This model involves deficits in decision-making and in suppressing pre-potent representations or response patterns. We tested this model in 29 individuals with long-term heavy alcohol dependency and compared their performance with that of 20 control subjects. Only individuals without memory impairment, with normal intelligence and normal visual response times were included. We examined word fluency, object alternation, spatial stimulus-response incompatibility, extra-dimensional shift learning and decision-making using the Gambling task. We subtracted the performance in a control condition from that of the executive condition, in order to focus specifically on the executive component of each task. Only the object alternation and incompatibility tasks revealed significant differences between the group of alcoholics and the control group. Moreover, response times in the object alternation task correlated with duration of alcohol dependency. The results do not argue in favor of a specific deficit in decision-making or in shifting between relevant representations. We conclude that long-term alcohol abuse leads to an impairment in conditional responding, provided the response depends on former reactions or the inhibition of pre-potent response patterns.

Always Gamble on an Empty Stomach: Hunger Is Associated with Advantageous Decision Making

PubMed Central

de Ridder, Denise; Kroese, Floor; Adriaanse, Marieke; Evers, Catharine

2014-01-01

Three experimental studies examined the counterintuitive hypothesis that hunger improves strategic decision making, arguing that people in a hot state are better able to make favorable decisions involving uncertain outcomes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that participants with more hunger or greater appetite made more advantageous choices in the Iowa Gambling Task compared to sated participants or participants with a smaller appetite. Study 3 revealed that hungry participants were better able to appreciate future big rewards in a delay discounting task; and that, in spite of their perception of increased rewarding value of both food and monetary objects, hungry participants were not more inclined to take risks to get the object of their desire. Together, these studies for the first time provide evidence that hot states improve decision making under uncertain conditions, challenging the conventional conception of the detrimental role of impulsivity in decision making. PMID:25340399

Always gamble on an empty stomach: hunger is associated with advantageous decision making.

PubMed

de Ridder, Denise; Kroese, Floor; Adriaanse, Marieke; Evers, Catharine

2014-01-01

Three experimental studies examined the counterintuitive hypothesis that hunger improves strategic decision making, arguing that people in a hot state are better able to make favorable decisions involving uncertain outcomes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that participants with more hunger or greater appetite made more advantageous choices in the Iowa Gambling Task compared to sated participants or participants with a smaller appetite. Study 3 revealed that hungry participants were better able to appreciate future big rewards in a delay discounting task; and that, in spite of their perception of increased rewarding value of both food and monetary objects, hungry participants were not more inclined to take risks to get the object of their desire. Together, these studies for the first time provide evidence that hot states improve decision making under uncertain conditions, challenging the conventional conception of the detrimental role of impulsivity in decision making.

Overlapping Risky Decision-Making and Olfactory Processing Ability in HIV-Infected Individuals.

PubMed

Jackson, Christopher; Rai, Narayan; McLean, Charlee K; Hipolito, Maria Mananita S; Hamilton, Flora Terrell; Kapetanovic, Suad; Nwulia, Evaristus A

2017-09-01

Given neuroimaging evidences of overlap in the circuitries for decision-making and olfactory processing, we examined the hypothesis that impairment in psychophysical tasks of olfaction would independently predict poor performances on Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a laboratory task that closely mimics real-life decision-making, in a US cohort of HIV-infected (HIV+) individuals. IGT and psychophysical tasks of olfaction were administered to a Washington DC-based cohort of largely African American HIV+ subjects (N=100), and to a small number of demographically-matched non-HIV healthy controls (N=43) from a different study. Constructs of olfactory ability and decision-making were examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural equation models (SEMs) were used to evaluate the validity of the path relationship between these two constructs. The 100 HIV+ participants (56% female; 96% African Americans; median age = 48 years) had median CD4 count of 576 cells/μl and median HIV RNA viral load <48 copies per milliliter. Majority of HIV+ participants performed randomly throughout the course of IGT tasks, and failed to demonstrate a learning curve. Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a unidimensional factor underlying poor performances on IGT. Nomological validity for correlations between olfactory ability and IGT performance was confirmed through SEM. Finally, factor scores of olfactory ability and IGT performance strongly predicted 6 months history of drug use, while olfaction additionally predicted hallucinogen use. This study suggests that combination of simple, office-based tasks of olfaction and decision-making may identify those HIV+ individuals who are more prone to risky decision-making. This finding may have significant clinical, public health value if joint impairments in olfaction and IGT task correlates with more decreased activity in brain regions relevant to decision-making.

Executive functions, information sampling, and decision making in narcolepsy with cataplexy.

PubMed

Delazer, Margarete; Högl, Birgit; Zamarian, Laura; Wenter, Johanna; Gschliesser, Viola; Ehrmann, Laura; Brandauer, Elisabeth; Cevikkol, Zehra; Frauscher, Birgit

2011-07-01

Narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC) affects neurotransmitter systems regulating emotions and cognitive functions. This study aimed to assess executive functions, information sampling, reward processing, and decision making in NC. Twenty-one NC patients and 58 healthy participants performed an extensive neuropsychological test battery. NC patients scored as controls in executive function tasks assessing set shifting, reversal learning, working memory, and planning. Group differences appeared in a task measuring information sampling and reward sensitivity. NC patients gathered less information, tolerated a higher level of uncertainty, and were less influenced by reward contingencies than controls. NC patients also showed reduced learning in decision making and had significantly lower scores than controls in the fifth block of the IOWA gambling task. No correlations were found with measures of sleepiness. NC patients may achieve high performance in several neuropsychological domains, including executive functions. Specific differences between NC patients and controls highlight the importance of the hypocretin system in reward processing and decision making and are in line with previous neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved.

Social signals of safety and risk confer utility and have asymmetric effects on observers' choices.

PubMed

Chung, Dongil; Christopoulos, George I; King-Casas, Brooks; Ball, Sheryl B; Chiu, Pearl H

2015-06-01

Individuals' risk attitudes are known to guide choices about uncertain options. However, in the presence of others' decisions, these choices can be swayed and manifest as riskier or safer behavior than one would express alone. To test the mechanisms underlying effective social 'nudges' in human decision-making, we used functional neuroimaging and a task in which participants made choices about gambles alone and after observing others' selections. Against three alternative explanations, we found that observing others' choices of gambles increased the subjective value (utility) of those gambles for the observer. This 'other-conferred utility' was encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and these neural signals predicted conformity. We further identified a parametric interaction with individual risk preferences in anterior cingulate cortex and insula. These data provide a neuromechanistic account of how information from others is integrated with individual preferences that may explain preference-congruent susceptibility to social signals of safety and risk.

Rodent Versions of the Iowa Gambling Task: Opportunities and Challenges for the Understanding of Decision-Making

PubMed Central

de Visser, Leonie; Homberg, Judith R.; Mitsogiannis, Manuela; Zeeb, Fiona D.; Rivalan, Marion; Fitoussi, Aurélie; Galhardo, Vasco; van den Bos, Ruud; Winstanley, Catherine A.; Dellu-Hagedorn, Françoise

2011-01-01

Impaired decision-making is a core problem in several psychiatric disorders including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive–compulsive disorder, mania, drug addiction, eating disorders, and substance abuse as well as in chronic pain. To ensure progress in the understanding of the neuropathophysiology of these disorders, animal models with good construct and predictive validity are indispensable. Many human studies aimed at measuring decision-making capacities use the Iowa gambling task (IGT), a task designed to model everyday life choices through a conflict between immediate gratification and long-term outcomes. Recently, new rodent models based on the same principle have been developed to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying IGT-like decision-making on behavioral, neural, and pharmacological levels. The comparative strengths, as well as the similarities and differences between these paradigms are discussed. The contribution of these models to elucidate the neurobehavioral factors that lead to poor decision-making and to the development of better treatments for psychiatric illness is considered, along with important future directions and potential limitations. PMID:22013406

A potential role of reward and punishment in the facilitation of the emotion-cognition dichotomy in the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Singh, Varsha

2013-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is based on the assumption that a decision maker is equally motivated to seek reward and avoid punishment, and that decision making is governed solely by the intertemporal attribute (i.e., preference for an option that produces an immediate outcome instead of one that yields a delayed outcome is believed to reflect risky decision making and is considered a deficit). It was assumed in the present study that the emotion- and cognition-based processing dichotomy manifests in the IGT as reward and punishment frequency and the intertemporal attribute. It was further proposed that the delineation of emotion- and cognition-based processing is contingent upon reward and punishment as manifested in the frame of the task (variant type) and task motivation (instruction type). The effects of IGT variant type (reward vs. punishment) and instruction type (task motivation induced by instruction types: reward, punishment, reward and punishment, or no hint) on the intertemporal and frequency attributes of IGT decision-making were analyzed. Decision making in the reward variant was equally governed by both attributes, and significantly affected by instruction type, while decision making in the punishment variant was differentially affected by the two attributes and not significantly impacted by instruction type. These results suggest that reward and punishment manifested via task frame as well as the task motivation may facilitate the differentiation of emotion- and cognition-based processing in the IGT.

A potential role of reward and punishment in the facilitation of the emotion-cognition dichotomy in the Iowa Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Singh, Varsha

2013-01-01

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is based on the assumption that a decision maker is equally motivated to seek reward and avoid punishment, and that decision making is governed solely by the intertemporal attribute (i.e., preference for an option that produces an immediate outcome instead of one that yields a delayed outcome is believed to reflect risky decision making and is considered a deficit). It was assumed in the present study that the emotion- and cognition-based processing dichotomy manifests in the IGT as reward and punishment frequency and the intertemporal attribute. It was further proposed that the delineation of emotion- and cognition-based processing is contingent upon reward and punishment as manifested in the frame of the task (variant type) and task motivation (instruction type). The effects of IGT variant type (reward vs. punishment) and instruction type (task motivation induced by instruction types: reward, punishment, reward and punishment, or no hint) on the intertemporal and frequency attributes of IGT decision-making were analyzed. Decision making in the reward variant was equally governed by both attributes, and significantly affected by instruction type, while decision making in the punishment variant was differentially affected by the two attributes and not significantly impacted by instruction type. These results suggest that reward and punishment manifested via task frame as well as the task motivation may facilitate the differentiation of emotion- and cognition-based processing in the IGT. PMID:24381567

Personality and Gambling Involvement: A Person-Centered Approach

PubMed Central

Savage, Jeanne E.; Slutske, Wendy S.; Martin, Nicholas G.

2014-01-01

Individual differences in personality are likely to play an important role in explaining the propensity to gamble. One of the potential roadblocks to elucidating the relation between personality and gambling may be inadequately accounting for the diversity of gambling activities. The goal of the present study was to provide a comprehensive and nuanced portrait of the relation between personality and gambling by taking a multivariate approach to the co-use of multiple gambling activities and employing a broad inventory of potentially-relevant personality dimensions. Participants were 4,669 individuals from a national Australian twin registry. Structured interviews including an extensive assessment of gambling behaviors were conducted, and personality questionnaires that included the tidimensional Personality Questionnaire, the Sensation Seeking Scale, and the Magical Ideation Scale were completed. A latent class analysis of past-year involvement in 10 different gambling activities was performed to classify the participants into five groups. Unique personality configurations characterized the three more gambling-involved latent classes. Low behavioral control in the context of high negative emotionality and magical thinking typified extensive, versatile gamblers at high risk of gambling problems. Average behavioral control in the context of high negative emotionality and magical thinking typified those who primarily gambled on non-strategic games of chance. Low behavioral control in the context of high positive emotionality and low magical ideation typified those who primarily gambled on strategic games of skill. This study illustrates the value of using a multivariate person-centered approach for characterizing the personality correlates of the multi-faceted phenomenon that is gambling. PMID:25134059

Personality and gambling involvement: a person-centered approach.

PubMed

Savage, Jeanne E; Slutske, Wendy S; Martin, Nicholas G

2014-12-01

Individual differences in personality are likely to play an important role in explaining the propensity to gamble. One of the potential roadblocks to elucidating the relation between personality and gambling may be inadequately accounting for the diversity of gambling activities. The goal of the present study was to provide a comprehensive and nuanced portrait of the relation between personality and gambling by taking a multivariate approach to the co-use of multiple gambling activities and employing a broad inventory of potentially relevant personality dimensions. Participants were 4,669 individuals from a national Australian twin registry. Structured interviews including an extensive assessment of gambling behaviors were conducted, and personality questionnaires that included the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire, the Sensation Seeking Scale, and the Magical Ideation Scale were completed. A latent class analysis of past-year involvement in 10 different gambling activities was performed to classify the participants into 5 groups. Unique personality configurations characterized the 3 more gambling-involved latent classes: (a) low behavioral control in the context of high negative emotionality and magical thinking typified extensive, versatile gamblers at high risk of gambling problems; (b) average behavioral control in the context of high negative emotionality and magical thinking typified those who primarily gambled on non-strategic games of chance; (c) low behavioral control in the context of high positive emotionality and low magical ideation typified those who primarily gambled on strategic games of skill. This study illustrates the value of using a multivariate person-centered approach for characterizing the personality correlates of the multifaceted phenomenon that is gambling.

Risky Decision Making in Neurofibromatosis Type 1: An Exploratory Study.

PubMed

Jonas, Rachel K; Roh, EunJi; Montojo, Caroline A; Pacheco, Laura A; Rosser, Tena; Silva, Alcino J; Bearden, Carrie E

2017-03-01

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a monogenic disorder affecting cognitive function. About one third of children with NF1 have attentional disorders, and the cognitive phenotype is characterized by impairment in prefrontally-mediated functions. Mouse models of NF1 show irregularities in GABA release and striatal dopamine metabolism. We hypothesized that youth with NF1 would show abnormal behavior and neural activity on a task of risk-taking reliant on prefrontal-striatal circuits. Youth with NF1 (N=29) and demographically comparable healthy controls (N=22), ages 8-19, were administered a developmentally sensitive gambling task, in which they chose between low-risk gambles with a high probability of obtaining a small reward, and high-risk gambles with a low probability of obtaining a large reward. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural activity associated with risky decision making, as well as age-associated changes in these behavioral and neural processes. Behaviorally, youth with NF1 tended to make fewer risky decisions than controls. Neuroimaging analyses revealed significantly reduced neural activity across multiple brain regions involved in higher-order semantic processing and motivation (i.e., anterior cingulate, paracingulate, supramarginal, and angular gyri) in patients with NF1 relative to controls during the task. We also observed atypical age-associated changes in neural activity in patients with NF1, such that during risk taking, neural activity tended to decrease with age in controls, whereas it tended to increase with age in patients with NF1. Findings suggest that developmental trajectories of neural activity during risky decision-making may be disrupted in youth with NF1.

Role of smartphone addiction in gambling passion and schoolwork engagement: a Dualistic Model of Passion approach.

PubMed

Enwereuzor, Ibeawuchi K; Ugwu, Leonard I; Ugwu, Dorothy I

There are growing concerns that seem to suggest that students no longer engage in school-related activities as they ought to. Recent observation has revealed that students now spend excessive time participating in Internet gambling with their smartphone during school period. This trend could have far-reaching consequences on their schoolwork engagement and by extension, academic performance. Drawing on the Dualistic Model of Passion, this study therefore, examined the mediatory role of smartphone addiction in the gambling passion-schoolwork engagement relation. A cross-sectional design was adopted. Male undergraduates ( N  = 278) of a large public university in Nigeria who engage in Internet gambling participated in the study. They completed self-report measures of gambling passion, smartphone addiction, and schoolwork engagement. Results showed that harmonious gambling passion was not related to smartphone addiction whereas it was positively related to schoolwork engagement. Obsessive gambling passion had positive and negative relations with smartphone addiction and schoolwork engagement, respectively. Smartphone addiction was negatively related to schoolwork engagement and mediated only the obsessive gambling passion-schoolwork engagement relation but not that between harmonious gambling passion and schoolwork engagement. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Unpleasant odors increase aversion to monetary losses.

PubMed

Stancak, Andrej; Xie, Yuxin; Fallon, Nicholas; Bulsing, Patricia; Giesbrecht, Timo; Thomas, Anna; Pantelous, Athanasios A

2015-04-01

Loss aversion is the tendency to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring gains of equal nominal values. Unpleasant odors not only influence affective state but have also been shown to activate brain regions similar to those mediating loss aversion. Therefore, we hypothesized a stronger loss aversion in a monetary gamble task if gambles were associated with an unpleasant as opposed to pleasant odor. In thirty human subjects, unpleasant (methylmercaptan), pleasant (jasmine), and neutral (clean air) odors were presented for 4 s. At the same time, uncertain gambles offering an equal chance of gain or loss of a variable amount of money, or a prospect of an assured win were displayed. One hundred different gambles were presented three times, each time paired with a different odor. Loss aversion, risk aversion, and logit sensitivity were evaluated using non-linear fitting of individual gamble decisions. Loss aversion was larger when prospects were displayed in the presence of methylmercaptan compared to jasmine or clean air. Moreover, individual differences in changes in loss aversion to the unpleasant as compared to pleasant odor correlated with odor pleasantness but not with odor intensity. Skin conductance responses to losses during the outcome period were larger when gambles were associated with methylmercaptan compared to jasmine. Increased loss aversion while perceiving an unpleasant odor suggests a dynamic adjustment of loss aversion toward greater sensitivity to losses. Given that odors are biological signals of hazards, such adjustment of loss aversion may have adaptive value in situations entailing threat or danger. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How to measure monetary losses in gambling disorder? An evidence-based refinement.

PubMed

Medeiros, Gustavo C; Redden, Sarah A; Chamberlain, Samuel R; Grant, Jon E

2018-05-01

Diverse monetary measures have been utilized across different studies in gambling disorder (GD). However, there are limited evidence-based proposals regarding the best way to assess financial losses. We investigated how different variables of monetary losses correlate with validated assessments of gambling severity and overall functioning in a large sample of subjects with GD (n = 436). We found that relative monetary variables (i.e. when financial losses were evaluated in relation to personal income) showed the most robust correlations with gambling severity and overall psychosocial functioning. Percentage of monthly income lost from gambling was the variable with the best performance. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Profiling Online Poker Players: Are Executive Functions Correlated with Poker Ability and Problem Gambling?

PubMed

Schiavella, Mauro; Pelagatti, Matteo; Westin, Jerker; Lepore, Gabriele; Cherubini, Paolo

2018-01-12

Poker playing and responsible gambling both entail the use of the executive functions (EF), which are higher-level cognitive abilities. This study investigated if online poker players of different ability showed different performances in their EF and if so, which functions were the most discriminating for their playing ability. Furthermore, it assessed if the EF performance was correlated to the quality of gambling, according to self-reported questionnaires (PGSI, SOGS, GRCS). Three poker experts evaluated anonymized poker hand history files and, then, a trained professional administered an extensive neuropsychological test battery. Data analysis determined which variables of the tests correlated with poker ability and gambling quality scores. The highest correlations between EF test results and poker ability and between EF test results and gambling quality assessment showed that mostly different clusters of executive functions characterize the profile of the strong(er) poker player and those ones of the problem gamblers (PGSI and SOGS) and the one of the cognitions related to gambling (GRCS). Taking into consideration only the variables overlapping between PGSI and SOGS, we found some key predictive factors for a more risky and harmful online poker playing: a lower performance in the emotional intelligence competences (Emotional Quotient inventory Short) and, in particular, those grouped in the Intrapersonal scale (emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, self-regard, independence and self-actualization).

Anabolic-androgenic steroids alter decision making in a balanced rodent model of the Iowa gambling task.

PubMed

Wallin-Miller, Kathryn; Li, Grace; Kelishani, Diana; Wood, Ruth I

2018-06-01

Anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) abuse is implicated in maladaptive decision making such as increased risk taking and problem gambling. Endogenous testosterone correlates with economic risk taking in both the stock market (Coates & Herbert, 2008) and in the laboratory, as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task (Stanton, Liening, & Schultheiss, 2011). Additionally, AAS use has been associated with problem gambling behavior in adolescents (Proimos, DuRant, Pierce, & Goodman, 1998). Thus, AAS may impair economic decision making. However, studies of human AAS users cannot control for preexisting risky behavior or normalize androgen levels. Accordingly, the present study investigated AAS effects on decision making in rats using a novel, balanced rodent model of the IGT. Adolescent male Long-Evans rats were treated chronically with high-dose testosterone (7.5 mg/kg) or vehicle (13% cyclodextrin in water) sc, and trained to work for sugar pellets in an operant chamber equipped with 4 levers, each associated with a different schedule of reward magnitude (number of pellets), probability, and punishment (time-out) duration. By RM-ANOVA, there was a main effect of lever (F3,78 = 25.33, p < .05), such that all rats preferred lever L4 offering a large reward (4 pellets), but with low probability (45%) and a long (35 sec) time-out. There was also a significant interaction of testosterone × lever (F3,78 = 2.78, p < .05), with testosterone increasing preference for L4 and decreasing preference for the other levers, relative to vehicle-treated controls. These data extend our previous findings of altered decision making in AAS-treated rats, and suggest that AAS may alter economic decision making in human users. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The neuropsychology of the schizo-obsessive subtype of schizophrenia: a new analysis.

PubMed

Patel, D D; Laws, K R; Padhi, A; Farrow, J M; Mukhopadhaya, K; Krishnaiah, R; Fineberg, N A

2010-06-01

Interest in the neuro-cognitive profile of patients with schizophrenia and co-morbid obsessive compulsive disorder (schizo-OCD) is rising in response to reports of high co-morbidity rates. Whereas schizophrenia has been associated with global impairment in a wide range of neuro-cognitive domains, OCD is associated with specific deficits featuring impaired performance on tasks of motor and cognitive inhibition involving frontostriatal neuro-circuitry. We compared cognitive function using the CANTAB battery in patients with schizo-OCD (n=12) and a schizophrenia group without OCD symptoms (n=16). The groups were matched for IQ, gender, age, medication, and duration of illness. The schizo-OCD patients made significantly more errors on a task of attentional set-shifting (ID-ED set-shift task). By contrast, no significant differences emerged on the Stockings of Cambridge task, the Cambridge Gamble Task or the Affective Go/NoGo tasks. No correlation emerged between ID-ED performance and severity of schizophrenia, OCD or depressive symptoms, consistent with neurocognitive impairment holding trait rather than state-marker status. Schizo-obsessives also exhibited a trend toward more motor tics emphasizing a neurological contribution to the disorder.ConclusionOur findings reveal a more severe attentional set-shifting deficit and neurological abnormality that may be fundamental to the neuro-cognitive profile of schizo-OCD. The clinical implications of these impairments merit further exploration in larger studies.

Problem-gambling severity, suicidality and DSM-IV Axis II personality disorders.

PubMed

Ronzitti, Silvia; Kraus, Shane W; Hoff, Rani A; Clerici, Massimo; Potenza, Marc N

2018-07-01

Despite the strong associations between personality disorders and problem/pathological gambling, few studies have investigated the relationships between personality disorders, problem-gambling severity and suicidal thoughts/behaviors. We examined the relationships between problem-gambling severity and personality disorders among individuals with differing levels of suicidality (none, thoughts alone, attempts). We analyzed data from 13,543 participants of the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) study. First, differences in sociodemographic characteristics and prevalence of personality disorders were analyzed according to problem-gambling severity and suicidality status. Second, we performed a logistic regression to assess among the relationship between problem-gambling severity and DSM-IV Axis II psychopathology according to suicidality level. At-risk or problem/pathological gambling groups showed higher rates of a wide range of personality disorders compared to non-gamblers. Logistic regression showed that at-risk pathological gamblers had a higher odds ratio for any personality disorder in the group with no history of suicidality, particularly for cluster-B personality disorders. Odds ratio interaction analysis identified the relationship between problem-gambling severity and personality disorders, particularly those in cluster B, differ according to suicidality status. Our findings suggest a complex relationship between suicidality, problem-gambling severity and personality disorders. The stronger relationship between problem-gambling severity and personality disorders in people with no suicidality as compared to some suicidality suggests that some of the relationship between greater problem-gambling severity and Axis II psychopathology is accounted for by increased suicidality. The findings have implications for clinical interventions targeting suicidality in individuals with gambling disorders. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Daily Fantasy Sports Players: Gambling, Addiction, and Mental Health Problems.

PubMed

Nower, Lia; Caler, Kyle R; Pickering, Dylan; Blaszczynski, Alex

2018-01-19

Studies point to a relationship between fantasy sports/daily fantasy sports (DFS) play and gambling behavior. However, little is known about the nature of those relationships, particularly regarding the development of gambling problems. This study investigates the nature, frequency, and preferences of gambling behavior as well as problem gambling severity and comorbid conditions among DFS players. Data were collected from an epidemiologic survey of 3634 New Jersey residents on gambling and leisure activities. Participants were contacted by phone (land-line and cell) and online to obtain a representative, cross-sectional sample of non-institutionalized adults, aged 18 years or older. Excluding non-gamblers, the remaining 2146 participants, included in these analyses, indicated they had either played DFS (n = 299) or had gambled but not played DFS (1847) in the past year. Univariate comparisons and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the most significant characteristics and predictors of DFS players. Overall, a higher number of gambling activities, high frequency gambling, male gender, and reports of suicidal thoughts in the past year were most predictive of DFS players. Being Hispanic (vs. Caucasian) and/or single (vs. married or living with a partner) also doubled the odds of DFS play. Findings suggest that DFS players are characterized by high gambling frequency and problem severity and comorbid problems, notably suicidal ideation. Future research should examine the motivations and possible etiological sub-types of DFS players and the nature and course of DFS play, particularly in relation to gambling behavior and the development of gambling and other problems.

The impact of Parkinson's disease and subthalamic deep brain stimulation on reward processing.

PubMed

Evens, Ricarda; Stankevich, Yuliya; Dshemuchadse, Maja; Storch, Alexander; Wolz, Martin; Reichmann, Heinz; Schlaepfer, Thomas E; Goschke, Thomas; Lueken, Ulrike

2015-08-01

Due to its position in cortico-subthalamic and cortico-striatal pathways, the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is considered to play a crucial role not only in motor, but also in cognitive and motivational functions. In the present study we aimed to characterize how different aspects of reward processing are affected by disease and deep brain stimulation of the STN (DBS-STN) in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). We compared 33 PD patients treated with DBS-STN under best medical treatment (DBS-on, medication-on) to 33 PD patients without DBS, but optimized pharmacological treatment and 34 age-matched healthy controls. We then investigated DBS-STN effects using a postoperative stimulation-on/ -off design. The task set included a delay discounting task, a task to assess changes in incentive salience attribution, and the Iowa Gambling Task. The presence of PD was associated with increased incentive salience attribution and devaluation of delayed rewards. Acute DBS-STN increased risky choices in the Iowa Gambling Task under DBS-on condition, but did not further affect incentive salience attribution or the evaluation of delayed rewards. Findings indicate that acute DBS-STN affects specific aspects of reward processing, including the weighting of gains and losses, while larger-scale effects of disease or medication are predominant in others reward-related functions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance of Young Adult Cannabis Users on Neurocognitive Measures of Impulsive Behavior and their Relationship to Symptoms of Cannabis Use Disorders

PubMed Central

Gonzalez, Raul; Schuster, Randi Melissa; Mermelstein, Robin J.; Vassileva, Jasmin; Martin, Eileen M.; Diviak, Kathleen R.

2012-01-01

Recent studies suggest that abstinent cannabis users show deficits on neurocognitive laboratory tasks of impulsive behavior. But results are mixed and less is known on the performance of non-treatment seeking, young adult cannabis users. Importantly, relationships between performance on measures of impulsive behavior and symptoms of cannabis addiction remain relatively unexplored. We compared young adult current cannabis users (CU, n = 65) and non-using controls (NU, n = 65) on several laboratory measures of impulsive behavior, as well as on a measure of episodic memory commonly impacted by cannabis use. The CU group performed more poorly than the NU group on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised Total Immediate Recall and Delayed Recall. No significant differences were observed on the measures of impulsive behavior (i.e., Iowa Gambling Task [IGT], Go-Stop Task, Monetary Choice Questionnaire, Balloon Analogue Risk Task). We examined relationships between neurocognitive performance and symptoms of cannabis use disorder symptoms (DSM-IV CUD) among the CU group, which revealed that poorer IGT performance was associated with more symptoms of DSM-IV CUD. Our results show poorer memory performance among young adult cannabis users relative to healthy controls, but no differences on measures of impulsive behavior. However, performance on a specific type of impulsive behavior (i.e., poorer decision-making) was associated with more cannabis use disorder symptoms. These results provide preliminary evidence to suggest that decision-making deficits may be more strongly associated with problems experienced from cannabis use, rather than solely being a consequence of cannabis use, per se. PMID:22882144

The effect of acute tyrosine phenylalanine depletion on emotion-based decision-making in healthy adults.

PubMed

Vrshek-Schallhorn, Suzanne; Wahlstrom, Dustin; White, Tonya; Luciana, Monica

2013-04-01

Despite interest in dopamine's role in emotion-based decision-making, few reports of the effects of dopamine manipulations are available in this area in humans. This study investigates dopamine's role in emotion-based decision-making through a common measure of this construct, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), using Acute Tyrosine Phenylalanine Depletion (ATPD). In a between-subjects design, 40 healthy adults were randomized to receive either an ATPD beverage or a balanced amino acid beverage (a control) prior to completing the IGT, as well as pre- and post-manipulation blood draws for the neurohormone prolactin. Together with conventional IGT performance metrics, choice selections and response latencies were examined separately for good and bad choices before and after several key punishment events. Changes in response latencies were also used to predict total task performance. Prolactin levels increased significantly in the ATPD group but not in the control group. However, no significant group differences in performance metrics were detected, nor were there sex differences in outcome measures. However, the balanced group's bad deck latencies speeded up across the task, while the ATPD group's latencies remained adaptively hesitant. Additionally, modulation of latencies to the bad decks predicted total score for the ATPD group only. One interpretation is that ATPD subtly attenuated reward salience and altered the approach by which individuals achieved successful performance, without resulting in frank group differences in task performance. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reward-related decision making in older adults: relationship to clinical presentation of depression.

PubMed

McGovern, Amanda R; Alexopoulos, George S; Yuen, Genevieve S; Morimoto, Sarah Shizuko; Gunning-Dixon, Faith M

2014-11-01

Impairment in reward processes has been found in individuals with depression and in the aging population. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to use an affective neuroscience probe to identify abnormalities in reward-related decision making in late-life depression; and (2) to examine the relationship of reward-related decision making abnormalities in depressed, older adults to the clinical expression of apathy in depression. We hypothesized that relative to older, healthy subjects, depressed, older patients would exhibit impaired decision making and that apathetic, depressed patients would show greater impairment in decision making than non-apathetic, depressed patients. We used the Iowa Gambling Task to examine reward-related decision making in 60 non-demented, older patients with non-psychotic major depression and 36 older, psychiatrically healthy participants. Apathy was quantified using the Apathy Evaluation Scale. Of those with major depression, 18 individuals reported clinically significant apathy, whereas 42 participants did not have apathy. Older adults with depression and healthy comparison participants did not differ in their performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. However, apathetic, depressed older adults adopted an advantageous strategy and selected cards from the conservative decks compared with non-apathetic, depressed older adults. Non-apathetic, depressed patients showed a failure to adopt a conservative strategy and persisted in making risky decisions throughout the task. This study indicates that apathy in older, depressed adults is associated with a conservative response style on a behavioral probe of the systems involved in reward-related decision making. This conservative response style may be the result of reduced sensitivity to rewards in apathetic individuals. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Examining personalized feedback interventions for gambling disorders: A systematic review

PubMed Central

Marchica, Loredana; Derevensky, Jeffrey L.

2016-01-01

Background and aims Personalized feedback interventions (PFI) have shown success as a low-cost, scalable intervention for reducing problematic and excessive consumption of alcohol. Recently, researchers have begun to apply PFI as an intervention method for problematic gambling behaviors. A systematic review of the literature on PFI as an intervention/prevention method for gambling behaviors was performed. Methods Studies were included if they met the following criteria: the design included both a PFI group and a comparison group, and the interventions focused on gambling prevention and/or reduction. Six relevant studies were found meeting all criteria. Results Results revealed that PFI treatment groups showed decreases in a variety of gambling behaviors as compared to control groups, and perceived norms on gambling behaviors significantly decreased after interventions as compared to control groups. Conclusions Overall, the research suggests that while PFI applied to gambling is still in its infancy, problematic gamblers appear to benefit from programs incorporating PFIs. Further, PFI may also be used as a promising source of preventative measures for individuals displaying at-risk gambling behaviors. While, evidence is still limited, and additional research needs to be conducted with PFI for gambling problems, the preliminary positive results along with the structure of PFI as a scalable and relatively inexpensive intervention method provides promising support for future studies. PMID:28092190

Profiles of Executive Functioning: Associations with Substance Dependence and Risky Sexual Behavior

PubMed Central

Golub, Sarit A.; Starks, Tyrel J.; Kowalczyk, William J.; Thompson, Louisa I.; Parsons, Jeffrey T.

2012-01-01

The present investigations applied a theoretical perspective regarding the impact of executive functioning (EF) on sexual risk among substance users, by using a methodological approach designed to examine whether EF subtypes differentially predict behavior patterns. Participants included 104 substance-using HIV-negative gay and bisexual men. Participants completed five neuropsychological assessment tasks selected to tap discrete EF components, and these data were linked to data on substance dependence and behavioral reports of substance use and sexual risk in the past 30 days. Cluster analysis identified three EF subtypes: a) High-performing (good performance across all measures); b) Low Performing (poor performance across all measures); and c) Poor IGT Performance (impairment on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and its variant, but good performance on all other tasks). The three subtypes did not differ in amount of substance use, but the Low-Performing subtype was associated with greater rates of substance dependence. The Low-Performing subtype reported the highest rates of sexual behavior and risk, while the Poor IGT-Performance subtype reported the lowest rates of sexual risk-taking. Global associations between substance use and sexual risk were strongest among the Low-Performing subtype, but event-level associations appeared strongest among individuals in the High-Performing subtype. These data suggest complex associations between EF and sexual risk among substance users, and suggest that the relationship between substance use and sexual risk may vary by EF subtypes. PMID:22775771

Profiles of executive functioning: associations with substance dependence and risky sexual behavior.

PubMed

Golub, Sarit A; Starks, Tyrel J; Kowalczyk, William J; Thompson, Louisa I; Parsons, Jeffrey T

2012-12-01

The present investigations applied a theoretical perspective regarding the impact of executive functioning (EF) on sexual risk among substance users, using a methodological approach designed to examine whether EF subtypes differentially predict behavior patterns. Participants included 104 substance-using HIV-negative gay and bisexual men. Participants completed 5 neuropsychological assessment tasks selected to tap discrete EF components, and these data were linked to data on substance dependence and behavioral reports of substance use and sexual risk in the past 30 days. Cluster analysis identified 3 EF subtypes: (a) high performing (good performance across all measures); (b) low performing (poor performance across all measures); and (c) poor IGT performance (impairment on the Iowa Gambling Task [IGT] and its variant, but good performance on all other tasks). The 3 subtypes did not differ in amount of substance use, but the low-performing subtype was associated with greater rates of substance dependence. The low-performing subtype reported the highest rates of sexual behavior and risk, while the poor-IGT-performance subtype reported the lowest rates of sexual risk taking. Global associations between substance use and sexual risk were strongest among the low-performing subtype, but event-level associations appeared strongest among individuals in the high-performing subtype. These data suggest complex associations between EF and sexual risk among substance users, and suggest that the relationship between substance use and sexual risk may vary by EF subtypes. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Effects of disrupting medial prefrontal cortex GABA transmission on decision-making in a rodent gambling task.

PubMed

Paine, T A; O'Hara, A; Plaut, B; Lowes, D C

2015-05-01

Decision-making is a complex cognitive process that is mediated, in part, by subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC). Decision-making is impaired in a number of psychiatric conditions including schizophrenia. Notably, people with schizophrenia exhibit reductions in GABA function in the same PFC areas that are implicated in decision-making. For example, expression of the GABA-synthesizing enzyme GAD67 is reduced in the dorsolateral PFC of people with schizophrenia. The goal of this experiment was to determine whether disrupting cortical GABA transmission impairs decision-making using a rodent gambling task (rGT). Rats were trained on the rGT until they reached stable performance and then were implanted with guide cannulae aimed at the medial PFC. Following recovery, the effects of intra-PFC infusions of the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculline methiodide (BMI) or the GABA synthesis inhibitor L-allylglycine (LAG) on performance on the rGT were assessed. Intracortical infusions of BMI (25 ng/μl/side), but not LAG (10 μg/μl/side), altered decision-making. Following BMI infusions, rats made fewer advantageous choices. Follow-up experiments suggested that the change in decision-making was due to a change in the sensitivity to the punishments, rather than a change in the sensitivity to reward magnitudes, associated with each outcome. LAG infusions increased premature responding, a measure of response inhibition, but did not affect decision-making. Blocking GABAA receptors, but not inhibiting cortical GABA synthesis, within the medial PFC affects decision-making in the rGT. These data provide proof-of-concept evidence that disruptions in GABA transmission can contribute to the decision-making deficits in schizophrenia.

Temperament and impulsivity predictors of smoking cessation outcomes.

PubMed

López-Torrecillas, Francisca; Perales, José C; Nieto-Ruiz, Ana; Verdejo-García, Antonio

2014-01-01

Temperament and impulsivity are powerful predictors of addiction treatment outcomes. However, a comprehensive assessment of these features has not been examined in relation to smoking cessation outcomes. Naturalistic prospective study. Treatment-seeking smokers (n = 140) were recruited as they engaged in an occupational health clinic providing smoking cessation treatment between 2009 and 2013. Participants were assessed at baseline with measures of temperament (Temperament and Character Inventory), trait impulsivity (Barratt Impulsivity Scale), and cognitive impulsivity (Go/No Go, Delay Discounting and Iowa Gambling Task). The outcome measure was treatment status, coded as "dropout" versus "relapse" versus "abstinence" at 3, 6, and 12 months endpoints. Participants were telephonically contacted and reminded of follow-up face to face assessments at each endpoint. The participants that failed to answer the phone calls or self-reported discontinuation of treatment and failed to attend the upcoming follow-up session were coded as dropouts. The participants that self-reported continuing treatment, and successfully attended the upcoming follow-up session were coded as either "relapse" or "abstinence", based on the results of smoking behavior self-reports cross-validated with co-oximetry hemoglobin levels. Multinomial regression models were conducted to test whether temperament and impulsivity measures predicted dropout and relapse relative to abstinence outcomes. Higher scores on temperament dimensions of novelty seeking and reward dependence predicted poorer retention across endpoints, whereas only higher scores on persistence predicted greater relapse. Higher scores on the trait dimension of non-planning impulsivity but not performance on cognitive impulsivity predicted poorer retention. Higher non-planning impulsivity and poorer performance in the Iowa Gambling Task predicted greater relapse at 3 and 6 months and 6 months respectively. Temperament measures, and specifically novelty seeking and reward dependence, predict smoking cessation treatment retention, whereas persistence, non-planning impulsivity and poor decision-making predict smoking relapse.

Importance of punishment frequency in the Iowa gambling task: an fMRI study.

PubMed

Ma, Shuangye; Zang, Yufeng; Cheung, Vinci; Chan, Chetwyn C H

2015-12-01

It has been widely found that in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara et al. Cognition, 50(1), 7-15 1994) normal subjects would gradually learn to prefer obtaining rewards for long-term benefits than seeking immediate rewards to maximize the overall profit. The current study aimed to gain an understanding of how punishment frequency in the IGT would be processed and its association with subjects' reward preferences. In this study, we employed the clinical version of the IGT, in which response options are not only different in the long-term outcome, but also associated with different punishment frequencies. Event-related functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was used to capture the subjects' brain activity when performing the IGT. A total of 24 male subjects (mean age = 21.7 years, SD = 1.8 years), who were university students, participated in the experiment. It is found that subjects learned to select more from the decks that were advantageous in the long-term, but they were more sensitive to the effect of long-term outcome under the condition of high punishment frequency. The corresponding brain activation showed that the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) had significantly higher activation during the disadvantageous choices than the advantageous choices. Such activity difference between the two conditions of long-term outcome was more prominent with high punishment frequency than low punishment frequency; and this brain activity difference was significantly correlated with the behavioral performance under the condition of high punishment frequency. The results suggested that only in the context with high punishment frequency, there would be increased neural activity in ACC when subjects intended to select from the disadvantageous choices so that these choices would be inhibited and advantageous choices would be selected.

Deficit of state-dependent risk attitude modulation in gambling disorder

PubMed Central

Fujimoto, A; Tsurumi, K; Kawada, R; Murao, T; Takeuchi, H; Murai, T; Takahashi, H

2017-01-01

Gambling disorder (GD) is often considered as a problem of trait-like risk preference. However, the symptoms of GD cannot be fully understood by this trait view. In the present study, we hypothesized that GD patients also had problem with a flexible control of risk attitude (state-dependent strategy optimization), and aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying abnormal risk-taking of GD. To address this issue, we tested GD patients without comorbidity (GD group: n=21) and age-matched healthy control participants (HC group: n=29) in a multi-step gambling task, in which participants needed to clear ‘block quota' (required units to clear a block, 1000–7000 units) in 20 choices, and conducted a task-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. Behavioral analysis indeed revealed a less flexible risk-attitude change in the GD group; the GD group failed to avoid risky choice in a specific quota range (low-quota condition), in which risky strategy was not optimal to solve the quota. Accordingly, fMRI analysis highlighted diminished functioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), which has been heavily implicated in cognitive flexibility. To our knowledge, the present study provided the first empirical evidence of a deficit of state-dependent strategy optimization in GD. Focusing on flexible control of risk attitude under quota may contribute to a better understanding of the psychopathology of GDs. PMID:28375207

Dopaminergic Drug Effects on Probability Weighting during Risky Decision Making.

PubMed

Ojala, Karita E; Janssen, Lieneke K; Hashemi, Mahur M; Timmer, Monique H M; Geurts, Dirk E M; Ter Huurne, Niels P; Cools, Roshan; Sescousse, Guillaume

2018-01-01

Dopamine has been associated with risky decision-making, as well as with pathological gambling, a behavioral addiction characterized by excessive risk-taking behavior. However, the specific mechanisms through which dopamine might act to foster risk-taking and pathological gambling remain elusive. Here we test the hypothesis that this might be achieved, in part, via modulation of subjective probability weighting during decision making. Human healthy controls ( n = 21) and pathological gamblers ( n = 16) played a decision-making task involving choices between sure monetary options and risky gambles both in the gain and loss domains. Each participant played the task twice, either under placebo or the dopamine D 2 /D 3 receptor antagonist sulpiride, in a double-blind counterbalanced design. A prospect theory modelling approach was used to estimate subjective probability weighting and sensitivity to monetary outcomes. Consistent with prospect theory, we found that participants presented a distortion in the subjective weighting of probabilities, i.e., they overweighted low probabilities and underweighted moderate to high probabilities, both in the gain and loss domains. Compared with placebo, sulpiride attenuated this distortion in the gain domain. Across drugs, the groups did not differ in their probability weighting, although gamblers consistently underweighted losing probabilities in the placebo condition. Overall, our results reveal that dopamine D 2 /D 3 receptor antagonism modulates the subjective weighting of probabilities in the gain domain, in the direction of more objective, economically rational decision making.

Deficit of state-dependent risk attitude modulation in gambling disorder.

PubMed

Fujimoto, A; Tsurumi, K; Kawada, R; Murao, T; Takeuchi, H; Murai, T; Takahashi, H

2017-04-04

Gambling disorder (GD) is often considered as a problem of trait-like risk preference. However, the symptoms of GD cannot be fully understood by this trait view. In the present study, we hypothesized that GD patients also had problem with a flexible control of risk attitude (state-dependent strategy optimization), and aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying abnormal risk-taking of GD. To address this issue, we tested GD patients without comorbidity (GD group: n=21) and age-matched healthy control participants (HC group: n=29) in a multi-step gambling task, in which participants needed to clear 'block quota' (required units to clear a block, 1000-7000 units) in 20 choices, and conducted a task-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment. Behavioral analysis indeed revealed a less flexible risk-attitude change in the GD group; the GD group failed to avoid risky choice in a specific quota range (low-quota condition), in which risky strategy was not optimal to solve the quota. Accordingly, fMRI analysis highlighted diminished functioning of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), which has been heavily implicated in cognitive flexibility. To our knowledge, the present study provided the first empirical evidence of a deficit of state-dependent strategy optimization in GD. Focusing on flexible control of risk attitude under quota may contribute to a better understanding of the psychopathology of GDs.

Modulation of the brain activity in outcome evaluation by the presence of an audience: An electrophysiological investigation.

PubMed

Tian, Tengxiang; Feng, Xue; Gu, Ruolei; Broster, Lucas S; Feng, Chunliang; Wang, Lili; Guan, Qing; Luo, Yue-Jia

2015-07-30

The audience effect refers to the phenomenon that one׳s performance on a task is affected by the presence of others. Here we investigated how the audience effect modulates the neurocognitive signatures underlying people׳s evaluation of their own task performance/outcome. Participants in our study played a gambling game in two social contexts: an "audience" condition and an "alone" condition. The presence of others modulated the feedback-related negativity (FRN), which might reflect enhanced motivational significance or increased reward processing when participants were watched compared to when they were alone. We also observed increased P300 responses to outcome feedback in the audience condition, presumably reflecting more elaborative and sustained evaluation of outcomes in the audience than alone context. This audience effect on the evaluative processes complements previous observations on the social nature of outcome evaluation and extends a traditional topic in social psychology to the neuroscientific field. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gambling-Related Distortions and Problem Gambling in Adolescents: A Model to Explain Mechanisms and Develop Interventions

PubMed Central

Donati, Maria Anna; Chiesi, Francesca; Iozzi, Adriana; Manfredi, Antonella; Fagni, Fabrizio; Primi, Caterina

2018-01-01

Although a number of gambling preventive initiatives have been realized with adolescents, many of them have been developed in absence of a clear and explicitly described theoretical model. The present work was aimed to analyze the adequacy of a model to explain gambling behavior referring to gambling-related cognitive distortions (Study 1), and to verify the effectiveness of a preventive intervention developed on the basis of this model (Study 2). Following dual-process theories on cognitive functioning, in Study 1 we tested a model in which mindware gap, i.e., susceptibility to the gambler’s fallacy, and contaminated mindware, i.e., superstitious thinking, were the antecedents of gambling-related cognitive distortions that, in turn, affect gambling frequency and problem gambling. Participants were 306 male adolescents (Mage = 17.2 years). A path analysis indicated that cognitive distortions have a mediating role in the relationship that links probabilistic reasoning fallacy and superstitious thinking with problem gambling. Following these findings, in Study 2 we developed a school-based intervention aimed to reduce gambling-related cognitive distortions acting on the above cited mindware problems. A pre- and post-test design – with a 6 months follow-up – was performed with 34 male adolescents (Mage = 16.8), randomly assigned to two groups (Training and No Training), and their baseline equivalence was verified. A Mixed 2 × 2 ANOVA attested a significant Time X Group interaction, indicating a significant reduction of the cognitive distortions from pre-test to post-test only in the Training group. The follow-up attested to the stability of the training effects and the reduction of gambling frequency over time. These findings suggest that prevention strategies should address mindware problems, which can be considered as predictors of gambling-related cognitive distortions. PMID:29354081

Gambling-Related Distortions and Problem Gambling in Adolescents: A Model to Explain Mechanisms and Develop Interventions.

PubMed

Donati, Maria Anna; Chiesi, Francesca; Iozzi, Adriana; Manfredi, Antonella; Fagni, Fabrizio; Primi, Caterina

2017-01-01

Although a number of gambling preventive initiatives have been realized with adolescents, many of them have been developed in absence of a clear and explicitly described theoretical model. The present work was aimed to analyze the adequacy of a model to explain gambling behavior referring to gambling-related cognitive distortions (Study 1), and to verify the effectiveness of a preventive intervention developed on the basis of this model (Study 2). Following dual-process theories on cognitive functioning, in Study 1 we tested a model in which mindware gap , i.e., susceptibility to the gambler's fallacy, and contaminated mindware , i.e., superstitious thinking, were the antecedents of gambling-related cognitive distortions that, in turn, affect gambling frequency and problem gambling. Participants were 306 male adolescents ( M age = 17.2 years). A path analysis indicated that cognitive distortions have a mediating role in the relationship that links probabilistic reasoning fallacy and superstitious thinking with problem gambling. Following these findings, in Study 2 we developed a school-based intervention aimed to reduce gambling-related cognitive distortions acting on the above cited mindware problems. A pre- and post-test design - with a 6 months follow-up - was performed with 34 male adolescents ( M age = 16.8), randomly assigned to two groups (Training and No Training), and their baseline equivalence was verified. A Mixed 2 × 2 ANOVA attested a significant Time X Group interaction, indicating a significant reduction of the cognitive distortions from pre-test to post-test only in the Training group. The follow-up attested to the stability of the training effects and the reduction of gambling frequency over time. These findings suggest that prevention strategies should address mindware problems, which can be considered as predictors of gambling-related cognitive distortions.

Emotion regulation and decision making under risk and uncertainty.

PubMed

Heilman, Renata M; Crişan, Liviu G; Houser, Daniel; Miclea, Mircea; Miu, Andrei C

2010-04-01

It is well established that emotion plays a key role in human social and economic decision making. The recent literature on emotion regulation (ER), however, highlights that humans typically make efforts to control emotion experiences. This leaves open the possibility that decision effects previously attributed to acute emotion may be a consequence of acute ER strategies such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In Study 1, we manipulated ER of laboratory-induced fear and disgust, and found that the cognitive reappraisal of these negative emotions promotes risky decisions (reduces risk aversion) in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and is associated with increased performance in the prehunch/hunch period of the Iowa Gambling Task. In Study 2, we found that naturally occurring negative emotions also increase risk aversion in Balloon Analogue Risk Task, but the incidental use of cognitive reappraisal of emotions impedes this effect. We offer evidence that the increased effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal in reducing the experience of emotions underlies its beneficial effects on decision making. Copyright 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Use of the internet to study the utility values of the public.

PubMed Central

Lenert, Leslie A.; Sturley, Ann E.

2002-01-01

One of the most difficult tasks in cost-effectiveness analysis is the measurement of quality weights (utilities) for health states. The task is difficult because subjects often lack familiarity with health states they are asked to rate and because utilities measures such as the standard gamble, ask subjects to perform tasks that are complex and far from everyday experience. A large body of research suggests that computer methods can play an important role in explaining health states and measuring utilities. However, administering computer surveys to a "general public" sample, the most relevant sample for cost-effectiveness analysis, is logistically difficult. In this paper, we describe a software system designed to allow the study of general population preferences in a volunteer Internet survey panel. The approach, which relied on over sampling of ethnic groups and older members of the panel, produced a data set with an ethnically, chronologically and geographically diverse group of respondents, but was not successful in replicating the joint distribution of demographic patterns in the population. PMID:12463862

Age-related differences in advantageous decision making are associated with distinct differences in functional community structure.

PubMed

Moussa, Malaak Nasser; Wesley, Michael J; Porrino, Linda J; Hayasaka, Satoru; Bechara, Antoine; Burdette, Jonathan H; Laurienti, Paul J

2014-04-01

Human decision making is dependent on not only the function of several brain regions but also their synergistic interaction. The specific function of brain areas within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex has long been studied in an effort to understand choice evaluation and decision making. These data specifically focus on whole-brain functional interconnectivity using the principles of network science. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was the first neuropsychological task used to model real-life decisions in a way that factors reward, punishment, and uncertainty. Clinically, it has been used to detect decision-making impairments characteristic of patients with prefrontal cortex lesions. Here, we used performance on repeated blocks of the IGT as a behavioral measure of advantageous and disadvantageous decision making in young and mature adults. Both adult groups performed poorly by predominately making disadvantageous selections in the beginning stages of the task. In later phases of the task, young adults shifted to more advantageous selections and outperformed mature adults. Modularity analysis revealed stark underlying differences in visual, sensorimotor and medial prefrontal cortex community structure. In addition, changes in orbitofrontal cortex connectivity predicted behavioral deficits in IGT performance. Contrasts were driven by a difference in age but may also prove relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders associated with poor decision making, including the vulnerability to alcohol and/or drug addiction.

Risky Decision Making in Neurofibromatosis Type 1: An Exploratory Study

PubMed Central

Jonas, Rachel K.; Roh, EunJi; Montojo, Caroline A.; Pacheco, Laura A.; Rosser, Tena; Silva, Alcino J.; Bearden, Carrie E.

2016-01-01

Background Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a monogenic disorder affecting cognitive function. About one third of children with NF1 have attentional disorders, and the cognitive phenotype is characterized by impairment in prefrontally-mediated functions. Mouse models of NF1 show irregularities in GABA release and striatal dopamine metabolism. We hypothesized that youth with NF1 would show abnormal behavior and neural activity on a task of risk-taking reliant on prefrontal-striatal circuits. Methods Youth with NF1 (N=29) and demographically comparable healthy controls (N=22), ages 8-19, were administered a developmentally sensitive gambling task, in which they chose between low-risk gambles with a high probability of obtaining a small reward, and high-risk gambles with a low probability of obtaining a large reward. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate neural activity associated with risky decision making, as well as age-associated changes in these behavioral and neural processes. Results Behaviorally, youth with NF1 tended to make fewer risky decisions than controls. Neuroimaging analyses revealed significantly reduced neural activity across multiple brain regions involved in higher-order semantic processing and motivation (i.e., anterior cingulate, paracingulate, supramarginal, and angular gyri) in patients with NF1 relative to controls during the task. We also observed atypical age-associated changes in neural activity in patients with NF1, such that during risk taking, neural activity tended to decrease with age in controls, whereas it tended to increase with age in patients with NF1. Conclusions Findings suggest that developmental trajectories of neural activity during risky decision-making may be disrupted in youth with NF1. PMID:28736755

Attentional bias and disinhibition toward gaming cues are related to problem gaming in male adolescents.

PubMed

van Holst, Ruth J; Lemmens, Jeroen S; Valkenburg, Patti M; Peter, Jochen; Veltman, Dick J; Goudriaan, Anna E

2012-06-01

The aim of this study was to examine whether behavioral tendencies commonly related to addictive behaviors are also related to problematic computer and video game playing in adolescents. The study of attentional bias and response inhibition, characteristic for addictive disorders, is relevant to the ongoing discussion on whether problematic gaming should be classified as an addictive disorder. We tested the relation between self-reported levels of problem gaming and two behavioral domains: attentional bias and response inhibition. Ninety-two male adolescents performed two attentional bias tasks (addiction-Stroop, dot-probe) and a behavioral inhibition task (go/no-go). Self-reported problem gaming was measured by the game addiction scale, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fourth edition criteria for pathological gambling and time spent on computer and/or video games. Male adolescents with higher levels of self-reported problem gaming displayed signs of error-related attentional bias to game cues. Higher levels of problem gaming were also related to more errors on response inhibition, but only when game cues were presented. These findings are in line with the findings of attentional bias reported in clinically recognized addictive disorders, such as substance dependence and pathological gambling, and contribute to the discussion on the proposed concept of "Addiction and Related Disorders" (which may include non-substance-related addictive behaviors) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-fourth edition. Copyright © 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Addiction-Like Mobile Phone Behavior – Validation and Association With Problem Gambling

PubMed Central

Fransson, Andreas; Chóliz, Mariano; Håkansson, Anders

2018-01-01

Mobile phone use and its potential addiction has become a point of interest within the research community. The aim of the study was to translate and validate the Test of Mobile Dependence (TMD), and to investigate if there are any associations between mobile phone use and problem gambling. This was a cross-sectional study on a Swedish general population. A questionnaire consisting of a translated version of the TMD, three problem gambling questions (NODS-CLiP) together with two questions concerning previous addiction treatment was published online. Exploratory factor analysis based on polychoric correlations was performed on the TMD. Independent samples T-tests, Mann-Whitney test, logistic regression analyses and ANOVA were performed to examine mean differences between subjects based on TMD test score, gambling and previous addiction treatment. A total of 1,515 people (38.3% men) answered the questionnaire. The TMD showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.905), and significant correlation with subjective dependence on one's mobile phone. Women scored higher on the TMD and 15-18 year olds had the highest mean test score. The TMD test score was significantly associated with problem gambling, but only when controlling for age and sex. Various separated items related to mobile phone use were associated with problem gambling. The TMD had acceptable internal consistency and correlates with subjective dependence, while future confirmatory factor analysis is recommended. An association between mobile phone use and problem gambling may be possible, but requires further research. PMID:29780345

Analyses related to the development of DSM-5 criteria for substance use related disorders: 3. An assessment of Pathological Gambling criteria.

PubMed

Denis, Cécile; Fatséas, Mélina; Auriacombe, Marc

2012-04-01

The DSM-5 Substance-Related Disorders Work Group proposed to include Pathological Gambling within the current Substance-Related Disorders section. The objective of the current report was to assess four possible sets of diagnostic criteria for Pathological Gambling. Gamblers (N=161) were defined as either Pathological or Non-Pathological according to four classification methods. (a) Option 1: the current DSM-IV criteria for Pathological Gambling; (b) Option 2: dropping the "Illegal Acts" criterion, while keeping the threshold at 5 required criteria endorsed; (c) Option 3: the proposed DSM-5 approach, i.e., deleting "Illegal Acts" and lowering the threshold of required criteria from 5 to 4; (d) Option 4: to use a set of Pathological Gambling criteria modeled on the DSM-IV Substance Dependence criteria. Cronbach's alpha and eigenvalues were calculated for reliability, Phi, discriminant function analyses, correlations and multivariate regression models were performed for validity and kappa coefficients were calculated for diagnostic consistency of each option. All criteria sets were reliable and valid. Some criteria had higher discriminant properties than others. The proposed DSM-5 criteria in Options 2 and 3 performed well and did not appear to alter the meanings of the diagnoses of Pathological Gambling from DSM-IV. Future work should further explore if Pathological Gambling might be assessed using the same criteria as those used for Substance Use Disorders. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Addiction-Like Mobile Phone Behavior - Validation and Association With Problem Gambling.

PubMed

Fransson, Andreas; Chóliz, Mariano; Håkansson, Anders

2018-01-01

Mobile phone use and its potential addiction has become a point of interest within the research community. The aim of the study was to translate and validate the Test of Mobile Dependence (TMD), and to investigate if there are any associations between mobile phone use and problem gambling. This was a cross-sectional study on a Swedish general population. A questionnaire consisting of a translated version of the TMD, three problem gambling questions (NODS-CLiP) together with two questions concerning previous addiction treatment was published online. Exploratory factor analysis based on polychoric correlations was performed on the TMD. Independent samples T -tests, Mann-Whitney test, logistic regression analyses and ANOVA were performed to examine mean differences between subjects based on TMD test score, gambling and previous addiction treatment. A total of 1,515 people (38.3% men) answered the questionnaire. The TMD showed acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha: 0.905), and significant correlation with subjective dependence on one's mobile phone. Women scored higher on the TMD and 15-18 year olds had the highest mean test score. The TMD test score was significantly associated with problem gambling, but only when controlling for age and sex. Various separated items related to mobile phone use were associated with problem gambling. The TMD had acceptable internal consistency and correlates with subjective dependence, while future confirmatory factor analysis is recommended. An association between mobile phone use and problem gambling may be possible, but requires further research.

Gambling in Singapore: an overview of history, research, treatment and policy.

PubMed

Winslow, Munidasa; Cheok, Christopher; Subramaniam, Mythily

2015-09-01

This paper describes the current situation regarding gambling in Singapore in relation to its historical and cultural context. A computerized search was performed of two databases (PubMed and PsychINFO) and the reference lists from the papers searched manually to identify relevant studies. The findings were synthesized and their implications assessed. In addition to state lotteries and much informal gambling, Singapore has two large resort casinos, which rank third after Las Vegas and Macau in terms of gross revenues. The major ethnic subgroups in Singapore have different cultural connections to gambling, including the active involvement of the Chinese and religious prohibition among the Malay. A range of secondary prevention and treatment services has been developed to attempt to minimize potential negative impacts. Overall, the prevalence of pathological gambling and problem gambling has decreased in recent years: an estimated 0.2% are classified as probable pathological gamblers compared with 1.4% in 2011, 1.2% in 2008 and 2.1% in 2005. Singapore has experienced a reduction in problem gambling prevalence which may reflect the influence of multiple initiatives. © 2015 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Patterns of Gambling Activities and Gambling Problems Among Italian High School Students: Results from a Latent Class Analysis.

PubMed

De Luigi, Nicola; Gibertoni, Dino; Randon, Emanuela; Scorcu, Antonello E

2018-06-01

This study aims to provide an estimate of the prevalence of gambling among Italian adolescents and a description of their patterns of gambling activities (PGAs) using a latent class analysis on 13 different types of games. A nationwide sample of 10,959 Italian high school students was recruited in 2013. We assessed problem gambling using the South Oaks Gambling Screen: Revisited for Adolescent (SOGS-RA) scale. Approximately half (50.6%) of students reported gambling at least once in the previous year; 5.0% of them were problem gamblers and 9.1% were at-risk gamblers according to their SOGS-RA scores. Eight PGAs were identified, among which heavy players (1.7% of students) could be classified as problem gamblers and broad skill players (2.0%) and lotteries & sports players (2.4%) as "at-risk" players. These high-risk classes were consistently associated with risky behaviours in terms of substance use, school performance, money spent on gambling and family environment; the other five classes identified low-risk players associated with safe behaviours. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to identify PGAs among Italian adolescents. Problem gamblers are not a homogeneous group in terms of patterns of gambling activities and are associated with different risk factors, among which environmental factors, such as parents' gambling attitude and behaviour, deserve special attention. The acknowledgment of such patterns and risk factors could be useful in developing sensible public policies addressing prevention strategies and regulatory instruments.

The Roles of Social Stress and Decision-Making in Non-Suicidal Self-Injury

PubMed Central

Schatten, Heather T.; Armey, Michael F.; Andover, Margaret S.

2015-01-01

Research suggests that individuals with a history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) do not have difficulty generating alternatives to social problems but choose more negative solutions, suggesting a deficit in decision-making. However, studies report no significant differences in risky decision-making on a performance-based task among individuals with and without NSSI histories. A limitation of these studies is that decision-making was only assessed at baseline. As individuals with a history of NSSI typically self-injure when experiencing negative emotions, decision-making ability may become impaired specifically in the presence of these emotions. The aim of the current study was to investigate decision-making ability among individuals with and without NSSI histories both at baseline and following a distressing social exclusion task. We compared individuals with (n = 48) and without (n = 72) NSSI histories on the Iowa Gambling Task, a behavioral measure of risky decision-making, before and after exclusion or inclusion on the Cyberball task. Results indicated no significant group differences in performance regardless of condition. When participants were grouped by racial/ethnic minority status, results indicated that non-Hispanic White individuals with a history of NSSI exhibited deterioration in risky decision-making ability following social exclusion. Potential explanations for these findings and clinical implications are discussed. PMID:26260569

Dissociation between decision-making under risk and decision-making under ambiguity in premanifest and manifest Huntington's disease.

PubMed

Adjeroud, Najia; Besnard, Jeremy; Verny, Christophe; Prundean, Adriana; Scherer, Clarisse; Gohier, Bénédicte; Bonneau, Dominique; Massioui, Nicole El; Allain, Philippe

2017-08-01

We investigated decision-making under ambiguity (DM-UA) and decision making under risk (DM-UR) in individuals with premanifest and manifest Huntington's disease (HD). Twenty individuals with premanifest HD and 23 individuals with manifest HD, on one hand, and 39 healthy individuals divided into two control groups, on the other, undertook a modified version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), an adaptation of a DM-UA task, and a modified version of the Game of Dice Task (GDT), an adaptation of a DM-UR task. Participants also filled in a questionnaire of impulsivity and responded to cognitive tests specifically designed to assess executive functions. Compared to controls, individuals with premanifest HD were unimpaired in performing executive tests as well as in decision-making tasks, except for the Stroop task. In contrast, individuals with manifest HD were impaired in both the IGT and executive tasks, but not in the GDT. No sign of impulsivity was observed in individuals with premanifest or manifest HD. Our results suggest that the progression of HD impairs DM-UA without affecting DM-UR, and indicate that decision-making abilities are preserved during the premanifest stage of HD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Strategic and non-strategic problem gamblers differ on decision-making under risk and ambiguity.

PubMed

Lorains, Felicity K; Dowling, Nicki A; Enticott, Peter G; Bradshaw, John L; Trueblood, Jennifer S; Stout, Julie C

2014-07-01

To analyse problem gamblers' decision-making under conditions of risk and ambiguity, investigate underlying psychological factors associated with their choice behaviour and examine whether decision-making differed in strategic (e.g., sports betting) and non-strategic (e.g., electronic gaming machine) problem gamblers. Cross-sectional study. Out-patient treatment centres and university testing facilities in Victoria, Australia. Thirty-nine problem gamblers and 41 age, gender and estimated IQ-matched controls. Decision-making tasks included the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and a loss aversion task. The Prospect Valence Learning (PVL) model was used to provide an explanation of cognitive, motivational and response style factors involved in IGT performance. Overall, problem gamblers performed more poorly than controls on both the IGT (P = 0.04) and the loss aversion task (P = 0.01), and their IGT decisions were associated with heightened attention to gains (P = 0.003) and less consistency (P = 0.002). Strategic problem gamblers did not differ from matched controls on either decision-making task, but non-strategic problem gamblers performed worse on both the IGT (P = 0.006) and the loss aversion task (P = 0.02). Furthermore, we found differences in the PVL model parameters underlying strategic and non-strategic problem gamblers' choices on the IGT. Problem gamblers demonstrated poor decision-making under conditions of risk and ambiguity. Strategic (e.g. sports betting, poker) and non-strategic (e.g. electronic gaming machines) problem gamblers differed in decision-making and the underlying psychological processes associated with their decisions. © 2014 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Long-term heavy marijuana users make costly decisions on a gambling task.

PubMed

Whitlow, Christopher T; Liguori, Anthony; Livengood, L Brooke; Hart, Stephanie L; Mussat-Whitlow, Becky J; Lamborn, Corey M; Laurienti, Paul J; Porrino, Linda J

2004-10-05

Chronic marijuana use has been associated with impairments of learning, memory, and executive functions. Little is known, however, about the effects of marijuana use on other cognitive domains, such as decision-making, which are thought to play an important role in addiction and drug abuse. The purpose of the present study was to determine if long-term heavy marijuana users employ different decision-making strategies than individuals with minimal marijuana exposure. Volunteers were assigned to a cannabis (n = 10) or control group (n = 10) based upon history of prior marijuana use. Demographic and neuropsychological variables were evaluated, and a decision-making task--the gambling task (GT) was administered. Although few demographic and neuropsychological differences were noted between groups, marijuana users made more decisions that led to larger immediate gains despite more costly losses than controls. These data suggest that long-term heavy marijuana users may have specific deficits in the ability to balance rewards and punishments that may contribute to continued drug-taking behavior. It is unknown, however, whether the basis for such deficits might be attributed directly to marijuana exposure or pre-existing genetic or behavioral differences.

Neurocognitive Deficits Associated with Antisocial Personality Disorder in Non-treatment-seeking Young Adults.

PubMed

Chamberlain, Samuel R; Derbyshire, Katie L; Leppink, Eric W; Grant, Jon E

2016-06-01

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a relatively common problem, but the neuropsychological profile of affected individuals has seldom been studied outside of criminal justice recruitment settings. Non-treatment-seeking young adults (18-29 years) were recruited from the general community by media advertisements. Participants with ASPD (n = 17), free from substance use disorders, were compared with matched controls (n = 229) using objective computerized neuropsychological tasks tapping a range of cognitive domains. Compared with controls, individuals with ASPD showed significantly elevated pathological gambling symptoms, previous illegal acts, unemployment, greater nicotine consumption, and relative impairments in response inhibition (Stop-Signal Task) and decision-making (less risk adjustment, Cambridge Gamble Task). General response speed, set-shifting, working memory, and executive planning were intact. ASPD was also associated with higher impulsivity and venturesomeness on the Eysenck Questionnaire. These findings implicate impaired inhibitory control and decision-making in the pathophysiology of ASPD, even in milder manifestations of the disorder. Future work should explore the neural correlates of these impairments and use longitudinal designs to examine the temporal relationship between these deficits, antisocial behavior, and functional impairment. © 2016 American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

Can the uncertainty appraisal associated with emotion cancel the effect of the hunch period in the Iowa Gambling Task?

PubMed

Bollon, Thierry; Bagneux, Virginie

2013-01-01

Research has given little attention to the influence of incidental emotions on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), in which processing of the emotional cues associated with each decision is necessary to make advantageous decisions. Drawing on cognitive theories of emotions, we tested whether uncertainty-associated emotion can cancel the positive effect of the hunch period, by preventing participants from developing a tendency towards advantageous decisions. Our explanation is that uncertainty appraisals initiate deliberative processing that is irrelevant to process emotional cues, contrary to intuitive processing (Kahneman, 2003; Tiedens & Linton, 2001). As expected, uncertainty-associated emotion cancelled the positive effect of the hunch period in the IGT compared to certainty-associated emotion: disgusted participants (certainty-associated emotion) and sad participants induced to feel certainty developed a stronger tendency towards advantageous decisions than sad participants induced to feel uncertainty. We discuss the importance of the core components that trigger incidental emotions to predict decision making.

Five-year-olds do not show ambiguity aversion in a risk and ambiguity task with physical objects.

PubMed

Li, Rosa; Roberts, Rachel C; Huettel, Scott A; Brannon, Elizabeth M

2017-07-01

Ambiguity aversion arises when a decision maker prefers risky gambles with known probabilities over equivalent ambiguous gambles with unknown probabilities. This phenomenon has been consistently observed in adults across a large body of empirical work. Evaluating ambiguity aversion in young children, however, has posed methodological challenges because probabilistic representations appropriate for adults might not be understood by young children. Here, we established a novel method for representing risk and ambiguity with physical objects that overcomes previous methodological limitations and allows us to measure ambiguity aversion in young children. We found that individual 5-year-olds exhibited consistent choice preferences and, as a group, exhibited no ambiguity aversion in a task that evokes ambiguity aversion in adults. Across individuals, 5-year-olds exhibited greater variance in ambiguity preferences compared with adults tested under similar conditions. This suggests that ambiguity aversion is absent during early childhood and emerges over the course of development. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of loss aversion on neural responses to loss outcomes: An event-related potential study.

PubMed

Kokmotou, Katerina; Cook, Stephanie; Xie, Yuxin; Wright, Hazel; Soto, Vicente; Fallon, Nicholas; Giesbrecht, Timo; Pantelous, Athanasios; Stancak, Andrej

2017-05-01

Loss aversion is the tendency to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring gains of the same amount. To shed light on the spatio-temporal processes underlying loss aversion, we analysed the associations between individual loss aversion and electrophysiological responses to loss and gain outcomes in a monetary gamble task. Electroencephalographic feedback-related negativity (FRN) was computed in 29 healthy participants as the difference in electrical potentials between losses and gains. Loss aversion was evaluated using non-linear parametric fitting of choices in a separate gamble task. Loss aversion correlated positively with FRN amplitude (233-263ms) at electrodes covering the lower face. Feedback related potentials were modelled by five equivalent source dipoles. From these dipoles, stronger activity in a source located in the orbitofrontal cortex was associated with loss aversion. The results suggest that loss aversion implemented during risky decision making is related to a valuation process in the orbitofrontal cortex, which manifests during learning choice outcomes. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Potential mechanisms contributing to decision-making difficulties in late adulthood.

PubMed

McCarrey, Anna C; Henry, Julie D; Luszcz, Mary

2010-01-01

This paper critiques Brand and Markowitsch's viewpoint that the decision-making difficulties experienced by older adults during laboratory-based gambling tasks can be attributed to deficits in executive control and feedback operations. While Brand and Markowitsch provide an important platform with which to understand the role of these specific component processes, there are other additional mechanisms that also seem likely to be important when understanding gambling decisions in late adulthood. We focus on several of these mechanisms, and in particular, the manner in which decision-relevant information is received, the role of changes in emotion and motivation (with particular reference to Socioemotional Selectivity Theory), and changes in autobiographical memory that may affect understanding how decision-making during gambling occurs in late adulthood. By building on the cognitive-based and emotion-based processes that Brand and Markowitsch mention as important in decision-making by the aged, our critique highlights avenues for future research in this important area. Copyright 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Social signals of safety and risk confer utility and have asymmetric effects on observers’ choices

PubMed Central

Chung, Dongil; Ball, Sheryl B; Chiu, Pearl H

2015-01-01

Individuals’ risk attitudes are known to guide choices about uncertain options. However, in the presence of others’ decisions, these choices can be swayed and manifest as riskier or safer behavior than one would express alone. To test the mechanisms underlying effective social ‘nudges’ in human decision-making, we used functional neuroimaging and a task in which participants made choices about gambles alone and after observing others’ selections. Against three alternative explanations, we found that observing others’ choices of gambles increased the subjective value (utility) of those gambles for the observer. This ‘other-conferred utility’ was encoded in ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and these neural signals predicted conformity. We further identified a parametric interaction with individual risk preferences in anterior cingulate cortex and insula. These data provide a neuromechanistic account of how information from others is integrated with individual preferences that may explain preference-congruent susceptibility to social signals of safety and risk. PMID:25984890

Unexpected but Incidental Positive Outcomes Predict Real-World Gambling.

PubMed

Otto, A Ross; Fleming, Stephen M; Glimcher, Paul W

2016-03-01

Positive mood can affect a person's tendency to gamble, possibly because positive mood fosters unrealistic optimism. At the same time, unexpected positive outcomes, often called prediction errors, influence mood. However, a linkage between positive prediction errors-the difference between expected and obtained outcomes-and consequent risk taking has yet to be demonstrated. Using a large data set of New York City lottery gambling and a model inspired by computational accounts of reward learning, we found that people gamble more when incidental outcomes in the environment (e.g., local sporting events and sunshine) are better than expected. When local sports teams performed better than expected, or a sunny day followed a streak of cloudy days, residents gambled more. The observed relationship between prediction errors and gambling was ubiquitous across the city's socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods and was specific to sports and weather events occurring locally in New York City. Our results suggest that unexpected but incidental positive outcomes influence risk taking. © The Author(s) 2016.

Endogenous cortisol levels are associated with an imbalanced striatal sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary cues in pathological gamblers

PubMed Central

Li, Yansong; Sescousse, Guillaume; Dreher, Jean-Claude

2014-01-01

Pathological gambling is a behavioral addiction characterized by a chronic failure to resist the urge to gamble. It shares many similarities with drug addiction. Glucocorticoid hormones including cortisol are thought to play a key role in the vulnerability to addictive behaviors, by acting on the mesolimbic reward pathway. Based on our previous report of an imbalanced sensitivity to monetary versus non-monetary incentives in the ventral striatum of pathological gamblers (PGs), we investigated whether this imbalance was mediated by individual differences in endogenous cortisol levels. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and examined the relationship between cortisol levels and the neural responses to monetary versus non-monetary cues, while PGs and healthy controls were engaged in an incentive delay task manipulating both monetary and erotic rewards. We found a positive correlation between cortisol levels and ventral striatal responses to monetary versus erotic cues in PGs, but not in healthy controls. This indicates that the ventral striatum is a key region where cortisol modulates incentive motivation for gambling versus non-gambling related stimuli in PGs. Our results extend the proposed role of glucocorticoid hormones in drug addiction to behavioral addiction, and help understand the impact of cortisol on reward incentive processing in PGs. PMID:24723862

Dissociation of emotional decision-making from cognitive decision-making in chronic schizophrenia.

PubMed

Lee, Yanghyun; Kim, Yang-Tae; Seo, Eugene; Park, Oaktae; Jeong, Sung-Hun; Kim, Sang Heon; Lee, Seung-Jae

2007-08-30

Recent studies have examined the decision-making ability of schizophrenic patients using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). These studies, however, were restricted to the assessment of emotional decision-making. Decision-making depends on cognitive functions as well as on emotion. The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of schizophrenic patients on the IGT and the Game of Dice Task (GDT), a decision-making task with explicit rules for gains and losses. In addition, it was intended to test whether poor performance on IGT is attributable to impairments in reversal learning within the schizophrenia group using the Simple Reversal Learning Task (SRLT), which is sensitive to measure the deficit of reversal learning following ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage. A group of 23 stable schizophrenic patients and 28 control subjects performed computerized versions of the IGT, GDT, SRLT and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). While schizophrenic patients performed poorly on the IGT relative to normal controls, there was no significant difference between the two groups on GDT performance. The performance of the schizophrenia group on the SRLT was poorer than that of controls, but was not related to IGT performance. These data suggest that schizophrenic patients have impaired emotional decision-making but intact cognitive decision-making, suggesting that these two processes of decision-making are different. Furthermore, the impairments in reversal learning did not contribute to poor performance on the IGT in schizophrenia. Therefore, schizophrenic patients have difficulty in making decisions under ambiguous and uncertain situations whereas they make choices easily in clear and unequivocal ones. The emotional decision-making deficits in schizophrenia might be attributable more to another mechanism such as a somatic marker hypothesis than to an impairment in reversal learning.

[Adolescent pathological gambling].

PubMed

Petit, A; Karila, L; Lejoyeux, M

2015-05-01

Although experts have long thought that the problems of gambling involved only adults, recent studies tend to show that teenagers are also affected. The objective of this paper is to show the characteristics of pathological gambling in adolescents. This review focuses on the clinical features, prevalence, psychopathology, prevention and treatment of this disorder. A review of the medical literature was conducted, using PubMed, using the following keywords alone or combined: pathological gambling, dependence, addiction and adolescents. We selected 12 English articles from 1997 to 2014. Recent work estimate that between 4 and 8% of adolescents suffer from problem gambling, and the prevalence of pathological gambling is 2-4 times higher in adolescents than in adults. The term adolescent pathological gambler starts early around the age of 10-12 years, with a quick change of status from casual to that of problem gambler and player. Complications appear quickly and comorbidities are common. There is no curative pharmacological treatment approved by health authorities. Pathological gambling among adolescents has grown significantly in recent years and should be promptly taken care of. Further studies must be performed to improve our understanding of this problem among adolescents. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Decision-making in healthy children, adolescents and adults explained by the use of increasingly complex proportional reasoning rules.

PubMed

Huizenga, Hilde M; Crone, Eveline A; Jansen, Brenda J

2007-11-01

In the standard Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), participants have to choose repeatedly from four options. Each option is characterized by a constant gain, and by the frequency and amount of a probabilistic loss. Crone and van der Molen (2004) reported that school-aged children and even adolescents show marked deficits in IGT performance. In this study, we have re-analyzed the data with a multivariate normal mixture analysis to show that these developmental changes can be explained by a shift from unidimensional to multidimensional proportional reasoning (Siegler, 1981; Jansen & van der Maas, 2002). More specifically, the results show a gradual shift with increasing age from (a) guessing with a slight tendency to consider frequency of loss to (b) focusing on frequency of loss, to (c) considering both frequency and amount of probabilistic loss. In the latter case, participants only considered options with low-frequency loss and then chose the option with the lowest amount of loss. Performance improved in a reversed task, in which punishment was placed up front and gain was delivered unexpectedly. In this reversed task, young children are guessing with already a slight tendency to consider both the frequency and amount of gain; this strategy becomes more pronounced with age. We argue that these findings have important implications for the interpretation of IGT performance, as well as for methods to analyze this performance.

Working memory involved in predicting future outcomes based on past experiences.

PubMed

Dretsch, Michael N; Tipples, Jason

2008-02-01

Deficits in working memory have been shown to contribute to poor performance on the Iowa Gambling Task [IGT: Bechara, A., & Martin, E.M. (2004). Impaired decision making related to working memory deficits in individuals with substance addictions. Neuropsychology, 18, 152-162]. Similarly, a secondary memory load task has been shown to impair task performance [Hinson, J., Jameson, T. & Whitney, P. (2002). Somatic markers, working memory, and decision making. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioural Neuroscience, 2, 341-353]. In the present study, we investigate whether the latter findings were due to increased random responding [Franco-Watkins, A. M., Pashler, H., & Rickard, T. C. (2006). Does working memory load lead to greater impulsivity? Commentary on Hinson, Jameson, and Whitney's (2003). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 32, 443-447]. Participants were tested under Low Working Memory (LWM; n=18) or High Working Memory (HWM; n=17) conditions while performing the Reversed IGT in which punishment was immediate and reward delayed [Bechara, A., Dolan, S., & Hindes, A. (2002). Decision making and addiction (part II): Myopia for the future or hypersensitivity to reward? Neuropsychologia, 40, 1690-1705]. In support of a role for working memory in emotional decision making, compared to the LWM condition, participants in the HWM condition made significantly greater number of disadvantageous selections than that predicted by chance. Performance by the HWM group could not be fully explained by random responding.

Social strain, couple dynamics and gender differences in gambling problems: evidence from Chinese married couples.

PubMed

Cheung, Nicole W T

2015-02-01

Knowledge of the influence of couple dynamics on gender differences in gambling behavior remains meager. Building on general strain theory from the sociology of deviance and stress crossover theory from social psychology, we argue that the strain encountered by one partner in a social setting may affect his or her spouse. For instance, the wife of a man under more social strain may experience more strain in turn and thus be at a higher risk of developing disordered gambling than the wife of a man under less social strain. Using community survey data of 1620 Chinese married couples, we performed multilevel dyad analyses to address social strain and couple dynamics, in addition to their roles as predictors of gambling behavior in both spouses. This was a community survey of Hong Kong and therefore was not representative of China. Based on the DSM-IV screen, the rates of probable problem gambling and pathological gambling among male partners (12.8% vs. 2.5%) were twice those among female partners (5.2% vs. 0.3%). We also found that the social strain experienced by a male partner significantly predicted both his and his wife's likelihood of developing gambling problems. Although a female partner's exposure to social strain was a significant correlate of her gambling problem, it had no significant association with her husband's gambling behavior. These results suggest that the cross-spouse transference of social strain may be a gendered process. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differential impairments underlying decision making in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: a cognitive modeling analysis.

PubMed

Chan, Trista Wai Sze; Ahn, Woo-Young; Bates, John E; Busemeyer, Jerome R; Guillaume, Sebastien; Redgrave, Graham W; Danner, Unna N; Courtet, Philippe

2014-03-01

This study examined the underlying processes of decision-making impairments in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). We deconstructed their performance on the widely used decision task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) into cognitive, motivational, and response processes using cognitive modeling analysis. We hypothesized that IGT performance would be characterized by impaired memory functions and heightened punishment sensitivity in AN, and by elevated sensitivity to reward as opposed to punishment in BN. We analyzed trial-by-trial data of IGT obtained from 224 individuals: 94 individuals with AN, 63 with BN, and 67 healthy comparison individuals (HC). The prospect valence learning model was used to assess cognitive, motivational, and response processes underlying IGT performance. Individuals with AN showed marginally impaired IGT performance compared to HC. Their performance was characterized by impairments in memory functions. Individuals with BN showed significantly impaired IGT performance compared to HC. They showed greater relative sensitivity to gains as opposed to losses than HC. Memory functions in AN were positively correlated with body mass index. This study identified differential impairments underlying IGT performance in AN and BN. Findings suggest that impaired decision making in AN might involve impaired memory functions. Impaired decision making in BN might involve altered reward and punishment sensitivity. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Dopaminergic Drug Effects on Probability Weighting during Risky Decision Making

PubMed Central

Timmer, Monique H. M.; ter Huurne, Niels P.

2018-01-01

Abstract Dopamine has been associated with risky decision-making, as well as with pathological gambling, a behavioral addiction characterized by excessive risk-taking behavior. However, the specific mechanisms through which dopamine might act to foster risk-taking and pathological gambling remain elusive. Here we test the hypothesis that this might be achieved, in part, via modulation of subjective probability weighting during decision making. Human healthy controls (n = 21) and pathological gamblers (n = 16) played a decision-making task involving choices between sure monetary options and risky gambles both in the gain and loss domains. Each participant played the task twice, either under placebo or the dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist sulpiride, in a double-blind counterbalanced design. A prospect theory modelling approach was used to estimate subjective probability weighting and sensitivity to monetary outcomes. Consistent with prospect theory, we found that participants presented a distortion in the subjective weighting of probabilities, i.e., they overweighted low probabilities and underweighted moderate to high probabilities, both in the gain and loss domains. Compared with placebo, sulpiride attenuated this distortion in the gain domain. Across drugs, the groups did not differ in their probability weighting, although gamblers consistently underweighted losing probabilities in the placebo condition. Overall, our results reveal that dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonism modulates the subjective weighting of probabilities in the gain domain, in the direction of more objective, economically rational decision making. PMID:29632870

Problem Behavior and Heart Rate Reactivity in Adopted Adolescents: Longitudinal and Concurrent Relations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bimmel, Nicole; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.; Juffer, Femmie; De Geus, Eco J. C.

2008-01-01

The present longitudinal study examined resting heart rate and heart rate variability and reactivity to a stressful gambling task in adopted adolescents with aggressive, delinquent, or internalizing behavior problems and adopted adolescents without behavior problems (total N=151). Early-onset delinquent adolescents showed heart rate…

Selected Judgmental Methods in Defense Analyses. Volume 1. Main Text.

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-07-01

contract No. MDA903-89-C-0003, Task T-6-593, Survey of Qualitative Methods in Military Operations Research . The objective of this analysis is to...Generalizability, and Reliability: Three Dimensions of Judgment Research ..................................................................... 1-1 a...V-3 3. Non -Gamble Methods ............................................................... V-4 B. Criticisms, Caveats, Replies

Cognitive Abilities, Monitoring Confidence, and Control Thresholds Explain Individual Differences in Heuristics and Biases

PubMed Central

Jackson, Simon A.; Kleitman, Sabina; Howie, Pauline; Stankov, Lazar

2016-01-01

In this paper, we investigate whether individual differences in performance on heuristic and biases tasks can be explained by cognitive abilities, monitoring confidence, and control thresholds. Current theories explain individual differences in these tasks by the ability to detect errors and override automatic but biased judgments, and deliberative cognitive abilities that help to construct the correct response. Here we retain cognitive abilities but disentangle error detection, proposing that lower monitoring confidence and higher control thresholds promote error checking. Participants (N = 250) completed tasks assessing their fluid reasoning abilities, stable monitoring confidence levels, and the control threshold they impose on their decisions. They also completed seven typical heuristic and biases tasks such as the cognitive reflection test and Resistance to Framing. Using structural equation modeling, we found that individuals with higher reasoning abilities, lower monitoring confidence, and higher control threshold performed significantly and, at times, substantially better on the heuristic and biases tasks. Individuals with higher control thresholds also showed lower preferences for risky alternatives in a gambling task. Furthermore, residual correlations among the heuristic and biases tasks were reduced to null, indicating that cognitive abilities, monitoring confidence, and control thresholds accounted for their shared variance. Implications include the proposal that the capacity to detect errors does not differ between individuals. Rather, individuals might adopt varied strategies that promote error checking to different degrees, regardless of whether they have made a mistake or not. The results support growing evidence that decision-making involves cognitive abilities that construct actions and monitoring and control processes that manage their initiation. PMID:27790170

Cognitive Abilities, Monitoring Confidence, and Control Thresholds Explain Individual Differences in Heuristics and Biases.

PubMed

Jackson, Simon A; Kleitman, Sabina; Howie, Pauline; Stankov, Lazar

2016-01-01

In this paper, we investigate whether individual differences in performance on heuristic and biases tasks can be explained by cognitive abilities, monitoring confidence, and control thresholds. Current theories explain individual differences in these tasks by the ability to detect errors and override automatic but biased judgments, and deliberative cognitive abilities that help to construct the correct response. Here we retain cognitive abilities but disentangle error detection, proposing that lower monitoring confidence and higher control thresholds promote error checking. Participants ( N = 250) completed tasks assessing their fluid reasoning abilities, stable monitoring confidence levels, and the control threshold they impose on their decisions. They also completed seven typical heuristic and biases tasks such as the cognitive reflection test and Resistance to Framing. Using structural equation modeling, we found that individuals with higher reasoning abilities, lower monitoring confidence, and higher control threshold performed significantly and, at times, substantially better on the heuristic and biases tasks. Individuals with higher control thresholds also showed lower preferences for risky alternatives in a gambling task. Furthermore, residual correlations among the heuristic and biases tasks were reduced to null, indicating that cognitive abilities, monitoring confidence, and control thresholds accounted for their shared variance. Implications include the proposal that the capacity to detect errors does not differ between individuals. Rather, individuals might adopt varied strategies that promote error checking to different degrees, regardless of whether they have made a mistake or not. The results support growing evidence that decision-making involves cognitive abilities that construct actions and monitoring and control processes that manage their initiation.

Cognitive and behavioural dispositions in offspring at high risk for alcoholism.

PubMed

Kumar, Rajesh; Kumar, Keshav Janakiprasad; Benegal, Vivek

2018-06-01

Offspring with family history of alcoholism are considered to be at high risk for alcoholism. The present study sought to expand our understanding of cognitive and behavioural dispositions associated with executive control and self-regulation in alcohol naïve offspring with and without family history of alcoholism. Sample comprised of alcohol naive offspring in two groups: (i) at high risk (n = 34) and (ii) at low risk for alcoholism (n = 34). Both groups were matched on age (+/-1 year), education (+/-1 year) and gender. Measures used were: Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Family Interview for Genetic Studies, Socio-demographic Data Sheet, Annett's Handedness Questionnaire, Barratt's Impulsiveness Scale-version 11, Digit Span Test, Spatial Span Test, Tower of London, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Game of Dice Task (GDT). Results showed that alcohol naive offspring at high risk for alcoholism reported significantly high impulsivity and demonstrated significant differences on executive functions and decision making tasks. Correlation analysis revealed that high impulsivity was significantly associated with poor performance on explicit decision making task (GDT) and executive function task (WCST). There was no significant correlation between two decision making tasks (IGT and GDT) in both groups and performance on IGT was not significantly associated with impulsivity and executive functions. The present study indicates cognitive and behavioural dispositions in alcohol naive offspring at high risk for alcoholism and support the sub-optimal balance between reflective and impulsive system responsible for addiction. Furthermore, present study supports separability between two different types of decision making tasks. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Appraisals Generate Specific Configurations of Facial Muscle Movements in a Gambling Task: Evidence for the Component Process Model of Emotion.

PubMed

Gentsch, Kornelia; Grandjean, Didier; Scherer, Klaus R

2015-01-01

Scherer's Component Process Model provides a theoretical framework for research on the production mechanism of emotion and facial emotional expression. The model predicts that appraisal results drive facial expressions, which unfold sequentially and cumulatively over time. In two experiments, we examined facial muscle activity changes (via facial electromyography recordings over the corrugator, cheek, and frontalis regions) in response to events in a gambling task. These events were experimentally manipulated feedback stimuli which presented simultaneous information directly affecting goal conduciveness (gambling outcome: win, loss, or break-even) and power appraisals (Experiment 1 and 2), as well as control appraisal (Experiment 2). We repeatedly found main effects of goal conduciveness (starting ~600 ms), and power appraisals (starting ~800 ms after feedback onset). Control appraisal main effects were inconclusive. Interaction effects of goal conduciveness and power appraisals were obtained in both experiments (Experiment 1: over the corrugator and cheek regions; Experiment 2: over the frontalis region) suggesting amplified goal conduciveness effects when power was high in contrast to invariant goal conduciveness effects when power was low. Also an interaction of goal conduciveness and control appraisals was found over the cheek region, showing differential goal conduciveness effects when control was high and invariant effects when control was low. These interaction effects suggest that the appraisal of having sufficient control or power affects facial responses towards gambling outcomes. The result pattern suggests that corrugator and frontalis regions are primarily related to cognitive operations that process motivational pertinence, whereas the cheek region would be more influenced by coping implications. Our results provide first evidence demonstrating that cognitive-evaluative mechanisms related to goal conduciveness, control, and power appraisals affect facial expressions dynamically over time, immediately after an event is perceived. In addition, our results provide further indications for the chronography of appraisal-driven facial movements and the underlying cognitive processes.

Appraisals Generate Specific Configurations of Facial Muscle Movements in a Gambling Task: Evidence for the Component Process Model of Emotion

PubMed Central

Gentsch, Kornelia; Grandjean, Didier; Scherer, Klaus R.

2015-01-01

Scherer’s Component Process Model provides a theoretical framework for research on the production mechanism of emotion and facial emotional expression. The model predicts that appraisal results drive facial expressions, which unfold sequentially and cumulatively over time. In two experiments, we examined facial muscle activity changes (via facial electromyography recordings over the corrugator, cheek, and frontalis regions) in response to events in a gambling task. These events were experimentally manipulated feedback stimuli which presented simultaneous information directly affecting goal conduciveness (gambling outcome: win, loss, or break-even) and power appraisals (Experiment 1 and 2), as well as control appraisal (Experiment 2). We repeatedly found main effects of goal conduciveness (starting ~600 ms), and power appraisals (starting ~800 ms after feedback onset). Control appraisal main effects were inconclusive. Interaction effects of goal conduciveness and power appraisals were obtained in both experiments (Experiment 1: over the corrugator and cheek regions; Experiment 2: over the frontalis region) suggesting amplified goal conduciveness effects when power was high in contrast to invariant goal conduciveness effects when power was low. Also an interaction of goal conduciveness and control appraisals was found over the cheek region, showing differential goal conduciveness effects when control was high and invariant effects when control was low. These interaction effects suggest that the appraisal of having sufficient control or power affects facial responses towards gambling outcomes. The result pattern suggests that corrugator and frontalis regions are primarily related to cognitive operations that process motivational pertinence, whereas the cheek region would be more influenced by coping implications. Our results provide first evidence demonstrating that cognitive-evaluative mechanisms related to goal conduciveness, control, and power appraisals affect facial expressions dynamically over time, immediately after an event is perceived. In addition, our results provide further indications for the chronography of appraisal-driven facial movements and the underlying cognitive processes. PMID:26295338

Gambling and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) in a Population of French Students.

PubMed

Romo, L; Rémond, J J; Coeffec, A; Kotbagi, G; Plantey, S; Boz, F; Kern, L

2015-12-01

Attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that can be exacerbated by psychosocial factors. Various studies confirm that the severity of a psychiatric disorder, particularly when it comes to ADHD, is strongly correlated with the amount of use. This study (1) evaluated the association between ADHD and gambling among young students; (2) determined which symptom among ADHD's three symptoms (attention deficit, hyperactivity, or impulsivity) had the strongest association with video game addiction and gambling; and (3) determined the impact of the association between ADHD and video game addiction and gambling on self-esteem and academic performance of students. A total of 720 students (445 males and 274 females) were recruited from eight higher educational institutions of Ile de France. They all completed a battery of questionnaire consisting of Canadian Problem Gambling Index, UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale, Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS), Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and Rosenberg scales, and socio-demographic data. 13.33% of the participants had symptoms of ADHD during childhood (WURS scale score) and 40.41% of them have symptoms of ADHD in adulthood (ASRS score). Finally, among the participants, 37.5% had excessive gambling addiction, have positive results on WURS and ASRS scales, thus having a probable ADHD, whereas 14.55% had no gambling addiction. The results demonstrated that adult ADHD was associated with gambling addiction. Significant associations were observed between ADHD and impulsivity, academic difficulties and gambling addiction. The association between ADHD and gambling seems to be common among vulnerable populations such as adolescents and could be related to variables such as self-esteem, which appears to potentially worsen the prognosis. Further research on this relationship is needed to optimize prevention strategies and effective treatment.

A Systematic Review of Land-Based Self-Exclusion Programs: Demographics, Gambling Behavior, Gambling Problems, Mental Symptoms, and Mental Health.

PubMed

Kotter, Roxana; Kräplin, Anja; Pittig, Andre; Bühringer, Gerhard

2018-05-02

Systematic and quantitative reviews on the effects of land-based self-exclusion are scarce. Therefore, the current review aimed to provide a comprehensive summary of (1) the demographic characteristics of land-based self-excluders and changes after exclusion, including (2) gambling behavior, (3) gambling problems, (4) mental symptoms, and (5) mental health. A systematic database and literature search was performed following PRISMA guidelines. Nineteen naturalistic studies met the eligibility criteria. The quality of all included records was rated via adaption of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results from higher-quality records were more heavily weighted. Self-excluders were predominantly men in their early or middle forties. Changes after exclusion revealed wide ranges in the rates of abstinence (13-81%), rates of gambling reduction (29-92%), and rates of exclusion breaches (8-59%). The records consistently demonstrated significant changes in pathological gambling from before exclusion (61-95%) to after exclusion (13-26%). Up to 73% of self-excluders exhibited symptoms of anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders at program enrollment. Several aspects of mental health improved after exclusion, e.g., quality of life. Problem and pathological gambling are most prevalent in young men, but self-exclusion was most prominent in middle-aged men. The magnitude of effects widely differed between studies despite overall benefits of self-exclusion, and many individuals continued gambling after exclusion. This shortcoming could be minimized using improved access controls and the extension of exclusion to other gambling segments. High rates of pathological gambling and other mental disorders in self-excluders highlight the need for improved early detection and treatment accessibility.

Gambling in Spain: update on experience, research and policy.

PubMed

Jiménez-Murcia, Susana; Fernández-Aranda, Fernando; Granero, Roser; Menchón, Jose Manuel

2014-10-01

To describe the current situation of gambling in Spain, sketching its history and discussing the regulations and legislation currently in force within the framework of the European Union (EU), and to review the epidemiology of gambling in Spain, the self-help groups and professional treatments available, and their potential effectiveness. A systematic computerized search was performed in three databases (EMBASE, PubMed and PsychINFO, including articles and chapters) and the reference lists from previous reviews to obtain some of the most relevant studies published up to now on the topic of pathologic gambling in Spain. Similar to other EU countries, Spain has a high prevalence of pathologic gambling, focused on specific culturally bounded types of gambling. Expenditure in online gaming has risen significantly in the last few years, prompting the Spanish government to draft new legislation to regulate gaming. The gaming industry is expected to be one of the fastest growing sectors in Spain in the coming years owing to the rise of new technologies and the development of online gaming. © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Sex-Steroid Hormone Manipulation Reduces Brain Response to Reward.

PubMed

Macoveanu, Julian; Henningsson, Susanne; Pinborg, Anja; Jensen, Peter; Knudsen, Gitte M; Frokjaer, Vibe G; Siebner, Hartwig R

2016-03-01

Mood disorders are twice as frequent in women than in men. Risk mechanisms for major depression include adverse responses to acute changes in sex-steroid hormone levels, eg, postpartum in women. Such adverse responses may involve an altered processing of rewards. Here, we examine how women's vulnerability for mood disorders is linked to sex-steroid dynamics by investigating the effects of a pharmacologically induced fluctuation in ovarian sex steroids on the brain response to monetary rewards. In a double-blinded placebo controlled study, healthy women were randomized to receive either placebo or the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) goserelin, which causes a net decrease in sex-steroid levels. Fifty-eight women performed a gambling task while undergoing functional MRI at baseline, during the mid-follicular phase, and again following the intervention. The gambling task enabled us to map regional brain activity related to the magnitude of risk during choice and to monetary reward. The GnRHa intervention caused a net reduction in ovarian sex steroids (estradiol and testosterone) and increased depression symptoms. Compared with placebo, GnRHa reduced amygdala's reactivity to high monetary rewards. There was a positive association between the individual changes in testosterone and changes in bilateral insula response to monetary rewards. Our data provide evidence for the involvement of sex-steroid hormones in reward processing. A blunted amygdala response to rewarding stimuli following a rapid decline in sex-steroid hormones may reflect a reduced engagement in positive experiences. Abnormal reward processing may constitute a neurobiological mechanism by which sex-steroid fluctuations provoke mood disorders in susceptible women.

Feedback-related negativity in children with two subtypes of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

PubMed

Gong, Jingbo; Yuan, Jiajin; Wang, Suhong; Shi, Lijuan; Cui, Xilong; Luo, Xuerong

2014-01-01

The current model of ADHD suggests abnormal reward and punishment sensitivity, although differences in ADHD subgroups are unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of feedback valence (reward or punishment) and punishment magnitude (small or large) on Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN) and Late Positive Potential (LPP) in two subtypes of ADHD (ADHD-C and ADHD-I) compared to typically developing children (TD) during a children's gambling task. Children with ADHD-C (n = 16), children with ADHD-I (n = 15) and typically developing children (n = 15) performed a children's gambling task under three feedback conditions: large losses, small losses and gains. FRN and LPP components in brain potentials were recorded and analyzed. In TD children and children with ADHD-C, large loss feedback evoked more negative FRN amplitudes than small loss feedback, suggesting that brain sensitivity to the punishment and its magnitude is not impaired in children with ADHD-C. In contrast to these two groups, the FRN effect was absent in children with ADHD-I. The LPP amplitudes were larger in children with ADHD-C in comparison with those with ADHD-I, regardless of feedback valence and magnitude. Children with ADHD-C exhibit intact brain sensitivity to punishment similar to TD children. In contrast, children with ADHD-I are significantly impaired in neural sensitivity to the feedback stimuli and in particular, to punishment, compared to TD and ADHD-C children. Thus, FRN, rather than LPP, is a reliable index of the difference in reward and punishment sensitivity across different ADHD-subcategories.

Behavioral and neural correlates of loss aversion and risk avoidance in adolescents and adults.

PubMed

Barkley-Levenson, Emily E; Van Leijenhorst, Linda; Galván, Adriana

2013-01-01

Individuals are frequently faced with risky decisions involving the potential for both gain and loss. Exploring the role of both potential gains and potential losses in predicting risk taking is critical to understanding how adolescents and adults make the choice to engage in or avoid a real-life risk. This study aimed to examine the impact of potential losses as well as gains on adolescent decisions during risky choice in a laboratory task. Adolescent (n=18) and adult (n=16) participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a mixed gambles task, and completed questionnaires measuring real-world risk-taking behaviors. While potential loss had a significantly greater effect on choice than potential gain in both adolescents and adults and there were no behavioral group differences on the task, adolescents recruited significantly more frontostriatal circuitry than adults when choosing to reject a gamble. During risk-seeking behavior, adolescent activation in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was negatively correlated with self-reported likelihood of risk taking. During risk-avoidant behavior, mPFC activation of in adults was negatively correlated with self-reported benefits of risk-taking. Taken together, these findings reflect different neural patterns during risk-taking and risk-avoidant behaviors in adolescents and adults. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attentional Filter Training but Not Memory Training Improves Decision-Making.

PubMed

Schmicker, Marlen; Müller, Patrick; Schwefel, Melanie; Müller, Notger G

2017-01-01

Decision-making has a high practical relevance for daily performance. Its relation to other cognitive abilities such as executive control and memory is not fully understood. Here we asked whether training of either attentional filtering or memory storage would influence decision-making as indexed by repetitive assessments of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The IGT was developed to assess and simulate real-life decision-making (Bechara et al., 2005). In this task, participants gain or lose money by developing advantageous or disadvantageous decision strategies. On five consecutive days we trained 29 healthy young adults (20-30 years) either in working memory (WM) storage or attentional filtering and measured their IGT scores after each training session. During memory training (MT) subjects performed a computerized delayed match-to-sample task where two displays of bars were presented in succession. During filter training (FT) participants had to indicate whether two simultaneously presented displays of bars matched or not. Whereas in MT the relevant target stimuli stood alone, in FT the targets were embedded within irrelevant distractors (bars in a different color). All subjects within each group improved their performance in the trained cognitive task. For the IGT, we observed an increase over time in the amount of money gained in the FT group only. Decision-making seems to be influenced more by training to filter out irrelevant distractors than by training to store items in WM. Selective attention could be responsible for the previously noted relationship between IGT performance and WM and is therefore more important for enhancing efficiency in decision-making.

It's all about gains: Risk preferences in problem gambling.

PubMed

Ring, Patrick; Probst, Catharina C; Neyse, Levent; Wolff, Stephan; Kaernbach, Christian; van Eimeren, Thilo; Camerer, Colin F; Schmidt, Ulrich

2018-06-07

Problem gambling is a serious socioeconomic problem involving high individual and social costs. In this article, we study risk preferences of problem gamblers including their risk attitudes in the gain and loss domains, their weighting of probabilities, and their degree of loss aversion. Our findings indicate that problem gamblers are systematically more risk taking and less sensitive toward changes in probabilities in the gain domain only. Neither their risk attitudes in the loss domain nor their degree of loss aversion are significantly different from the controls. Additional evidence for a similar degree of sensitivity toward negative outcomes is gained from skin conductance data-a psychophysiological marker for emotional arousal-in a threat-of-shock task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Monetary losses do not loom large in later life: age differences in the framing effect.

PubMed

Mikels, Joseph A; Reed, Andrew E

2009-06-01

Studies of the framing effect indicate that individuals are risk averse for decisions framed as gains but risk seeking for decisions framed as losses. However, findings regarding age-related changes in susceptibility to framing are mixed. Recent work demonstrating age-related decreases in reactivity to anticipated monetary losses, but not gains, suggests that older and younger adults might show equivalent risk aversion for gains but discrepant risk seeking for losses. In the current study, older and younger adults completed a monetary gambling task in which they chose between sure options and risky gambles (the expected outcomes of which were equated). Although both groups demonstrated risk aversion in the gain frame, only younger adults showed risk seeking in the loss frame.

Impulsive behavior in adults with attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder: characterization of attentional, motor and cognitive impulsiveness.

PubMed

Malloy-Diniz, L; Fuentes, D; Leite, W Borges; Correa, H; Bechara, A

2007-07-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. Impulsivity persists in adults with ADHD and might be the basis of much of the impairment observed in the daily lives of such individuals. The objective of this study was to address the presence, and more importantly, the three dimensions of impulsivity: attentional, non-planning and motor, in how they may relate to neuropsychological mechanisms of impulse control. We studied a sample of 50 adults with ADHD and 51 healthy comparison controls using the Barratt Impulsivity Scale Version 11 (BIS), and neuropsychological tasks, namely the Continuous Performance Task (CPT-II) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). The ADHD group showed more signs of impulsivity on the three dimensions of BIS, committed more errors of omission and commission on the CPT-II, and made more disadvantageous choices on the IGT. These results support the existence of deficits related to three components of impulsivity: motor, cognitive, and attentional among adults with ADHD. Most importantly, this study also highlights the complementary nature of self-report questionnaires and neuropsychological tasks in the assessment of impulsivity in ADHD adults.

Development of a novel task for investigating decision making in a social context following traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Kelly, Michelle; McDonald, Skye; Kellett, David

2014-01-01

Examination of social cognition as a target for assessment and intervention is beginning to gain momentum in a number of illnesses and acquired disorders. One facet of social cognition is decision making within interpersonal situations. This skill forms an important part of our everyday lives and is commonly impaired in those with neurological and mental health conditions. A novel task was developed to allow the assessment of decision making specifically within a social context and was examined within a group known to experience this difficulty. Participants with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) were compared to healthy control participants on the Social Decision Making Task (SDMT), which required the participant to learn who the "friendly" players were in a game of toss. Participants also completed a nonsocial decision-making task, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) as well as a battery of neuropsychological tests and social cognition tasks. Current social functioning was also examined. Consistent with predictions, the TBI group made poorer decisions on the SDMT than the control group; however, group differences were not evident on the IGT. No significant relationships were observed between the SDMT and either measures of executive functioning (including working memory and reversal learning) or social cognition (including emotion recognition and theory of mind). Performance on the SDMT and the IGT were not associated, suggesting that the two tasks measure different constructs. The SDMT offers a novel way of examining decision making within a social context following TBI and may also be useful in other populations known to have specific social cognition impairment. Future research should aim to provide further clarification of the mechanisms of action and neuroanatomical correlates of poor performance on this task.

Good decision-making is associated with an adaptive cardiovascular response to social competitive stress.

PubMed

Alacreu-Crespo, Adrián; Costa, Raquel; Abad-Tortosa, Diana; Salvador, Alicia; Serrano, Miguel Ángel

2018-06-22

Competition elicits different psychological and cardiovascular responses depending on a person's skills. Decision-making has been considered a distal factor that influences competition, but there are no studies analyzing this relationship. Our objective was to analyze whether decision-making affects the response to competition. Specifically, we aimed to test whether good performers on a decision-making test, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), showed an adaptive cardiovascular response to competition. In all, 116 participants (44 women) performed the IGT and were classified into Good or Poor decision-makers. Subsequently, they were exposed to a stress task in two different conditions: a face-to-face competition (winners/losers) or a control condition, while an electrocardiogram was recorded. In the competition group, good decision-makers increased their high-frequency respect to the total heart rate variability (HF/HRV) levels during the task, compared to Poor decision-makers. Again, competition group good decision-makers, showed lower LF and higher HF/HRV reactivity than the control group, which represents lower HRV stress pattern. Moreover, in the group of losers, good decision-makers had a decline in low frequency (LF) during the task and faster recovery than poor decision-makers. In conclusion, good decision-makers have a more adaptive stress response and higher levels of mental effort, based on total HRV interpretation. Decision-making skills could be a factor in a more adaptive cardiovascular response to competition.

The roles of social stress and decision-making in non-suicidal self-injury.

PubMed

Schatten, Heather T; Andover, Margaret S; Armey, Michael F

2015-10-30

Research suggests that individuals with a history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) do not have difficulty generating alternatives to social problems but choose more negative solutions, suggesting a deficit in decision-making. However, studies report no significant differences in risky decision-making on a performance-based task among individuals with and without NSSI histories. A limitation of these studies is that decision-making was only assessed at baseline. As individuals with a history of NSSI typically self-injure when experiencing negative emotions, decision-making ability may become impaired specifically in the presence of these emotions. The aim of the current study was to investigate decision-making ability among individuals with and without NSSI histories both at baseline and following a distressing social exclusion task. We compared individuals with (n=48) and without (n=72) NSSI histories on the Iowa Gambling Task, a behavioral measure of risky decision-making, before and after exclusion or inclusion on the Cyberball task. Results indicated no significant group differences in performance regardless of condition. When participants were grouped by racial/ethnic minority status, results indicated that non-Hispanic White individuals with a history of NSSI exhibited deterioration in risky decision-making ability following social exclusion. Potential explanations for these findings and clinical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Show me the money: incorporating financial motives into the gambling motives questionnaire.

PubMed

Dechant, Kristianne

2014-12-01

Although research has only recently begun to measure what motivates all levels of gambling involvement, motives could offer a theoretically interesting and practical way to subtype gamblers in research and for responsible gambling initiatives. The Gambling Motives Questionnaire (GMQ) is one measure that weaves together much of the gambling motives literature, but it has been criticized for neglecting financial reasons for gambling. This study uses a series of factor analyses to explore the effect of adding nine financial motives to the GMQ in a heterogeneous sample of 1,014 adult past-year gamblers. After trimming trivial financial motives, the penultimate factor analysis of the 15 GMQ items and four financial motives led to a four-factor solution, with factors tapping enhancement, social, coping and financial motives, as predicted. A final factor analysis performed on a modified GMQ-F (i.e., 16 items, including a financial subscale) revealed the same four factors, and hierarchical regression showed that the financial motives improve the GMQ-F's prediction of gambling frequency. This study provides evidence that omitting financial motives is a clear gap in the GMQ, yet suggests that the GMQ is a promising tool that can be conceptually and empirically strengthened with the simple addition of financial items.

Setting Win Limits: An Alternative Approach to "Responsible Gambling"?

PubMed

Walker, Douglas M; Litvin, Stephen W; Sobel, Russell S; St-Pierre, Renée A

2015-09-01

Social scientists, governments, and the casino industry have all emphasized the need for casino patrons to "gamble responsibly." Strategies for responsible gambling include self-imposed time limits and loss limits on gambling. Such strategies help prevent people from losing more than they can afford and may help prevent excessive gambling behavior. Yet, loss limits also make it more likely that casino patrons leave when they are losing. Oddly, the literature makes no mention of "win limits" as a potential approach to responsible gambling. A win limit would be similar to a loss limit, except the gambler would leave the casino upon reaching a pre-set level of winnings. We anticipate that a self-imposed win limit will reduce the gambler's average loss and, by default, also reduce the casino's profit. We test the effect of a self-imposed win limit by running slot machine simulations in which the treatment group of players has self-imposed and self-enforced win and loss limits, while the control group has a self-imposed loss limit or no limit. We find that the results conform to our expectations: the win limit results in improved player performance and reduced casino profits. Additional research is needed, however, to determine whether win limits could be a useful component of a responsible gambling strategy.

Decreasing Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity During Sequential Risk-Taking: An fMRI Investigation of the Balloon Analog Risk Task

PubMed Central

Schonberg, Tom; Fox, Craig R.; Mumford, Jeanette A.; Congdon, Eliza; Trepel, Christopher; Poldrack, Russell A.

2012-01-01

Functional imaging studies examining the neural correlates of risk have mainly relied on paradigms involving exposure to simple chance gambles and an economic definition of risk as variance in the probability distribution over possible outcomes. However, there is little evidence that choices made during gambling tasks predict naturalistic risk-taking behaviors such as drug use, extreme sports, or even equity investing. To better understand the neural basis of naturalistic risk-taking, we scanned participants using fMRI while they completed the Balloon Analog Risk Task, an experimental measure that includes an active decision/choice component and that has been found to correlate with a number of naturalistic risk-taking behaviors. In the task, as in many naturalistic settings, escalating risk-taking occurs under uncertainty and might be experienced either as the accumulation of greater potential rewards, or as exposure to increasing possible losses (and decreasing expected value). We found that areas previously linked to risk and risk-taking (bilateral anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) were activated as participants continued to inflate balloons. Interestingly, we found that ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activity decreased as participants further expanded balloons. In light of previous findings implicating the vmPFC in value calculation, this result suggests that escalating risk-taking in the task might be perceived as exposure to increasing possible losses (and decreasing expected value) rather than the increasing potential total reward relative to the starting point of the trial. A better understanding of how neural activity changes with risk-taking behavior in the task offers insight into the potential neural mechanisms driving naturalistic risk-taking. PMID:22675289

Towards a cognitive robotics methodology for reward-based decision-making: dynamical systems modelling of the Iowa Gambling Task

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowe, Robert; Ziemke, Tom

2010-09-01

The somatic marker hypothesis (SMH) posits that the role of emotions and mental states in decision-making manifests through bodily responses to stimuli of import to the organism's welfare. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), proposed by Bechara and Damasio in the mid-1990s, has provided the major source of empirical validation to the role of somatic markers in the service of flexible and cost-effective decision-making in humans. In recent years the IGT has been the subject of much criticism concerning: (1) whether measures of somatic markers reveal that they are important for decision-making as opposed to behaviour preparation; (2) the underlying neural substrate posited as critical to decision-making of the type relevant to the task; and (3) aspects of the methodological approach used, particularly on the canonical version of the task. In this paper, a cognitive robotics methodology is proposed to explore a dynamical systems approach as it applies to the neural computation of reward-based learning and issues concerning embodiment. This approach is particularly relevant in light of a strongly emerging alternative hypothesis to the SMH, the reversal learning hypothesis, which links, behaviourally and neurocomputationally, a number of more or less complex reward-based decision-making tasks, including the 'A-not-B' task - already subject to dynamical systems investigations with a focus on neural activation dynamics. It is also suggested that the cognitive robotics methodology may be used to extend systematically the IGT benchmark to more naturalised, but nevertheless controlled, settings that might better explore the extent to which the SMH, and somatic states per se, impact on complex decision-making.

The influence of contextual reward statistics on risk preference

PubMed Central

Rigoli, Francesco; Rutledge, Robb B.; Dayan, Peter; Dolan, Raymond J.

2016-01-01

Decision theories mandate that organisms should adjust their behaviour in the light of the contextual reward statistics. We tested this notion using a gambling choice task involving distinct contexts with different reward distributions. The best fitting model of subjects' behaviour indicated that the subjective values of options depended on several factors, including a baseline gambling propensity, a gambling preference dependent on reward amount, and a contextual reward adaptation factor. Combining this behavioural model with simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging we probed neural responses in three key regions linked to reward and value, namely ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra (VTA/SN), ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum (VST). We show that activity in the VTA/SN reflected contextual reward statistics to the extent that context affected behaviour, activity in the vmPFC represented a value difference between chosen and unchosen options while VST responses reflected a non-linear mapping between the actual objective rewards and their subjective value. The findings highlight a multifaceted basis for choice behaviour with distinct mappings between components of this behaviour and value sensitive brain regions. PMID:26707890

Impaired flexible decision-making in Major Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Cella, Matteo; Dymond, Simon; Cooper, Andy

2010-07-01

Depression is associated with dysfunctional affective states, neuropsychological impairment and altered sensitivity to reward and punishment. These impairments can influence complex decision-making in changing environments. The contingency shifting variant Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was used to assess flexible decision-making performance in a group of medicated unipolar Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) patients (n=19) and a group of healthy control volunteers (n=20). The task comprised the standard IGT followed by a contingency-shift phase where decks progressively changed reward and punishment schedule. Patients with MDD showed impaired performance compared to controls during both the standard and the contingency-shift phases of the IGT. Analysis of the contingency-shift phase demonstrated that individuals with depression had difficulties perceiving when a previously bad contingency became good. The present findings have several limitations including small sample size, the possible confounding role of medication and absence of other neuropsychological tests (i.e., executive function). Depressed patients show impaired decision-making behaviour in static and dynamic environments. Altered sensitivity to reward and punishment is proposed as the mechanism responsible for the lack of advantageous choices and poor adjustment to a changing environment.

Risk taking and adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A gap between real life behavior and experimental decision making.

PubMed

Pollak, Yehuda; Shalit, Reut; Aran, Adi

2018-01-01

Adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are prone to suboptimal decision making and risk taking. The aim of this study was to test performance on a theoretically-based probabilistic decision making task in well-characterized adults with and without ADHD, and examine the relation between experimental risk taking and history of real-life risk-taking behavior, defined as cigarette, alcohol, and street drug use. University students with and without ADHD completed a modified version of the Cambridge Gambling Test, in which they had to choose between alternatives varied by level of risk, and reported their history of substance use. Both groups showed similar patterns of risk taking on the experimental decision making task, suggesting that ADHD is not linked to low sensitivity to risk. Past and present substance use was more prevalent in adults with ADHD. These finding question the validity of experimental probabilistic decision making task as a valid model for ADHD-related risk-taking behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influencing Children's Pregambling Game Playing via Conditional Discrimination Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Taylor E.; Dixon, Mark R.

2009-01-01

Past research has demonstrated a transformation of stimulus functions under similar conditions using gambling tasks and adults (e.g., Zlomke & Dixon, 2006), and the present study attempted to extend this research. Experimenters exposed 7 children (ages 7 to 10 years) to a simulated board game with concurrently available dice differing only by…

How to Explain Receptivity to Conjunction-Fallacy Inhibition Training: Evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassotti, Mathieu; Moutier, Sylvain

2010-01-01

Intuitive predictions and judgments under conditions of uncertainty are often mediated by judgment heuristics that sometimes lead to biases. Using the classical conjunction bias example, the present study examines the relationship between receptivity to metacognitive executive training and emotion-based learning ability indexed by Iowa Gambling…

Affective Decision-Making and Externalizing Behaviors: The Role of Autonomic Activity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bubier, Jennifer L.; Drabick, Deborah A. G.

2008-01-01

We tested a conceptual model involving the inter-relations among affective decision-making (indexed by a gambling task), autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms in a largely impoverished, inner city sample of first through third grade children (N…

Differential Effects of Insular and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Lesions on Risky Decision-Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, L.; Bechara, A.; Damasio, H.; Aitken, M. R. F.; Sahakian, B. J.; Robbins, T. W.

2008-01-01

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and insular cortex are implicated in distributed neural circuitry that supports emotional decision-making. Previous studies of patients with vmPFC lesions have focused primarily on decision-making under uncertainty, when outcome probabilities are ambiguous (e.g. the Iowa Gambling Task). It remains unclear…

Greater decision-making competence is associated with greater expected-value sensitivity, but not overall risk taking: an examination of concurrent validity.

PubMed

Parker, Andrew M; Weller, Joshua A

2015-01-01

Decision-making competence reflects individual differences in the susceptibility to committing decision-making errors, measured using tasks common from behavioral decision research (e.g., framing effects, under/overconfidence, following decision rules). Prior research demonstrates that those with higher decision-making competence report lower incidence of health-risking and antisocial behaviors, but there has been less focus on intermediate processes that may impact real-world decisions, and, in particular, those implicated by normative models. Here we test the associations between measures of youth decision-making competence (Y-DMC) and one such process, the degree to which individuals make choices consistent with maximizing expected value (EV). Using a task involving hypothetical gambles, we find that greater EV sensitivity is associated with greater Y-DMC. Higher Y-DMC scores are associated with (a) choosing risky options when EV favors those options and (b) avoiding risky options when EV favors a certain option. This relationship is stronger for gambles that involved potential losses. The results suggest that Y-DMC captures decision processes consistent with standard normative evaluations of risky decisions.

Anxiety and feedback processing in a gambling task: Contributions of time-frequency theta and delta.

PubMed

Ellis, Jessica S; Watts, Adreanna T M; Schmidt, Norman; Bernat, Edward M

2018-05-02

The feedback negativity (FN) event-related potential (ERP) is widely studied during gambling feedback tasks. However, research on FN and anxiety is minimal and the findings are mixed. To clarify these discrepancies, the current study (N = 238) used time-frequency analysis to disentangle overlapping contributions of delta (0-3 Hz) and theta (3-7 Hz) to feedback processing in a clinically anxious sample, with severity assessed through general worry and physiological arousal scales. Greater general worry showed enhanced delta- and theta-FN broadly across both gain and loss conditions, with theta-FN stronger for losses. Regressions indicated delta-FN maintained unique effects, accounted for theta, and explained the blunted time domain FN for general worry. Increased delta was also associated with physiological arousal, but the effects were accounted for by general worry. Broadly, anxiety-related alterations in feedback processing can be explained by an overall heightened sensitivity to feedback as represented by enhanced delta-FN in relation to the general worry facet of anxiety. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Age at first sexual activity: Clinical and cognitive associations.

PubMed

Harries, Michael D; Paglia, Helen A; Redden, Sarah A; Grant, Jon E-Mail

2018-05-01

Engagement in sexual activity is common among adolescents and can be considered part of adolescent development, but it carries potential life-changing consequences. This study examined if clinical and cognitive differences existed between adolescents who engaged in voluntary sexual behavior before age 15, between ages 15 to 18, and after age 18. All participants were part of a larger study examining impulsive behavior in young adults. Participants were assessed on measures including demographics, comorbid psychiatric disorders, and clinical scales and cognitive tasks assessing impulsivity, obsessive-compulsive traits, emotion regulation, depression, anxiety, and quality of life. Those who engaged in voluntary sexual activity before age 15 were more likely to have increased depression and anxiety symptoms, to score higher on the Yale Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale for Pathologic Gambling, and to make poorer decisions on the Cambridge Gambling Task. The results of this study suggest that the decision to engage in sexual activity at a young age is not an act of thinking before acting or impatience, but rather a decision to engage in sensation-seeking behavior. This finding carries implications for interventions targeting healthy sexual activity in adolescents.

Go for broke: The role of somatic states when asked to lose in the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Wright, Rebecca J; Rakow, Tim; Russo, Riccardo

2017-02-01

The Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH) posits that somatic states develop and guide advantageous decision making by "marking" disadvantageous options (i.e., arousal increases when poor options are considered). This assumption was tested using the standard Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) in which participants win/lose money by selecting among four decks of cards, and an alternative version, identical in both structure and payoffs, but with the aim changed to lose as much money as possible. This "lose" version of the IGT reverses which decks are advantageous/disadvantageous; and so reverses which decks should be marked by somatic responses - which we assessed via skin conductance (SC). Participants learned to pick advantageously in the original (Win) IGT and in the (new) Lose IGT. Using multilevel regression, some variability in anticipatory SC across blocks was found but no consistent effect of anticipatory SC on disadvantageous deck selections. Thus, while we successfully developed a new way to test the central claims of the SMH, we did not find consistent support for the SMH. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cognitive dysfunction in Body Dysmorphic Disorder: New implications for nosological systems & neurobiological models

PubMed Central

Jefferies-Sewell, K; Chamberlain, SR; Fineberg, NA; Laws, KR

2017-01-01

Background Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a debilitating disorder, characterised by obsessions and compulsions relating specifically to perceived appearance, newly classified within the DSM-5 Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders grouping. Until now, little research has been conducted into the cognitive profile of this disorder. Materials and Methods Participants with BDD (n=12) and healthy controls (n=16) were tested using a computerised neurocognitive battery investigating attentional set-shifting (Intra/Extra Dimensional Set Shift Task), decision-making (Cambridge Gamble Task), motor response-inhibition (Stop-Signal Reaction Time Task) and affective processing (Affective Go-No Go Task). The groups were matched for age, IQ and education. Results In comparison to controls, patients with BDD showed significantly impaired attentional set shifting, abnormal decision-making, impaired response inhibition and greater omission and commission errors on the emotional processing task. Conclusions Despite the modest sample size, our results showed that individuals with BDD performed poorly compared to healthy controls on tests of cognitive flexibility, reward and motor impulsivity and affective processing. Results from separate studies in OCD patients suggest similar cognitive dysfunction. Therefore, these findings are consistent with the re-classification of BDD alongside OCD. These data also hint at additional areas of decision-making abnormalities that might contribute specifically to the psychopathology of BDD. PMID:27899165

Food-cue affected motor response inhibition and self-reported dieting success: a pictorial affective shifting task

PubMed Central

Meule, Adrian; Lutz, Annika P. C.; Krawietz, Vera; Stützer, Judith; Vögele, Claus; Kübler, Andrea

2014-01-01

Behavioral inhibition is one of the basic facets of executive functioning and is closely related to self-regulation. Impulsive reactions, that is, low inhibitory control, have been associated with higher body mass index (BMI), binge eating, and other problem behaviors (e.g., substance abuse, pathological gambling, etc.). Nevertheless, studies which investigated the direct influence of food-cues on behavioral inhibition have been fairly inconsistent. In the current studies, we investigated food-cue affected behavioral inhibition in young women. For this purpose, we used a go/no-go task with pictorial food and neutral stimuli in which stimulus-response mapping is reversed after every other block (affective shifting task). In study 1, hungry participants showed faster reaction times to and omitted fewer food than neutral targets. Low dieting success and higher BMI were associated with behavioral disinhibition in food relative to neutral blocks. In study 2, both hungry and satiated individuals were investigated. Satiation did not influence overall task performance, but modulated associations of task performance with dieting success and self-reported impulsivity. When satiated, increased food craving during the task was associated with low dieting success, possibly indicating a preload-disinhibition effect following food intake. Food-cues elicited automatic action and approach tendencies regardless of dieting success, self-reported impulsivity, or current hunger levels. Yet, associations between dieting success, impulsivity, and behavioral food-cue responses were modulated by hunger and satiation. Future research investigating clinical samples and including other salient non-food stimuli as control category is warranted. PMID:24659978

Decision making in euthymic bipolar I and bipolar II disorders.

PubMed

Martino, D J; Strejilevich, S A; Torralva, T; Manes, F

2011-06-01

The main aim of this study was to compare a large population of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) types I and II strictly defined as euthymic with healthy controls on measures of decision making. An additional aim was to compare performance on a decision-making task between patients with and without a history of suicide attempt. Eighty-five euthymic patients with BD-I or BD-II and 34 healthy controls were included. All subjects completed tests to assess verbal memory, attention and executive functions, and a decision-making paradigm (the Iowa Gambling Task, IGT). Both groups of patients had worse performance than healthy controls on measures of verbal memory, attention and executive function. No significant differences were found between BD-I, BD-II and healthy controls on measures of decision making. By contrast, patients with a history of suicide attempt had lower performance in the IGT than patients without a history of suicide attempt. Patients with euthymic BD-I and BD-II had intact decision-making abilities, suggesting that this does not represent a reliable trait marker of the disorder. In addition, our results provide further evidence of an association between impairments in decision making and vulnerability to suicidal behavior.

Social Stress Increases Cortisol and Hampers Attention in Adolescents with Excess Weight

PubMed Central

Verdejo-Garcia, Antonio; Moreno-Padilla, Maria; Garcia-Rios, M. Carmen; Lopez-Torrecillas, Francisca; Delgado-Rico, Elena; Schmidt-Rio-Valle, Jacqueline; Fernandez-Serrano, Maria J.

2015-01-01

Objective To experimentally examine if adolescents with excess weight are more sensitive to social stress and hence more sensitive to harmful effects of stress in cognition. Design and Methods We conducted an experimental study in 84 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years old classified in two groups based on age adjusted Body Mass Index percentile: Normal weight (n=42) and Excess weight (n=42). Both groups were exposed to social stress as induced by the virtual reality version of the Trier Social Stress Task --participants were requested to give a public speech about positive and negative aspects of their personalities in front of a virtual audience. The outcome measures were salivary cortisol levels and performance in cognitive tests before and after the social stressor. Cognitive tests included the CANTAB Rapid Visual Processing Test (measuring attention response latency and discriminability) and the Iowa Gambling Task (measuring decision-making). Results Adolescents with excess weight compared to healthy weight controls displayed increased cortisol response and less improvement of attentional performance after the social stressor. Decision-making performance decreased after the social stressor in both groups. Conclusion Adolescents who are overweight or obese have increased sensitivity to social stress, which detrimentally impacts attentional skills. PMID:25898204

Gunslingers, poker players, and chickens 3: Decision making under mental performance pressure in junior elite athletes.

PubMed

Parkin, Beth L; Walsh, Vincent

2017-01-01

Having investigated the decision making of world class elite and subelite athletes (see Parkin and Walsh, 2017; Parkin et al., 2017), here the abilities of those at the earliest stage of entry to elite sport are examined. Junior elite athletes have undergone initial national selection and are younger than athletes examined previously (mean age 13 years). Decision making under mental pressure is explored in this sample. During performance an athlete encounters a wide array of mental pressures; these include the psychological impact of errors, negative feedback, and requirements for sustained attention in a dynamic environment (Anshel and Wells, 2000; Mellalieu et al., 2009). Such factors increase the cognitive demands of the athletes, inducing distracting anxiety-related thoughts known as rumination (Beilock and Gray, 2007). Mental pressure has been shown to reduce performance of decision-making tasks where reward and loss contingencies are explicit, with a shift toward increased risk taking (Pabst et al., 2013; Starcke et al., 2011). Mental pressure has been shown to be detrimental to decision-making speed in comparison to physical stress, highlighting the importance of considering a range of different pressures encountered by athletes (Hepler, 2015). To investigate the influence of mental pressure on key indicators of decision making in junior elite athletes. This chapter concludes a wider project examining decision making across developmental stages in elite sport. The work further explores how psychological insights can be applied in an elite sporting environment and in particular tailored to the requirements of junior athletes. Seventeen junior elite athletes (10 males, mean age: 13.80 years) enrolled on a national youth athletic development program participated in the study. Performance across three categories of decision making was assessed under conditions of low and high mental pressure. Decision making under risk was measured via the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT; Rogers et al., 1999), decision making under uncertainty via the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART; Lejuez et al., 2002), and fast reactive responses to perceptual stimuli via the Visual Search Task (Treisman, 1982). Mental pressure was induced with the addition of a concurrent verbal memory task, used to increase cognitive load and mimic the distracting effects of anxiety-related rumination. In junior elite athletes, fast reactive responses to perceptual stimuli (on the Visual Search Task) were slower under conditions of mental pressure. For decision making under risk there was an interaction of mental pressure and gender on the amount of points gambled, under pressure there was a higher level of risk taking in male athletes compared to females. There was no influence of mental pressure on decision making under uncertainity. There were no significant correlations in the degree to which individual's responses changed under pressure across the three measures of decision making. When assessing the applicability of results based on group averages there were no junior elite athletes who showed an "average" response (within 1SD of the mean) to mental pressure across all the three decision-making tasks. Mental pressure affects decision making in a sample of junior elite athletes, with a slowing of response times, and modulations to performance of decision making under risk that have a high requirement for working memory. In relation to sport, these findings suggest that novel situations that place high cognitive demands on the athlete may be particularly influenced by mental pressure. The application of this work in junior elite athletes included the feedback of individual results and the implementation of a decision-making taxonomy. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hot and cold cognition in unmedicated depressed subjects with bipolar disorder.

PubMed

Roiser, Jonathan P; Cannon, Dara M; Gandhi, Shilpa K; Taylor Tavares, Joana; Erickson, Kristine; Wood, Suzanne; Klaver, Jacqueline M; Clark, Luke; Zarate, Carlos A; Sahakian, Barbara J; Drevets, Wayne C

2009-03-01

Neuropsychological studies in subjects with bipolar disorder (BD) have reported deficits on a variety of cognitive measures. However, because the majority of subjects were medicated at the time of testing in previous studies, it is currently unclear whether the pattern of deficits reported is related to BD itself or to psychotropic medication. We addressed this issue by examining cognitive performance in a group of unmedicated, currently depressed subjects with BD. Forty-nine unmedicated subjects who met DSM-IV criteria for BD, depressed phase, and 55 control subjects participated in this study. Most patients were diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. Performance on emotion-dependent, or 'hot', and emotion-independent, or 'cold', cognitive tasks was assessed using tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. The groups were well matched with respect to general intelligence and demographic variables. Deficits in the unmedicated depressed BD group were apparent on tests tapping 'hot' cognitive processing, for example the Cambridge Gamble task and the Probabilistic Reversal Learning task. However, other than a deficit on the Spatial Span test in the depressed BD subjects, the groups performed equivalently on most measures of 'cold' cognitive processing, for example visual memory, attention, and working memory. These data suggest that deficits on tests involving reward processing, short-term spatial memory storage, and sensitivity to negative feedback in depressed BD subjects represent an effect of the illness itself and not mood-stabilizing medication.

Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents

PubMed Central

Kwak, Youngbin; Huettel, Scott A.

2016-01-01

Adolescence is a period of increased sensitivity to social contexts. To evaluate how social context sensitivity changes over development—and influences reward learning—we investigated how children and adolescents perceive and integrate rewards for oneself and others during a dynamic risky decision-making task. Children and adolescents (N = 75, 8–16 years) performed the Social Gambling Task (SGT, Kwak et al., 2014) and completed a set of questionnaires measuring other-regarding behavior. In the SGT, participants choose amongst four card decks that have different payout structures for oneself and for a charity. We examined patterns of choices, overall decision strategies, and how reward outcomes led to trial-by-trial adjustments in behavior, as estimated using a reinforcement-learning model. Performance of children and adolescents was compared to data from a previously collected sample of adults (N = 102) performing the identical task. We found that that children/adolescents were not only more sensitive to rewards directed to the charity than self but also showed greater prosocial tendencies on independent measures of other-regarding behavior. Children and adolescents also showed less use of a strategy that prioritizes rewards for self at the expense of rewards for others. These results support the conclusion that, compared to adults, children and adolescents show greater sensitivity to outcomes for others when making decisions and learning about potential rewards. PMID:27761125

Older Adults Make Less Advantageous Decisions than Younger Adults: Cognitive and Psychological Correlates

PubMed Central

Fein, George; McGillivray, Shannon; Finn, Peter

2007-01-01

This study tested the hypotheses that older adults make less advantageous decisions than younger adults on the Iowa gambling task (IGT). Less advantageous decisions, as measured by the IGT, are characterized by choices that favor larger versus smaller immediate rewards, even though such choices may result in long-term negative consequences. The IGT, and measures of neuropsychological function, personality, and psychopathology were administered to 164 healthy adults 18–85 years of age. Older adults performed less advantageously on the IGT compared with younger adults. Additionally, a greater number of older adult’s IGT performances were classified as ‘impaired’ when compared to younger adults. Less advantageous decisions were associated with obsessive symptoms in older adults and with antisocial symptoms in younger adults. Performance on the IGT was positively associated with auditory working memory and psychomotor function in young adults, and in immediate memory in older adults. PMID:17445297

Mirtazapine and ketanserin alter preference for gambling-like schedules of reinforcement in rats.

PubMed

Persons, Amanda L; Tedford, Stephanie E; Celeste Napier, T

2017-07-03

Drug and behavioral addictions have overlapping features, e.g., both manifest preference for larger, albeit costlier, reinforcement options in cost/benefit decision-making tasks. Our prior work revealed that the mixed-function serotonergic compound, mirtazapine, attenuates behaviors by rats motivated by abused drugs. To extend this work to behavioral addictions, here we determined if mirtazapine and/or ketanserin, another mixed-function serotonin-acting compound, can alter decision-making in rats that is independent of drug (or food)-motivated reward. Accordingly, we developed a novel variable-ratio task in rats wherein intracranial self-stimulation was used as the positive reinforcer. Using lever pressing for various levels of brain stimulation, the operant task provided choices between a small brain stimulation current delivered on a fixed-ratio schedule (i.e., a predictable reward) and a large brain stimulation delivered following an unpredictable number of responses (i.e., a variable-ratio schedule). This task allowed for demonstration of individualized preference and detection of shifts in motivational influences during a pharmacological treatment. Once baseline preference was established, we determined that pretreatment with mirtazapine or ketanserin significantly decreased preference for the large reinforcer presented after gambling-like schedules of reinforcement. When the rats were tested the next day without drug, preference for the unpredictable large reinforcer option was restored. These data demonstrate that mirtazapine and ketanserin can reduce preference for larger, costlier reinforcement options, and illustrate the potential for these drugs to alter behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Elucidating the role of D4 receptors in mediating attributions of salience to incentive stimuli on Pavlovian conditioned approach and conditioned reinforcement paradigms.

PubMed

Cocker, P J; Vonder Haar, C; Winstanley, C A

2016-10-01

The power of drug-associated cues to instigate drug 'wanting' and consequently promote drug seeking is a corner stone of contemporary theories of addiction. Gambling disorder has recently been added to the pantheon of addictive disorders due to the phenomenological similarities between the diseases. However, the neurobiological mechanism that may mediate increased sensitivity towards conditioned stimuli in addictive disorders is unclear. We have previously demonstrated using a rodent analogue of a simple slot machine that the dopamine D4 receptor is critically engaged in controlling animals' attribution of salience to stimuli associated with reward in this paradigm, and consequently may represent a target for the treatment of gambling disorder. Here, we investigated the role of acute administration of a D4 receptor agonist on animals' responsivity to conditioned stimuli on both a Pavlovian conditioned approach (autoshaping) and a conditioned reinforcement paradigm. Following training on one of the two tasks, separate cohorts of rats (male and female) were administered a dose of PD168077 shown to be maximally effective at precipitating errors in reward expectancy on the rat slot machine task (10mg/kg). However, augmenting the activity of the D4 receptors in this manner did not alter behaviour on either task. These data therefore provide novel evidence that the D4 receptor does not alter incentive motivation in response to cues on simple behavioural tasks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Neural correlates of affective empathy and reinforcement learning in boys with conduct problems: fMRI evidence from a gambling task.

PubMed

Schwenck, Christina; Ciaramidaro, Angela; Selivanova, Marina; Tournay, Jennifer; Freitag, Christine M; Siniatchkin, Michael

2017-03-01

Conduct problems (CP) comprise abnormal behaviors associated with aberrant aspects of affective empathy as well as learning. However, behavioral measures for affective empathy are challenging, and previous results concerning learning in patients with CP are inconsistent. Nineteen boys with CP and 24 typically developing (TD) boys aged 11-17 years (M=14.34, SD=1.93) participated in the study. An ultimatum-game was applied in order to elicit the feeling of like or dislike towards the opponent for a subsequent gambling task, which was played by the opponents (OTHER-condition) and by the participants themselves (SELF-condition). Functional MRI data were recorded throughout the experiment. In accordance with the model of insensitivity to punishment, hypo-activation of the left amygdala, left anterior insula, ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and bilateral temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) was observed as a response to losing in participants with CP during the SELF-condition. Callous-unemotional (CU)-traits correlated negatively with activation of amygdala and right TPJ. During the OTHER-condition, TD participants showed activation in brain areas associated with theory of mind (right TPJ, left IFG), and affect regulation (right DLPFC) rather than areas associated with affective empathy. This pattern was not found in adolescents with CP. Moreover, and independently of individual characteristics of their opponents, adolescents with CP demonstrated reward-associated activation (ventral striatum) observing others win, which was positively correlated with CU-traits. This may be interpreted in line with the theory of reward dominance. The current study provides support for the theory of abnormal learning processing in adolescents with CP which yields implications for further research as well as clinical practice. The gambling task did not activate affective empathy networks, but was specific for cognitive empathy, inhibition, and affect regulation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impairment in flexible emotion-based learning in hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals.

PubMed

Cella, Matteo; Dymond, Simon; Cooper, Andrew

2009-11-30

Deficits in emotion-based learning are implicated in many psychiatric disorders. Research conducted with patients with schizophrenia using one of the most popular tasks for the investigation of emotion-based learning, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), has largely been inconclusive. The present study employed a novel, contingency-shifting variant IGT with hallucination- and delusion-prone university students to determine whether previous findings were due merely to the presence of psychosis. Following initial screening of a sample of 253 students (mean age = 20.13 years, S.D. = 3.27), 28 high (10 male, 18 female) and 27 low (12 male, 15 female) hallucination-prone and 27 high (7 male, 20 female) and 26 low (11 male, 15 female) delusion-prone individuals completed the contingency-shifting variant IGT. Results showed no significant differences between the performances of high and low hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals during the original phase of the task. Differences only emerged following the onset of the contingency-shift phases, with individuals high in hallucination- and delusion-proneness having impaired performance compared with low hallucination- and delusion-prone individuals. Overall, the present findings demonstrate that impairments associated with hallucination- and delusion-proneness are specific to the shift phase of the contingency-shifting variant IGT, which supports previous findings with patients with schizophrenia.

Deficits in emotion based decision-making in schizophrenia; a new insight based on the Iowa Gambling Task.

PubMed

Matsuzawa, Daisuke; Shirayama, Yukihiko; Niitsu, Tomihisa; Hashimoto, Kenji; Iyo, Masaomi

2015-03-03

Defective decision-making is a symptom of impaired cognitive function observed in patients with schizophrenia. Impairment on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has been reported in patients with schizophrenia, but these results are inconsistent among studies. We differentiated subjects based on whether they expressed certainty at having deciphered an advantageous strategy in the course of the task. We investigated this impairment using the IGT in patients with schizophrenia and performed analysis different to standard advantageous decks minus disadvantageous decks in all 100 card choices, [C+D]-[A+B](1-100). We examined the effects on behavior after receiving a big penalty. Results were dependent on participants utilizing with or without certainty, the best strategy for positive gain. Schizophrenic patients without certainty failed to show card choice shift, from disadvantageous to advantageous decks. Differences in card choices on the IGT were clearly shown between patients with schizophrenia and normal controls by the use of improvement from block 1 to blocks 3-5, [C+D]-[A+B]([41-100]-[1-20]) (P<0.001), rather than by the composite value of blocks 3-5, [C+D]-[A+B](41-100) (P=0.011). The deficit of emotion-based learning in schizophrenia without uncertainty were related to scores on the SANS and S5 attention. In addition, S1 affective flattering and S4 anhedonia-asociality were also related to these deficits. For a while, normal controls showed a smooth shift from disadvantageous to advantageous decks after big penalties, with or without a certainty for strategy. However, patients with schizophrenia failed to show switching from disadvantageous to advantageous decks, even after big penalties, under the same conditions. Our results highlight certainty of strategy and behavior after a big penalty, as two points of difference between patients with schizophrenia and normal controls in the accumulation of net scores. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gambling, disordered gambling and their association with major depression and substance use: a web-based cohort and twin-sibling study.

PubMed

Blanco, C; Myers, J; Kendler, K S

2012-03-01

Relatively little is known about the environmental and genetic contributions to gambling frequency and disordered gambling (DG), the full continuum of gambling-related problems that includes pathological gambling (PG). A web-based sample (n=43,799 including both members of 609 twin and 303 sibling pairs) completed assessments of number of lifetime gambling episodes, DSM-IV criteria for PG, alcohol, nicotine and caffeine intake, and nicotine dependence (ND) and DSM-III-R criteria for lifetime major depression (MD). Twin modeling was performed using Mx. In the entire cohort, symptoms of DG indexed a single dimension of liability. Symptoms of DG were weakly related to caffeine intake and moderately related to MD, consumption of cigarettes and alcohol, and ND. In twin and sibling pairs, familial resemblance for number of times gambled resulted from both familial-environmental (c²=42%) and genetic factors (a²=32%). For symptoms of DG, resemblance resulted solely from genetic factors (a²=83%). Bivariate analyses indicated a low genetic correlation between symptoms of DG and MD (r(a)=+0.14) whereas genetic correlations with DG symptoms were substantially higher with use of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine, and ND (ranging from +0.29 to +0.80). The results were invariant across genders. Whereas gambling participation is determined by shared environmental and genetic factors, DG constitutes a single latent dimension that is largely genetically determined and more closely related to externalizing than internalizing behaviors. Because these findings are invariant across genders, they suggest that the etiological factors of DG are likely to be similar in men and women.

Gambling behaviors and attitudes in adolescent high-school students: Relationships with problem-gambling severity and smoking status

PubMed Central

Weinberger, Andrea H.; Franco, Christine A.; Hoff, Rani A.; Pilver, Corey E.; Steinberg, Marvin A.; Rugle, Loreen; Wampler, Jeremy; Cavallo, Dana A.; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Potenza, Marc N.

2015-01-01

Background and Aims Smoking is associated with more severe/extensive gambling in adults. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between smoking and gambling in adolescents. Methods Analyses utilized survey data from 1,591 Connecticut high-school students. Adolescents were classified by gambling (Low-Risk Gambling [LRG], At Risk/Problem Gambling [ARPG]) and smoking (current smoker, non-smoker). The main effects of smoking and the smoking-by-gambling interactions were examined for gambling behaviors (e.g., type, location), and gambling attitudes. Data were analyzed using chi-square and logistic regression; the latter controlled for gender, race/ethnicity, grade, and family structure. Results For APRG adolescents, smoking was associated with greater online, school, and casino gambling; gambling due to anxiety and pressure; greater time spent gambling; early gambling onset; perceived parental approval of gambling; and decreased importance of measures to prevent teen gambling. For LRG adolescents, smoking was associated with non-strategic gambling (e.g., lottery gambling); school gambling; gambling in response to anxiety; gambling for financial reasons; greater time spent gambling; and decreased importance of measures to prevent teen gambling. Stronger relationships were found between smoking and casino gambling, gambling due to pressure, earlier onset of gambling, and parental perceptions of gambling for ARPG versus LRG adolescents. Discussion Smoking is associated with more extensive gambling for both low- and high-risk adolescent gamblers. Conclusion Smoking may be a marker of more severe gambling behaviors in adolescents and important to consider in gambling prevention and intervention efforts with youth. PMID:25959617

Gambling behaviors and attitudes in adolescent high-school students: Relationships with problem-gambling severity and smoking status.

PubMed

Weinberger, Andrea H; Franco, Christine A; Hoff, Rani A; Pilver, Corey E; Steinberg, Marvin A; Rugle, Loreen; Wampler, Jeremy; Cavallo, Dana A; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Potenza, Marc N

2015-06-01

Smoking is associated with more severe/extensive gambling in adults. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between smoking and gambling in adolescents. Analyses utilized survey data from 1591 Connecticut high-school students. Adolescents were classified by gambling (Low-Risk Gambling [LRG], At Risk/Problem Gambling [ARPG]) and smoking (current smoker, non-smoker). The main effects of smoking and the smoking-by-gambling interactions were examined for gambling behaviors (e.g., type, location), and gambling attitudes. Data were analyzed using chi-square and logistic regression; the latter controlled for gender, race/ethnicity, grade, and family structure. For APRG adolescents, smoking was associated with greater online, school, and casino gambling; gambling due to anxiety and pressure; greater time spent gambling; early gambling onset; perceived parental approval of gambling; and decreased importance of measures to prevent teen gambling. For LRG adolescents, smoking was associated with non-strategic gambling (e.g., lottery gambling); school gambling; gambling in response to anxiety; gambling for financial reasons; greater time spent gambling; and decreased importance of measures to prevent teen gambling. Stronger relationships were found between smoking and casino gambling, gambling due to pressure, earlier onset of gambling, and parental perceptions of gambling for ARPG versus LRG adolescents. Smoking is associated with more extensive gambling for both low- and high-risk adolescent gamblers. Smoking may be a marker of more severe gambling behaviors in adolescents and important to consider in gambling prevention and intervention efforts with youth. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The subjective value of probabilistic outcomes: Impact of reward magnitude on choice with uncertain rewards in rats.

PubMed

Zoratto, Francesca; Laviola, Giovanni; Adriani, Walter

2016-03-23

Interest is rising for animal modelling of Gambling disorder (GD), which is rapidly emerging as a mental health concern. In the present study, we assessed gambling proneness in male Wistar-Han rats using the "Probabilistic Delivery Task" (PDT). This operant protocol is based on choice between either certain, small amounts of food (SS) or larger amounts of food (LLL) delivered (or not) depending on a given (and progressively decreasing) probability. Here, we manipulated the ratio between large and small reward size to assess the impact of different magnitudes on rats' performance. Specifically, we drew a comparison between threefold (2 vs 6 pellets) and fivefold (1 vs 5 pellets) sizes. As a consequence, the "indifferent point" (IP, at which either choice is mathematically equivalent in terms of total foraging) was at 33% and 20% probability of delivery, respectively. Animals tested with the sharper contrast (i.e. fivefold ratio) exhibited sustained preference for LLL far beyond the IP, despite high uncertainty and low payoff, which rendered LLL a sub-optimal option. By contrast, animals facing a slighter contrast (i.e. threefold ratio) were increasingly disturbed by progressive rarefaction of rewards, as expressed by enhanced inadequate nose-poking: this was in accordance with their prompt shift in preference to SS, already shown around the IP. In conclusion, a five-folded LLL-to-SS ratio was not only more attractive, but also less frustrating than a three-folded one. Thus, a profile of gambling proneness in the PDT is more effectively induced by marked contrast between alternative options. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is poker a skill game? New insights from statistical physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Javarone, Marco Alberto

2015-06-01

During last years poker has gained a lot of prestige in several countries and, besides being one of the most famous card games, it represents a modern challenge for scientists belonging to different communities, spanning from artificial intelligence to physics and from psychology to mathematics. Unlike games like chess, the task of classifying the nature of poker (i.e., as “skill game” or gambling) seems really hard and it also constitutes a current problem, whose solution has several implications. In general, gambling offers equal winning probabilities both to rational players (i.e., those that use a strategy) and to irrational ones (i.e., those without a strategy). Therefore, in order to uncover the nature of poker, a viable way is comparing performances of rational vs. irrational players during a series of challenges. Recently, a work on this topic revealed that rationality is a fundamental ingredient to succeed in poker tournaments. In this study we analyze a simple model of poker challenges by a statistical physics approach, with the aim to uncover the nature of this game. As main result we found that, under particular conditions, few irrational players can turn poker into gambling. Therefore, although rationality is a key ingredient to succeed in poker, also the format of challenges has an important role in these dynamics, as it can strongly influence the underlying nature of the game. The importance of our results lies on the related implications, as for instance in identifying the limits within which poker can be considered as a “skill game” and, as a consequence, which kind of format must be chosen to devise algorithms able to face humans.

Alterations in functional brain networks associated with loss-chasing in gambling disorder and cocaine-use disorder.

PubMed

Worhunsky, Patrick D; Potenza, Marc N; Rogers, Robert D

2017-09-01

Continued, persistent gambling to recover accumulating losses, or 'loss-chasing', is a behavioral pattern linked particularly closely to gambling disorder (GD) but may reflect impaired decision-making processes relevant to drug addictions like cocaine-use disorder (CUD). However, little is known regarding the neurocognitive mechanisms of this complex, maladaptive behavior, particularly in individuals with addictive disorders. Seventy participants (25 GD, 18 CUD, and 27 healthy comparison (HC)) completed a loss-chase task during fMRI. Engagement of functional brain networks in response to losing outcomes and during decision-making periods preceding choices to loss-chase or to quit chasing losses were investigated using independent component analysis (ICA). An exploratory factor analysis was performed to examine patterns of coordinated engagement across identified networks. In GD relative to HC and CUD participants, choices to quit chasing were associated with greater engagement of a medial frontal executive-processing network. By comparison, CUD participants exhibited altered engagement of a striato-amygdala motivational network in response to losing outcomes as compared to HC, and during decision-making as compared to GD. Several other networks were differentially engaged during loss-chase relative to quit-chasing choices, but did not differ across participant groups. Exploratory factor analysis identified a system of coordinated activity across prefrontal executive-control networks that was greater in GD and CUD relative to HC participants and was associated with increased chasing persistence across all participants. Results provide evidence of shared and distinct neurobiological mechanisms in substance and behavioral addictions, and lend insight into potential cognitive interventions targeting loss-chasing behavior in GD. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Clinical and genetic correlates of decision making in anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Tenconi, Elena; Degortes, Daniela; Clementi, Maurizio; Collantoni, Enrico; Pinato, Claudia; Forzan, Monica; Cassina, Matteo; Santonastaso, Paolo; Favaro, Angela

2016-01-01

Decision-making (DM) abilities have been found to be impaired in anorexia nervosa (AN), but few data are available about the characteristics and correlates of this cognitive function. The aim of the present study was to provide data on DM functioning in AN using both veridical and adaptive paradigms. While in veridical DM tasks, the individual's ability to predict a true/false response is measured, adaptive DM is the ability to consider both internal and external demands in order to make a good choice, in the absence of a single true "correct" answer. The participants were 189 women, of whom 91 were eating-disordered patients with a lifetime diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, and 98 were healthy women. All the participants underwent clinical, neuropsychological, and genetic assessment. The cognitive evaluation included a set of neuropsychological tasks and two decision-making tests: The Iowa Gambling Task and the Cognitive Bias Task. Anorexia nervosa patients showed significantly poorer performances on both decision-making tasks than healthy women. The Cognitive Bias Task revealed that anorexia nervosa patients employed significantly more context-independent decision-making strategies, which were independent from diagnostic subtype, handedness, education, and psychopathology. In the whole sample (patients and controls), Cognitive Bias Task performance was independently predicted by lifetime anorexia nervosa diagnosis, body mass index at assessment, and 5-HTTLPR genotype. Patients displayed poor decision-making functioning in both veridical and adaptive situations. The difficulties detected in anorexia nervosa individuals may affect not only the ability to consider the future outcomes of their actions (leading to "myopia for the future"), but also the capacity to update and review one's own mindset according to new environmental stimuli.

Mind the Gap: Bridging economic and naturalistic risk-taking with cognitive neuroscience

PubMed Central

Schonberg, Tom; Fox, Craig R.; Poldrack, Russell A.

2010-01-01

Economists define risk in terms of variability of possible outcomes whereas clinicians and laypeople generally view risk as exposure to possible loss or harm. Neuroeconomic studies using relatively simple behavioral tasks have identified a network of brain regions that respond to economic risk, but these studies have had limited success predicting naturalistic risk-taking. In contrast, more complex behavioral tasks developed by clinicians (e.g., Balloon Analogue Risk Task and Iowa Gambling Task) correlate with naturalistic risk-taking but resist decomposition into distinct cognitive constructs. We propose that to bridge this gap and better understand neural substrates of naturalistic risk-taking, new tasks are needed that: (1) are decomposable into basic cognitive/economic constructs; (2) predict naturalistic risk-taking; and (3) engender dynamic, affective engagement. PMID:21130018

Optical mapping of brain activation in gambling disorders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Zhen; Lin, Xiaohong

2018-02-01

In this study, fNIRS was utilized to identify the brain activation difference between pathological gamblers (PGs) and heathy controls (HCs). We inspected the hemodynamic changes in the prefrontal cortex using fNIRS recordings during the completion of executive function and decision making tasks. Our finding revealed that the PG and HC groups exhibited significant differences in brain activation.

Monetary Losses Do Not Loom Large in Later Life: Age Differences in the Framing Effect

PubMed Central

Reed, Andrew E.

2009-01-01

Studies of the framing effect indicate that individuals are risk averse for decisions framed as gains but risk seeking for decisions framed as losses. However, findings regarding age-related changes in susceptibility to framing are mixed. Recent work demonstrating age-related decreases in reactivity to anticipated monetary losses, but not gains, suggests that older and younger adults might show equivalent risk aversion for gains but discrepant risk seeking for losses. In the current study, older and younger adults completed a monetary gambling task in which they chose between sure options and risky gambles (the expected outcomes of which were equated). Although both groups demonstrated risk aversion in the gain frame, only younger adults showed risk seeking in the loss frame. PMID:19497929

Linking empathy to visuospatial perspective-taking in gambling addiction.

PubMed

Tomei, Alexander; Besson, Jacques; Grivel, Jeremy

2017-04-01

It has been demonstrated that people suffering from substance-related addictions are less empathic than their non-addicted counterparts. Our first aim was to verify if this is also true for behavioral addictions. We hypothesized that problem gamblers are less empathic than healthy controls. Our second aim was to identify a cognitive marker of empathy that could be targeted in cognitive rehabilitation strategies. We propose that a potential cognitive marker of empathy could be visuospatial perspective-taking. Specifically, we hypothesized that visuospatial perspective-taking performances are lower in problem gamblers compared to healthy controls and that these visuospatial performances predict empathy. Thirty-one non-gamblers, 24 healthy gamblers, and 21 problem gamblers performed a visuospatial perspective-taking task before completing the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1980; Davis, 1983). Problem gamblers had decreased empathy and lower performance at the visuospatial perspective-taking task than non-gamblers and healthy gamblers. Furthermore, we confirmed that visuospatial perspective-taking abilities predict empathy on the IRI dimensions of interpersonal perspective-taking and personal distress. The present study provides new evidence that reduced empathy is not limited to subjects with substance-related addictions; rather, it extends to behavioral addictions. Visuospatial perspective-taking may be a viable cognitive marker for use as a rehabilitation target of empathy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of Healthy Aging and Mild Cognitive Impairment on a Real-Life Decision-Making Task.

PubMed

Pertl, Marie-Theres; Benke, Thomas; Zamarian, Laura; Delazer, Margarete

2017-01-01

In this study, we investigated the effects of age and of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) on decision making under risk by adopting a task representing real-life health-related situations and involving complex numerical information. Moreover, we assessed the relationship of real-life decision making to other cognitive functions such as number processing, executive functions, language, memory, and attention. For this reason, we compared the performance of 19 healthy, relatively younger adults with that of 18 healthy older adults and the performance of the 18 healthy older adults with that of 17 patients with MCI. Results indicated difficulties in real-life decision making for the healthy older adults compared with the healthy, relatively younger adults. Difficulties of patients with MCI relative to the healthy older adults arose in particular in difficult items requiring processing of frequencies and fractions. Significant effects of age and of MCI in processing frequencies were also evident in a ratio number comparison task. Decision-making performance of healthy participants and of the patient group correlated significantly with number processing. There was a further significant correlation with executive functions for the healthy participants and with reading comprehension for the patients. Our results suggest that healthy older individuals and patients with MCI make less advantageous decisions when the information is complex and high demands are put on executive functions and numerical abilities. Moreover, we show that executive functions and numerical abilities are not only essential in laboratory gambling tasks but also in more realistic and ecological decision situations within the health context.

Similarities and Differences in Decision-Making Impairments between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Schizophrenia.

PubMed

Zhang, Long; Tang, Jiulai; Dong, Yi; Ji, Yifu; Tao, Rui; Liang, Zhitu; Chen, Jingsong; Wu, Yun; Wang, Kai

2015-01-01

Although individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCH) share overlapping characteristics and may perform similarly on many cognitive tasks, cognitive dysfunctions common to both disorders do not necessarily share the same underlying mechanisms. Decision-making is currently a major research interest for both ASD and SCH. The aim of the present study was to make direct comparisons of decision-making and disorder-specific underlying neuropsychological mechanisms between the two disorders. Thirty-seven participants with ASD, 46 patients with SCH, and 80 healthy controls (HC) were assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), which measures decision-making under ambiguity, and the Game of Dice Task (GDT), which measures decision-making under risk. The results revealed that both the ASD and SCH groups had deficits for both the IGT and the GDT compared with the HC. More importantly, in the IGT, participants with ASD displayed a preference for deck A, indicating that they had more sensitivity to the magnitude of loss than to the frequency of loss, whereas patients with SCH displayed a preference for deck B, indicating that they showed more sensitivity to the frequency of loss than to the magnitude of loss. In the GDT, the impaired performance might be due to the deficits in executive functions in patients with SCH, whereas the impaired performance might be due to the deficits in feedback processing in participants with ASD. These findings demonstrate that there are similar impairments in decision-making tasks between ASD and SCH; however, these two disorders may have different impairment mechanisms.

The effect of COMT Val158 Met genotype on decision-making and preliminary findings on its interaction with the 5-HTTLPR in healthy females.

PubMed

van den Bos, Ruud; Homberg, Judith; Gijsbers, Ellen; den Heijer, Esther; Cuppen, Edwin

2009-02-01

Poor decision-making is inherent to several psychiatric conditions for which a genetic basis may exist. We previously showed that healthy female volunteers homozygous for the short allele (s/s) of the serotonin transporter length polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) chose more often cards from disadvantageous decks in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), which measures decision-making, than long (l) allele carriers. The 5-HTTLPR and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158) Met polymorphism affect the same set of neuronal structures. Therefore, we explored the effect of the (COMT) Val(158) Met polymorphism on IGT performance and its interaction with the 5-HTTLPR in the same subjects in this study. We observed that subjects homozygous for methionine (Met/Met) chose more disadvantageously than subjects homozygous for valine (Val/Val). s/s-Met/Met-subjects appeared to show the poorest IGT performance of all possible combinations of 5-HTTLPR and COMT allelic variants. Using the Expectancy-Valence model, no differences were found for the three different 5-HTTLPR or COMT genotypes regarding (i) attention to wins versus losses, (ii) updating rate, or (iii) response consistency. However, subjects with at least one Met-allele were paying more attention to wins than subjects with no Met-alleles. We discuss whether a common neuronal mechanism relates to s- and Met-allele-related deficits in updating and/or processing of choice outcome to guide subsequent choices in this gamble-based test.

Attitudes towards gambling, gambling participation, and gambling-related harm: cross-sectional Finnish population studies in 2011 and 2015.

PubMed

Salonen, Anne H; Alho, Hannu; Castrén, Sari

2017-01-26

Information about public gambling attitudes and gambling participation is crucial for the effective prevention of gambling-related harm. This study investigates female and male attitudes towards gambling, gambling participation, and gambling-related harm in the Finnish population aged 15-74. Cross-sectional random sample data were collected in 2011 (n = 4484) and 2015 (n = 4515). The data were weighted based on gender, age and region of residence. Attitudes were measured using the Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale (ATGS-8). Gambling-related harms were studied using the Problem Gambling Severity Index and the South Oaks Gambling Screen. Attitudes towards gambling became more positive from 2011 to 2015. Female attitudes were generally negative, but nonetheless moved in a positive direction except in age groups under 25. Occasional gambling increased among women aged 18-24. Women aged 18-24 and 45-54 experienced more harms in 2015 than in 2011. Both land and online gambling increased among women aged 65-74. Male attitudes towards gambling were generally positive, and became more positive from 2011 to 2015 in all age groups except 15-17. Weekly gambling decreased among males aged 15-17. Gambling overall increased among males aged 18-24. Gambling several times a week decreased among men aged 35-44 and 45-54, and gambling 1-3 times a month increased in the latter age group. Online gambling increased only among men aged 55-64. Attitudes towards gambling became more positive in all except the youngest age groups. Under-age male gambling continued to decrease. We need to make decision-makers better aware of the continuing growth of online gambling among older people and women's increasing experiences of gambling-related harm. This is vital to ensure more effective prevention.

Working Memory and Decision-Making Biases in Young Adults With a Family History of Alcoholism: Studies from the Oklahoma Family Health Patterns Project

PubMed Central

Lovallo, William R.; Yechiam, Eldad; Sorocco, Kristen H.; Vincent, Andrea S.; Collins, Frank L.

2008-01-01

Background Alcohol misuse is more common in persons with a family history of alcoholism (FH+) than in those with no such history (FH−). Among FH+, behavioral disinhibition and male sex seem to signal the presence of an increased risk. Methods This study examined cognitive and behavioral characteristics of 175 nonabusing 18- to 30-year-olds, 87 FH+ and 88 FH−, who were further characterized by their degree of behavioral disinhibition using the Sociability scale of the California Personality Inventory. Working memory and decision making were tested using the Stroop Color-Word Test and the Iowa Gambling Task, a simulated card game. Results Persons with a family history of alcoholism who were behaviorally disinhibited displayed significantly greater interference on the Stroop task than the other subgroups. On the Iowa Gambling Task, FH+ males, but not the females, were significantly more attentive to financial gains than other subgroups, and they had greater consistency in their choice behaviors. Conclusions Persons with a family history of alcoholism, in combination with behavioral disinhibition, appears to signal working memory deficits and in combination with male sex indicates an attraction to the rewarding aspects of a risk-taking challenge. These findings are not secondary to heavy exposure to alcohol or other drugs, but instead reflect intrinsic risk-related familial and personal characteristics of the subjects. PMID:16634844

Sensitivity to reward and punishment in Parkinson's disease: an analysis of behavioral patterns using a modified version of the Iowa gambling task.

PubMed

Kobayakawa, Mutsutaka; Tsuruya, Natsuko; Kawamura, Mitsuru

2010-08-01

Studies using the Iowa gambling task (IGT) have shown that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) make disadvantageous choices characterized by immediate large rewards and delayed larger punishments. These results can be interpreted in two ways: either PD patients are hypersensitive to immediate outcomes and/or insensitive to delayed consequences or PD patients are hypersensitive to rewards and/or insensitive to punishments. In this study, we used a modified IGT in which selection of cards from the disadvantageous decks leads to immediate, small punishments and delayed, smaller rewards and selection of cards from the advantageous decks leads to immediate, large punishments and delayed larger rewards. We then compared the results obtained using this modified IGT with those obtained using the original IGT. If the PD patients were hypersensitive to the immediate outcomes of decisions, they would make disadvantageous choices in both the original and the modified IGTs. Differences between the results of the original and modified tasks would indicate impairments in balancing reward and punishment. In our analysis, PD patients selected advantageous decks and gained as much as normal subjects during the modified IGT, but they selected disadvantageous decks during the original IGT. These results indicate that the decision-making difficulties of PD patients are caused by their inability to balance reward and punishment and their hypersensitivity to reward and/or insensitivity to punishment.

Functional neuroimaging of the Iowa Gambling Task in older adults.

PubMed

Halfmann, Kameko; Hedgcock, William; Bechara, Antoine; Denburg, Natalie L

2014-11-01

The neural systems most susceptible to age-related decline mirror the systems linked to decision making. Yet, the neural processes underlying decision-making disparities among older adults are not well understood. We sought to identify neural response patterns that distinguish 2 groups of older adults who exhibit divergent decision-making patterns. Participants were 31 healthy older adults (ages 59-88, 53% female), defined as advantageous or disadvantageous decision-makers based on Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance, who completed an alternate version of the IGT while undergoing functional MRI. The groups were indistinguishable on neuropsychological testing. We contrasted the BOLD signal between groups during 3 phases of the decision-making process: Prechoice (preselection), Prefeedback (postselection), and Feedback (receipt of gains/losses). We further examined whether BOLD signal varied as a function of age in each group. We observed greater activation among the IGT-Disadvantageous relative to -Advantageous older adults in the prefrontal cortex during the early phases of the decision-making process (Prechoice), and in posterior brain regions (e.g., the precuneus) during the later phases (Prefeedback and Feedback). We also found that with increasing age, IGT-Advantageous older adults showed increasing activation in the prefrontal cortex during all phases and increasing activation in the posterior cingulate during earlier phases of the decision process. By contrast, the IGT-Disadvantageous older adults exhibited a reduced or reversed trend. These functional differences may be a consequence of altered reward processing or differing compensatory strategies between IGT-Disadvantageous and -Advantageous older adults. This supports the notion that divergent neurobiological aging trajectories underlie disparate decision-making patterns. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

External Error Monitoring in Subclinical Obsessive-Compulsive Subjects: Electrophysiological Evidence from a Gambling Task

PubMed Central

Ye, Rong; Chen, Xingui; Dong, Yi; Li, Dan; Zhang, Long; Li, Dandan; Wang, Kai

2014-01-01

Background Feedback-related negativity (FRN) is believed to be an important electrophysiology index of “external” negative feedback processing. Previous studies on FRN in obsessive-compulsive (OC) individuals are scarce and controversial. In these studies, anxiety symptoms were not evaluated in detail. However, OC disorders have a number of radical differences from anxiety disorders. It is necessary to study FRN and its neuroanatomical correlates in OC individuals without anxious symptoms. Methods A total of 628 undergraduate students completed an OC questionnaire. We chose 14 students who scored in the upper 10% and 14 students who scored in the lowest 10% without anxiety symptoms as a subclinical OC group (SOC) and a low obsessive-compulsive group (LOC). The students all performed the revised Iowa Gambling Task. We used the event-related potentials (ERP) and standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) to track external negative feedback processing and its substrate in the brain. Results Our study revealed poorer decision-making ability and greater FRN amplitudes in SOC subjects compared with LOC controls. The SOC subjects displayed anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) hyperactivation during the loss feedback condition. Specifically, we found an intercorrelation of current source density during the loss condition between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and aPFC in the LOC subjects but not in the SOC group. Conclusions Our results support the notion that overactive external feedback error processing may reflect a candidate endophenotype of OC. We also provide important information on the dysfunction in the interaction between aPFC and dACC in populations with OC. Nevertheless, the findings support that OC may be distinguished from other anxiety disorders using a new electrophysiology perspective. PMID:24609106

Decision-making deficits in patients with chronic schizophrenia: Iowa Gambling Task and Prospect Valence Learning model.

PubMed

Kim, Myung-Sun; Kang, Bit-Na; Lim, Jae Young

2016-01-01

Decision-making is the process of forming preferences for possible options, selecting and executing actions, and evaluating the outcome. This study used the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Prospect Valence Learning (PVL) model to investigate deficits in risk-reward related decision-making in patients with chronic schizophrenia, and to identify decision-making processes that contribute to poor IGT performance in these patients. Thirty-nine patients with schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls participated. Decision-making was measured by total net score, block net scores, and the total number of cards selected from each deck of the IGT. PVL parameters were estimated with the Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling scheme in OpenBugs and BRugs, its interface to R, and the estimated parameters were analyzed with the Mann-Whitney U-test. The schizophrenia group received significantly lower total net scores compared to the control group. In terms of block net scores, an interaction effect of group × block was observed. The block net scores of the schizophrenia group did not differ across the five blocks, whereas those of the control group increased as the blocks progressed. The schizophrenia group obtained significantly lower block net scores in the fourth and fifth blocks of the IGT and selected cards from deck D (advantageous) less frequently than the control group. Additionally, the schizophrenia group had significantly lower values on the utility-shape, loss-aversion, recency, and consistency parameters of the PVL model. These results indicate that patients with schizophrenia experience deficits in decision-making, possibly due to failure in learning the expected value of each deck, and incorporating outcome experiences of previous trials into expectancies about options in the present trial.

Impaired decision-making as a young adult outcome of girls diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in childhood.

PubMed

Miller, Meghan; Sheridan, Margaret; Cardoos, Stephanie L; Hinshaw, Stephen P

2013-01-01

We examined decision-making in young adulthood in a follow-up study of females diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) between 6 and 12 years. Participants with childhood ADHD (n = 114) and matched comparison females (n = 77), followed prospectively for 10 years, performed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) at ages 17-25 years. This task assesses preference for high-reward/high-risk chances that result in lower overall gains (disadvantageous decks of cards) compared to low-reward/low-risk chances that result in higher overall gains (advantageous decks of cards). Relative to comparison participants, young adult females with a history of ADHD did not increase their preference for advantageous decks across time blocks, suggesting difficulties in learning to change behavior over the course of the IGT. Overall, childhood diagnoses of ADHD were associated with disadvantageous decision-making in young adulthood. These results extend findings on decision-making in males with ADHD by demonstrating comparable levels of impairment in an all-female sample.

Implicit emotion regulation affects outcome evaluation

PubMed Central

Yang, Qiwei; Tang, Ping; Luo, Wenbo; Luo, Yue-jia

2015-01-01

Efficient implicit emotion regulation processes, which run without awareness, are important for human well-being. In this study, to investigate the influence of implicit emotion regulation on psychological and electrophysiological responses to gains and losses, participants were required to select between two Chinese four-character idioms to match the meaning of the third one before they performed a monetary gambling task. According to whether their meanings were related to emotion regulation, the idioms fell into two categories. Event-related potentials and self-rating emotional experiences to outcome feedback were recorded during the task. Priming emotion regulation reduced subjective emotional experience to both gains and losses and the amplitudes of the feedback-related negativity, while the P3 component was not influenced. According to these results, we suggest that the application of implicit emotion regulation effectively modulated the subjective emotional experience and the motivational salience of current outcomes without the cost of cognitive resources. This study implicates the potential significance of implicit emotion regulation in decision-making processes. PMID:25332404

Selective attention to emotional pictures as a function of gambling motives in problem and nonproblem gamblers.

PubMed

Hudson, Amanda; Jacques, Sophie; Stewart, Sherry H

2013-12-01

Problem gambling may reflect a maladaptive means of fulfilling specific affect-regulation motives, such as enhancing positive affect or coping with negative affect. Research with clinical populations indicates that disorders with prominent affective symptoms are characterized by attentional biases for symptom-congruent information. Thus, we assessed whether problem gamblers with enhancement motives for gambling would demonstrate attentional biases for positive emotional information, relative to other types of emotional information, and problem gamblers with coping motives for gambling would demonstrate attentional biases for negative emotional information, compared with other types of emotional information. In addition, we expected motive-congruent biases to be stronger in problem gamblers than nonproblem gamblers. To test these hypotheses, problem and nonproblem gamblers received an emotional orienting task in which neutral, negative, and positive pictorial cues appeared to one side of the computer screen, followed by target words in cued or uncued locations. In a look-away condition, participants had to shift attention away from pictures to respond to predominantly uncued targets, whereas in a look-toward condition, they had to orient to pictures to categorize predominantly cued targets. The results revealed motive-congruent orienting biases and disengagement lags for emotional pictures in problem gamblers. The link between motives and affective biases was less apparent in nonproblem gamblers. Results suggest that attentional measures may provide a useful complement to the subjective methodologies that are typically employed in studying problem gamblers. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Gambling frequency and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in relation to problem gambling among Swedish adolescents: a population-based study.

PubMed

Hellström, Charlotta; Wagner, Philippe; Nilsson, Kent W; Leppert, Jerzy; Åslund, Cecilia

2017-06-01

To investigate the associations between gambling frequency, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, and problem gambling among adolescent boys and girls. One hypothesis was that adolescents with increased ADHD symptoms have a higher frequency of gambling compared to adolescents with fewer ADHD symptoms. A population-based sample of adolescents (aged 15-18 years) completed a questionnaire on demographics, gambling habits, ADHD symptoms, and problematic gambling; 1412 adolescents (from 4440 sampled) with gambling experience were included in the final sample. A zero-inflated negative binomial regression analysis revealed that increased ADHD symptoms, higher gambling frequency, and higher age were associated with lower odds for being non-susceptible to gambling problems. Moreover, gambling frequency interacted with ADHD symptoms in predicting probability of being non-susceptible to gambling problems. However, when analysing those already susceptible to problem gambling, ADHD symptoms did not modify the effect of gambling frequency on the expected magnitude of gambling problems. In susceptible individuals, problem gambling increased with both increased ADHD symptoms and increased gambling frequency, but the level of problems due to gambling frequency did not change depending on the ADHD symptom level. There was an interaction effect between sex and gambling frequency in relation to gambling problems. Adolescents with ADHD symptoms seem to be more sensitive to gambling, in terms of being susceptible to developing gambling problems. However, once susceptible, adolescents with ADHD symptoms are affected by gambling frequency similarly to other susceptible participants.

The prevalence and nature of gambling and problem gambling in South Korea.

PubMed

Williams, Robert J; Lee, Choong-Ki; Back, Ki Joon

2013-05-01

To establish the current prevalence of gambling and problem gambling in South Korea and to determine the associated demographic and game play patterns. Administration of a gambling survey over the phone to 4,000 randomly selected South Korean adults (19+), supplemented by an online survey of 4,330 members of a South Korean online panel. The past year prevalence of gambling among South Korean adults was 41.8 %. The past year engagement in individual forms of gambling was 36.2 % for lotteries and instant lotteries; 12.0 % for social gambling; 2.3 % for sports betting; 1.5 % for casino gambling; 1.5 % for internet gambling; and 1.1 % for horse, bicycle, or motor boat betting. The past year prevalence of problem gambling was 0.5 %. Logistic regression identified the best predictors of problem gambling to be: having a greater number of gambling fallacies; gambling on the internet; betting on horses, bicycling, or motor boat racing; social gambling; male gender; mental health problems; sports betting; motivation for gambling (gambling to escape); casino gambling; and lower income. The past year prevalence of gambling (41.8 %) and problem gambling (0.5 %) in South Korea is low compared to other countries, especially relative to other Asian jurisdictions. This relatively low prevalence of gambling is likely related to the very strong negative attitudes toward it, the low participation by females, and restricted access. The low prevalence of problem gambling is likely related to the relatively low prevalence of gambling and restricted access to continuous forms of gambling. The variables that are predictive of problem gambling in South Korea are quite similar to those found in other countries with a couple of important differences.

Response inhibition and impulsive decision-making in sexual offenders against children.

PubMed

Turner, Daniel; Laier, Christian; Brand, Matthias; Bockshammer, Tamara; Welsch, Robin; Rettenberger, Martin

2018-05-31

Current theories view impulsivity as an important factor in the explanation of sexual offending. While impulsivity itself is a multidimensional construct, response inhibition and impulsive decision-making are frequently discussed subcomponents. Impulsivity in sexual offenders could be triggered by sexual cues with high emotional significance. The present study compared response inhibition abilities and the degree of impulsive decision-making between 63 child sexual abusers and 63 nonoffending controls. A Go/No-Go task was used to assess response inhibition, while the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) were used for the assessment of decision-making. In contrast to previous studies, modified versions of the Go/No-Go task and the IGT were used, including pictures of the Not Real People-Set depicting nude adults and children. Child sexual abusers showed more deficits in response inhibition in the Go/No-Go task. Furthermore, decision-making was especially impaired by the presence of child images in child sexual abusers with more intense pedophilic sexual interests. In contrast, in the nonoffending controls the presence of preferred sexual cues (pictures of women) improved decision-making performance. No differences in overall GDT performance were found between the groups; however, child sexual abusers chose the riskiest option more frequently than nonoffending controls. In line with theoretical assumptions about the processes underlying sexual offending, child sexual abusers show more deficits in neuropsychological functioning, which may be related to more impulsive behaviors. These impairments could be triggered by the presence of sexually relevant cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Executive functioning in schizophrenia: Unique and shared variance with measures of fluid intelligence.

PubMed

Martin, A K; Mowry, B; Reutens, D; Robinson, G A

2015-10-01

Patients with schizophrenia often display deficits on tasks thought to measure "executive" processes. Recently, it has been suggested that reductions in fluid intelligence test performance entirely explain deficits reported for patients with focal frontal lesions on classical executive tasks. For patients with schizophrenia, it is unclear whether deficits on executive tasks are entirely accountable by fluid intelligence and representative of a common general process or best accounted for by distinct contributions to the cognitive profile of schizophrenia. In the current study, 50 patients with schizophrenia and 50 age, sex and premorbid intelligence matched controls were assessed using a broad neuropsychological battery, including tasks considered sensitive to executive abilities, namely the Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT), word fluency, Stroop test, digit-span backwards, and spatial working memory. Fluid intelligence was measured using both the Matrix reasoning subtest from the Weschler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) and a composite score derived from a number of cognitive tests. Patients with schizophrenia were impaired on all cognitive measures compared with controls, except smell identification and the optimal betting and risk-taking measures from the Cambridge Gambling Task. After introducing fluid intelligence as a covariate, significant differences remained for HSCT suppression errors, and classical executive function tests such as the Stroop test and semantic/phonemic word fluency, regardless of which fluid intelligence measure was included. Fluid intelligence does not entirely explain impaired performance on all tests considered as reflecting "executive" processes. For schizophrenia, these measures should remain part of a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment alongside a measure of fluid intelligence. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Disordered gambling, type of gambling and gambling involvement in the British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2007

PubMed Central

Nelson, Sarah E.; LaBrie, Richard A.; Shaffer, Howard J.

2011-01-01

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between types of gambling and disordered gambling, with and without controlling for gambling involvement (i.e. the number of types of games with which respondents were involved during the past 12 months). Methods: We completed a secondary data analysis of the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS), which collected data in England, Scotland and Wales between September 2006 and March 2007. The sample included 9003 residents, aged 16 or older, recruited from 10 144 randomly selected addresses. 5832 households contributed at least one participant. Post-facto weighting to produce a nationally representative sample yielded 8968 observations. The BGPS included four primary types of measures: participation in gambling (during the past 12 months and during the past 7 days), disordered gambling assessments, attitudes toward gambling and descriptive information. Results: Statistically controlling for gambling involvement substantially reduced or eliminated all statistically significant relationships between types of gambling and disordered gambling. Conclusions: Gambling involvement is an important predictor of disordered gambling status. Our analysis indicates that greater gambling involvement better characterizes disordered gambling than does any specific type of gambling. PMID:19892851

Sustained-release bupropion versus naltrexone in the treatment of pathological gambling: a preliminary blind-rater study.

PubMed

Dannon, Pinhas N; Lowengrub, Katherine; Musin, Ernest; Gonopolski, Yehudit; Kotler, Moshe

2005-12-01

Pathological gambling (PG) is a relatively common and highly disabling impulse control disorder. A range of psychotherapeutic agents, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, mood stabilizers, and opioid antagonists, has been shown to be effective in the treatment of PG. The use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and opioid antagonists for PG is consistent with the observation that PG shares features of both the obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders and addictive disorders. The aim of the study is to compare the effectiveness of sustained-release bupropion versus naltrexone in the treatment of PG. Thirty-six male pathological gamblers were enrolled in our study. A comprehensive psychiatric diagnostic evaluation was performed at baseline on all patients, and patients were screened for symptoms of gambling, depression, and anxiety using the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, and the Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale. In addition, the patients completed self-report questionnaires about their demographic status. Patients were randomized in 2 groups and received either naltrexone (n = 19) or sustained-release bupropion (n = 17) for 12 weeks in a parallel fashion. Treatment response was monitored using the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement Scale which was performed at weeks 2, 4, 8, and 12. Patients were also assessed for the presence of gambling behavior via an unstructured interview, which was also performed at weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12. Raters were blind to the study treatment. The majority of patients responded well to the drug treatment. Twelve of 17 patients in the sustained-release bupropion group completed the 12-week study, and 13 of 19 naltrexone patients completed the study. Nine (75%) of the 12 completers were rated as full responders in the sustained-release bupropion group versus 10 (76%) of 12 in the naltrexone group. Three (25%) of 12 completers in the bupropion group were rated as partial responders. In the naltrexone group, 3 (23%) of 13 completers were rated as partial responders. Full response was defined as the absence of gambling for a 2-week duration together with improvement on the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement Scale. Partial response was defined as a decrease in the frequency of gambling behavior and a decrease in the amount of money spent on gambling. This preliminary study shows that sustained-release bupropion may be effective as naltrexone in the treatment of PG. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.

An examination of participation in online gambling activities and the relationship with problem gambling.

PubMed

McCormack, Abby; Shorter, Gillian W; Griffiths, Mark D

2013-03-01

Background and aims Online gambling participation is increasing rapidly, with relatively little research about the possible effects of different gambling activities on problem gambling behaviour. The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the participation in online gambling activities and the relationship with problem gambling among an international sample of online gamblers. Methods An online gambling survey was posted on 32 international gambling websites and resulted in 1,119 respondents over a four-month period. Results Poker was the most popular gambling activity online. A number of online activities were associated with problem gambling, including: roulette, poker, horse race betting, sports betting, spread betting and fruit (slot) machines. Not surprisingly, those that gambled on these activities regularly (except poker) were more likely to be a problem gambler, however, what is interesting is that the reverse is true for poker players; those that gambled regularly on poker were less likely to be a problem gambler compared to the non-regular poker players. The majority of the players also gambled offline, but there was no relationship between problem gambling and whether or not a person also gambled offline. Discussion Problem gambling is associated more with certain online gambling activities than others, and those gambling on two or more activities online were more likely to be a problem gambler. Conclusion This paper can help explain the impact different online gambling activities may have on gambling behaviour. Consideration needs to be given to the gambling activity when developing and implementing treatment programmes.

Longitudinal patterns of gambling activities and associated risk factors in college students

PubMed Central

Goudriaan, Anna E.; Slutske, Wendy S.; Krull, Jennifer L.; Sher, Kenneth J.

2009-01-01

Aims To investigate which clusters of gambling activities exist within a longitudinal study of college health, how membership in gambling clusters change over time and whether particular clusters of gambling are associated with unhealthy risk behaviour. Design Four-year longitudinal study (2002–2006). Setting Large, public university. Participants Undergraduate college students. Measurements Ten common gambling activities were measured during 4 consecutive college years (years 1–4). Clusters of gambling activities were examined using latent class analyses. Relations between gambling clusters and gender, Greek membership, alcohol use, drug use, personality indicators of behavioural undercontrol and psychological distress were examined. Findings Four latent gambling classes were identified: (1) a low-gambling class, (2) a card gambling class, (3) a casino/slots gambling class and (4) an extensive gambling class. Over the first college years a high probability of transitioning from the low-gambling class and the card gambling class into the casino/slots gambling class was present. Membership in the card, casino/slots and extensive gambling classes were associated with higher scores on alcohol/drug use, novelty seeking and self-identified gambling problems compared to the low-gambling class. The extensive gambling class scored higher than the other gambling classes on risk factors. Conclusions Extensive gamblers and card gamblers are at higher risk for problem gambling and other risky health behaviours. Prospective examinations of class membership suggested that being in the extensive and the low gambling classes was highly stable across the 4 years of college. PMID:19438422

Emotional and non-emotional pathways to impulsive behavior and addiction

PubMed Central

Torres, Ana; Catena, Andrés; Megías, Alberto; Maldonado, Antonio; Cándido, Antonio; Verdejo-García, Antonio; Perales, José C.

2013-01-01

Impulsivity is tightly linked to addiction. However, there are several pathways by means of which impulsive individuals are more prone to become addicts, or to suffer an addiction more intensely and for a longer period. One of those pathways involves an inadequate appraisal or regulation of positive and negative emotions, leading to lack of control over hazardous behaviors, and inappropriate decisions. In the present work, we assessed cocaine-dependent individuals (CDI; n = 20), pathological gamblers (PG; n = 21), and healthy controls (HC; n = 23) in trait impulsivity measures (UPPS-P model's dimensions), and decision-making tasks (Go/No-go; delay-discounting task). During the Go/No-go task, electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded, and Go/No-go stimuli-evoked potentials (ERP) were extracted. Theory-driven ERP analyses focused on the No-go > Go difference in the N2 ERP. Our results show that negative urgency is one of the several psychological features that distinguish addicts from HC. Nevertheless, among the dimensions of trait impulsivity, negative urgency is unique at independently covarying with gambling over-pathologization in the PG sample. Cocaine-dependent individuals performed more poorly than gamblers in the Go/No-go task, and showed abnormal Go/No-go stimuli-evoked potentials. The difference between the No-go stimulus-evoked N2, and the Go one was attenuated by severity and intensity of chronic cocaine use. Emotional dimensions of impulsivity, however, did not influence Go/No-go performance. PMID:23441001

A role for the striatum in regret-related choice repetition

PubMed Central

Nicolle, Antoinette; Bach, Dominik R.; Driver, Jon; Dolan, Raymond J.

2011-01-01

‘Regret aversion’ is proposed to explain a tendency to avoid future choices that have induced past regret. However, regret might also motivate us to repeat previous regret-related choices to make up for their previous selection, a behavior resembling ‘chasing’ in the context of gambling. In the current experiment we acquired fMRI brain data while participants placed monetary bets on repeated gambles. Behaviorally, participants showed a tendency to repeat previously regret-related choices (operationalized as those leading to an outcome worse than what might have been), an effect restricted to early runs of the task. At gamble outcome, we show a reduction in ventral striatal activity for regret-related, relative to relief-related, outcomes. Critically, this modulation was only seen when subjects were responsible for the bet choice. Activity in dorsal striatum was associated with an influence of previous regret on participants’ subsequent choices, evident in increased activity when regret-related choices were repeated, relative to avoided, on the next trial. Our findings indicate that regret can lead to choice repetition as if seeking to make up for our mistakes and in so doing may lead to subsequent chasing behavior. PMID:20433245

Gambling Outcome Expectancies and Gambling Behavior Among African-American Adolescents: Gender as a Moderating Variable.

PubMed

Simmons, Jessica L; Whelan, James P; Meyers, Andrew W; Wickwire, Emerson M

2016-03-01

Most high school adolescents have reported past year gambling, and males gamble more frequently and problematically than females. Ethnic minority adolescents appear to be gambling at a higher rate than Caucasian adolescents. There is evidence indicating that adolescent gambling outcome expectancies are correlated with gambling behavior, but limited evidence that this relation differs by gender. In the present study gender was evaluated as a moderator in the relation between gambling outcome expectancies and gambling behaviors in an African-American high school sample. Males gambled more frequently, gambled more problematically and held more positive gambling outcome expectancies than females. Gender was found to moderate the relations between gambling frequency and the expectations of material gain, affect, self-evaluation and parental approval. Gender also moderated the relations between gambling problems and expectations of affect and self-evaluation. These findings should inform future adolescent gambling prevention and intervention programs.

“Gambling disorder in older adults: a cross-cultural perspective”

PubMed Central

Medeiros, Gustavo Costa; Leppink, Eric; Yaemi, Ana; Mariani, Mirella; Tavares, Hermano; Grant, Jon

2015-01-01

INTRODUCTION Gambling Disorder (GD) in older adults is significantly increasing and became an important public health issue in different countries. However, little is known regarding GD in older adults. The prevalence and acceptance of gambling varies among different cultures and this raises the question of how and to what extent culture affects older gamblers. The majority of the important studies regarding GD in older adults have been conducted mainly in Anglo-Saxon cultures and little information is available regarding GD in other cultures. The objective of this paper is to perform the first standardized cross-cultural comparison regarding older adults presenting GD. METHODS The total studied sample involved 170 subjects: 89 from the Brazilian (BR) sample and 81 from the American (US) sample. It consisted of 67 men and 103, women (average age = 64.42, standard deviation = ±3,86). They were evaluated for socio-demographics, gambling behavior variables and psychiatric antecedents. RESULTS Overall, there were significant differences between BR and US older adults gamblers in marital status, onset of gambling activity, onset of GD and urge scores. DISCUSSION This study showed that there are important differences in gambling course, gambling behavior and personal antecedents between two samples of older adults presenting GD from countries with different social-cultural background. It weakens the possibility of generalization of results found in Anglo-Saxon countries to other cultures and reinforces for the need for development of research on GD in older adults outside the Anglo-Saxon culture. PMID:25612901

Gambling disorder in older adults: a cross-cultural perspective.

PubMed

Medeiros, Gustavo Costa; Leppink, Eric; Yaemi, Ana; Mariani, Mirella; Tavares, Hermano; Grant, Jon

2015-04-01

Gambling disorder (GD) in older adults is significantly increasing and became an important public health issue in different countries. However, little is known regarding GD in older adults. The prevalence and acceptance of gambling vary among different cultures and this raises the question of how and to what extent culture affects older gamblers. The majority of the important studies regarding GD in older adults have been conducted mainly in Anglo-Saxon cultures and little information is available regarding GD in other cultures. The objective of this paper is to perform the first standardized cross-cultural comparison regarding older adults presenting GD. The total studied sample involved 170 subjects: 89 from the Brazilian (BR) sample and 81 from the American (US) sample. It consisted of 67 men and 103 women (average age=64.42, standard deviation=±3.86). They were evaluated for socio-demographics, gambling behavior variables and psychiatric antecedents. Overall, there were significant differences between BR and US older adult gamblers in marital status, onset of gambling activity, onset of GD and urge scores. This study showed that there are important differences in gambling course, gambling behavior and personal antecedents between two samples of older adults presenting GD from countries with different social-cultural background. It weakens the possibility of generalization of results found in Anglo-Saxon countries to other cultures and reinforces for the need for development of research on GD in older adults outside the Anglo-Saxon culture. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Problem and pathological gambling among college athletes.

PubMed

Kerber, Cynthia Sullivan

2005-01-01

Problematic gambling is common in college students, and in particular, athletes. The frequency of problem and pathological gambling was determined among 636 college athletes at three Midwest universities using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS). The Gambling Attitude Scale (GAS) was used to assess college athletes' attitudes toward gambling in general and toward four modes of gambling (casinos, betting on horse races, lottery and the Internet). A profile of college athletes' gambling attitudes and behavior was developed through the data obtained from each of these instruments. Nearly 15% of respondents had a SOGS score >or=3, indicating problem or pathological gambling. Those at risk for a gambling problem gambled frequently, had family and/or friends with perceived gambling problems, were nonwhite, older, started gambling at a younger age, preferred games of skill, and held positive attitudes toward gambling in general and Internet gambling, in particular. Gambling problems are widespread among college athletes who constitute a vulnerable group. Specific interventions are needed to target this group.

Individual differences in risk-taking tendencies modulate the neural processing of risky and ambiguous decision-making in adolescence.

PubMed

Blankenstein, N E; Schreuders, E; Peper, J S; Crone, E A; van Duijvenvoorde, A C K

2018-05-15

Although many neuroimaging studies have investigated adolescent risk taking, few studies have dissociated between decision-making under risk (known probabilities) and ambiguity (unknown probabilities). Furthermore, which brain regions are sensitive to individual differences in task-related and self-reported risk taking remains elusive. We presented 198 adolescents (11-24 years, an age-range in which individual differences in risk taking are prominent) with an fMRI paradigm that separated decision-making (choosing to gamble or not) and reward outcome processing (gains, no gains) under risky and ambiguous conditions, and related this to task-related and self-reported risk taking. We observed distinct neural mechanisms underlying risky and ambiguous gambling, with risk more prominently associated with activation in parietal cortex, and ambiguity more prominently with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), as well as medial PFC during outcome processing. Individual differences in task-related risk taking were positively associated with ventral striatum activation in the decision phase, specifically for risk, and negatively associated with insula and dorsomedial PFC activation, specifically for ambiguity. Moreover, dorsolateral PFC activation in the outcome phase seemed a prominent marker for individual differences in task-related risk taking under ambiguity as well as self-reported daily-life risk taking, in which greater risk taking was associated with reduced activation in dorsolateral PFC. Together, this study demonstrates the importance of considering multiple risk-taking measures, and contextual moderators, in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying adolescent risk taking. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mind the gap: bridging economic and naturalistic risk-taking with cognitive neuroscience.

PubMed

Schonberg, Tom; Fox, Craig R; Poldrack, Russell A

2011-01-01

Economists define risk in terms of the variability of possible outcomes, whereas clinicians and laypeople generally view risk as exposure to possible loss or harm. Neuroeconomic studies using relatively simple behavioral tasks have identified a network of brain regions that respond to economic risk, but these studies have had limited success predicting naturalistic risk-taking. By contrast, more complex behavioral tasks developed by clinicians (e.g. Balloon Analogue Risk Task and Iowa Gambling Task) correlate with naturalistic risk-taking but resist decomposition into distinct cognitive constructs. We propose here that to bridge this gap and better understand neural substrates of naturalistic risk-taking, new tasks are needed that: are decomposable into basic cognitive and/or economic constructs; predict naturalistic risk-taking; and engender dynamic, affective engagement. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Prospective Investigation of Affect, the Desire to Gamble, Gambling Motivations and Gambling Behavior in the Mood Disorders.

PubMed

Quilty, Lena C; Watson, Chris; Toneatto, Tony; Bagby, R Michael

2017-03-01

Time-sampling methodology was implemented to examine the prospective associations between affect, desire to gamble, and gambling behavior in individuals diagnosed with a mood disorder. Thirty (9 male, 21 female) adults with a lifetime diagnosis of a depressive or bipolar disorder diagnosis who endorsed current gambling and lifetime gambling harm participated in the present study. Participants completed electronic diary entries of their current affective state, desire to gamble, and gambling behavior for 30 consecutive days. Hierarchical linear modelling revealed that affect was not a predictor of gambling behavior. Instead, affect predicted the desire to gamble, with high levels of sadness and arousal independently predicting an increased desire to gamble. Desire to gamble predicted actual gambling behavior. There were no differences across diagnostic groups in terms of gambling motivations at baseline; however, during the 30-day period, participants with bipolar disorder endorsed gambling to cope with negative affect more often than did participants with depressive disorder, whereas those with depressive disorder more often endorsed gambling for social reasons or enhancement of positive affect. The present findings provide evidence that negative affect is not directly related to actual gambling behavior, and suggest that affective states rather impact the desire to gamble.

The role of urgency and its underlying psychological mechanisms in problematic behaviours.

PubMed

Billieux, Joël; Gay, Philippe; Rochat, Lucien; Van der Linden, Martial

2010-11-01

The urgency facet of impulsivity, that is, the tendency to act rashly in response to intense emotional contexts [Cyders, M. A., & Smith, G. T. (2008). Emotion-based dispositions to rash action: positive and negative urgency. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 807-828], has been related to a wide range of maladaptive behaviours. The present study further investigates the role of urgency in problematic behaviours by considering distinct psychological mechanisms that may underlie this component of impulsivity. With this aim, 95 volunteer participants were screened with self-reported questionnaires assessing urgency and three problematic behaviours (compulsive buying, excessive mobile phone use, excessive Internet use). They performed two laboratory tasks: a stop-signal task designed to assess the capacity to inhibit prepotent responses in response to both neutral and emotional stimuli; and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) measuring the ability to take into account the future consequences of an action. A poor ability to inhibit prepotent responses in the emotional condition of the stop-signal task was found to predict more disadvantageous choices in the IGT, which ultimately results in higher urgency and more problematic behaviours. These findings shed new light on the construct of urgency, its related psychological mechanisms, and its role in problematic behaviours. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuropsychological correlates of decision making in patients with bulimia nervosa.

PubMed

Brand, Matthias; Franke-Sievert, Christiane; Jacoby, Georg E; Markowitsch, Hans J; Tuschen-Caffier, Brunna

2007-11-01

In addition to the core psychopathology of bulimia nervosa (BN), patients with BN often show impulsive behavior that has been related to decision making deficits in other patient groups, such as individuals with anorexia nervosa and pathological gamblers. However, it remains unclear whether BN patients also show difficulties in decision making. In this study, 14 patients with BN and 14 healthy comparison subjects, matched for age, gender, education, body mass index, and intelligence, were examined with the Game of Dice Task (M. Brand, E. Fujiwara, et al., 2005), a gambling task that has fixed winning probabilities and explicit rules for gains and losses, as well as with a neuropsychological test battery and personality questionnaires. On the task, the patients with BN chose the disadvantageous alternatives more frequently than did the comparison subjects. Performance on the Game of Dice Task was related to executive functioning but not to other neuropsychological functions, personality, or disease-specific variables in the BN group. Thus, in patients with BN, decision making abnormalities and executive reductions can be demonstrated and might be neuropsychological correlates of the patients' dysfunctional everyday-life decision making behavior. Neurocognitive functions should be considered in the treatment of BN. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

An Exploration of How Simulated Gambling Games May Promote Gambling with Money.

PubMed

Armstrong, Tess; Rockloff, Matthew; Browne, Matthew; Li, En

2018-01-10

Portable media devices, such as smartphones, have allowed gambling related content to infiltrate into a new market of potential consumers. Simulated gambling products are now readily available through multiple online platforms, and are becoming a popular form of entertainment for many young media users. Despite widespread use of these products, very little is known about how continued exposure to and involvement with simulated gambling may impact on real-money gambling attitudes and behaviours, particularly for young consumers. This paper reviews the literature exploring simulated gambling products and how consumption may promote monetary gambling, as well as fostering pro-gambling attitudes among youth and adolescents. Findings suggest that youth are highly exposed to simulated gambling games, and those who engage with these products are also more likely to be prone to monetary gambling and gambling problems. Virtual currency, in-game events and gambling themed content are also likely to promote biases about gambling or desensitise consumers to monetary losses. Simulated gambling products may therefore pose a risk to consumers, and particularly young consumers, rather than serve as a benign substitute for monetary gambling. To date, research has largely focused on correlational relationships between simulated and monetary gambling using cross-sectional methodologies. Future research should focus on determining the causal pathway between simulated gambling involvement and monetary gambling in order to identify and manage any risk associated simulated gambling participation.

Decreased interpretation of nonverbal cues in rape victims.

PubMed

Giannini, A J; Price, W A; Kniepple, J L

The ability to receive nonverbal facial cues was tested in twelve female victims of multiple nonserial rapes and matched controls. Subjects attempted to interpret nonverbal messages transmitted by male and female senders who were covertly taped while involved in a gambling task. Rape victims had significantly decreased ability to interpret the nonverbal facial cues of both male and female senders.

The Executive Functions of Rejected Children in an Urban Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naylor, Gregory

2013-01-01

The relationship between Executive Functions and Peer Rejection was explored. Thirty-Five students in an urban elementary school, (mean 10.7 years of age (sd=2.8), 34% male, and 88% African American) completed measures of executive functions: KABC-II Rover, The Wisconsin Card Sort and NEPSY-II Statue (below age 9) or The Iowa Gambling Task (age 9…

Counterfactually Mediated Emotions: A Developmental Study of Regret and Relief in a Probabilistic Gambling Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Habib, M.; Cassotti, M.; Borst, G.; Simon, G.; Pineau, A.; Houde, O.; Moutier, S.

2012-01-01

Regret and relief are related to counterfactual thinking and rely on comparison processes between what has been and what might have been. In this article, we study the development of regret and relief from late childhood to adulthood (11.2-20.2 years), and we examine how these two emotions affect individuals' willingness to retrospectively…

The Genetic and Environmental Etiology of Decision-Making: A Longitudinal Twin Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuvblad, Catherine; Gao, Yu; Wang, Pan; Raine, Adrian; Botwick, Theodore; Baker, Laura A.

2013-01-01

The present study examined the genetic and environmental etiology of decision-making (Iowa Gambling Task; Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994), in a sample of twins at ages 11-13, 14-15, and 16-18 years. The variance across five 20-trial blocks could be explained by a latent "decision-making" factor within each of the three times of IGT…

Improving children's affective decision making in the Children's Gambling Task.

PubMed

Andrews, Glenda; Moussaumai, Jennifer

2015-11-01

Affective decision making was examined in 108 children (3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) using the Children's Gambling Task (CGT). Children completed the CGT and then responded to awareness questions. Children in the binary_experience and binary_experience+awareness (not control) conditions first completed two simpler versions. Children in the binary_experience+awareness condition also responded to questions about relational components of the simpler versions. Experience with simpler versions facilitated decision making in 4- and 5-year-olds, but 3-year-olds' advantageous choices declined across trial blocks in the binary_experience and control conditions. Responding to questions about relational components further benefited the 4- and 5-year-olds. The 3-year-olds' advantageous choices on the final block were at chance level in the binary_experience+awareness condition but were below chance level in the other conditions. Awareness following the CGT was strongly correlated with advantageous choices and with age. Awareness was demonstrated by 5-year-olds (all conditions) and 4-year-olds (binary_experience and binary_experience+awareness) but not by 3-year-olds. The findings demonstrate the importance of complexity and conscious awareness in cognitive development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Feedback-related potentials in a gambling task with randomised reward.

PubMed

Mushtaq, Faisal; Guillen, Pablo Puente; Wilkie, Richard M; Mon-Williams, Mark A; Schaefer, Alexandre

2016-03-01

Event-related potentials (ERPs) time-locked to decision outcomes are reported. Participants engaged in a gambling task (see [1] for details) in which they decided between a risky and a safe option (presented as different coloured shapes) on each trial (416 in total). Each decision was associated with (fully randomised) feedback about the reward outcome (Win/Loss) and its magnitude (varying as a function of decision response; 5-9 points for Risky decisions and 1-4 points for Safe decisions). Here, we show data demonstrating: (a) the influence of Win feedback in the preceding outcome (Outcome t-1) on activity related to the current outcome (Outcome t ); (b) difference wave analysis for outcome expectancy- separating Expected Outcomes (consecutive Loss trials subtracted from consecutive reward) from Unexpected Outcomes (subtracting Loss t-1Win t trials from Win t-1Loss t trials); (c) difference waves separating Switch and Stay responses for Outcome Expectancy; (d) the effect of magnitude induced by decisions (Risk t vs. Safe t ) on Outcome Expectancy; and finally, (e) expectations reflected by response switch direction (Risk to Safe responses vs. Safe to Risk t ) on the FRN at Outcome t .

Rawlsian maximin rule operates as a common cognitive anchor in distributive justice and risky decisions

PubMed Central

Kameda, Tatsuya; Inukai, Keigo; Higuchi, Satomi; Ogawa, Akitoshi; Kim, Hackjin; Matsuda, Tetsuya; Sakagami, Masamichi

2016-01-01

Distributive justice concerns the moral principles by which we seek to allocate resources fairly among diverse members of a society. Although the concept of fair allocation is one of the fundamental building blocks for societies, there is no clear consensus on how to achieve “socially just” allocations. Here, we examine neurocognitive commonalities of distributive judgments and risky decisions. We explore the hypothesis that people’s allocation decisions for others are closely related to economic decisions for oneself at behavioral, cognitive, and neural levels, via a concern about the minimum, worst-off position. In a series of experiments using attention-monitoring and brain-imaging techniques, we investigated this “maximin” concern (maximizing the minimum possible payoff) via responses in two seemingly disparate tasks: third-party distribution of rewards for others, and choosing gambles for self. The experiments revealed three robust results: (i) participants’ distributive choices closely matched their risk preferences—“Rawlsians,” who maximized the worst-off position in distributions for others, avoided riskier gambles for themselves, whereas “utilitarians,” who favored the largest-total distributions, preferred riskier but more profitable gambles; (ii) across such individual choice preferences, however, participants generally showed the greatest spontaneous attention to information about the worst possible outcomes in both tasks; and (iii) this robust concern about the minimum outcomes was correlated with activation of the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ), the region associated with perspective taking. The results provide convergent evidence that social distribution for others is psychologically linked to risky decision making for self, drawing on common cognitive–neural processes with spontaneous perspective taking of the worst-off position. PMID:27688764

A longitudinal study of the individual- and group-level problematic gaming and associations with problem gambling among Swedish adolescents.

PubMed

Vadlin, Sofia; Åslund, Cecilia; Nilsson, Kent W

2018-04-01

The aims of this study were to investigate the long-term stability of problematic gaming among adolescents and whether problematic gaming at wave 1 (W1) was associated with problem gambling at wave 2 (W2), three years later. Data from the SALVe cohort, including adolescents in Västmanland born in 1997 and 1999, were accessed and analyzed in two waves W2, N  =   1576; 914 (58%) girls). At W1, the adolescents were 13 and 15 years old, and at W2, they were 16 and 18 years old. Adolescents self-rated on the Gaming Addiction Identification Test (GAIT), Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), and gambling frequencies. Stability of gaming was determined using Gamma correlation, Spearman's rho, and McNemar. Logistic regression analysis and general linear model (GLM) analysis were performed and adjusted for sex, age, and ethnicity, frequency of gambling activities and gaming time at W1, with PGSI as the dependent variable, and GAIT as the independent variable, to investigate associations between problematic gaming and problem gambling. Problematic gaming was relative stable over time, γ = 0.739, p  ≤   .001, ρ = 0.555, p  ≤   .001, and McNemar p  ≤   .001. Furthermore, problematic gaming at W1 increased the probability of having problem gambling three years later, logistic regression OR = 1.886 (95% CI 1.125-3.161), p  =   .016, GLM F  = 10.588, η 2  = 0.007, p =  .001. Problematic gaming seems to be relatively stable over time. Although associations between problematic gaming and later problem gambling were found, the low explained variance indicates that problematic gaming in an unlikely predictor for problem gambling within this sample.

Hot and Cool Executive Functions in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Comorbid Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

PubMed

Antonini, Tanya N; Becker, Stephen P; Tamm, Leanne; Epstein, Jeffery N

2015-09-01

While neuropsychological deficits in both "hot" and "cool" executive functions (EFs) have been documented among individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), these EF deficits are not universal across all individuals with this diagnosis. One potential moderator of executive dysfunction may be the presence of comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). This study examined the association between "hot" and "cool" EFs and comorbid ODD in children with ADHD. Thirty-three children with ADHD and comorbid ODD (ADHD+ODD), 67 with ADHD without ODD (ADHD-ODD), and 30 typically developing controls participated. Children were 7-12 years of age. "Cool" EFs were assessed with a spatial span task and a card sorting test. "Hot" EFs were assessed using a delay discounting task and a gambling task. ADHD-ODD and ADHD+ODD groups performed more poorly on "cool" EF tasks than controls, but did not differ from each other. Furthermore, the number of ADHD symptoms, but not ODD symptoms, was associated with "cool" EF scores. The three groups did not differ on "hot" EF tasks and the number of ADHD or ODD symptoms was unrelated to "hot" EF scores. In sum, children with ADHD presented with "cool" EF deficits which appear to be unrelated to ODD comorbidity. However, "hot" EF deficits were not present among children with ADHD, irrespective of comorbid ODD status.

Past-year recreational gambling in a nationally representative sample: Correlates of casino, non-casino, and both casino/non-casino gambling

PubMed Central

Franco, Christine A.; Maciejewski, Paul K.; Potenza, Marc N.

2013-01-01

Data from the Gambling Impact and Behavior Study (GIBS), a national survey of 2,417 U.S. adults, were examined by multivariate analysis to investigate characteristics of past-year recreational gamblers who participated in casino-only, non-casino-only, and both casino and non-casino gambling. Compared to non-casino-only gamblers, individuals who gambled in both locations had higher rates of alcohol use and abuse/dependence, lower rates of drug use, more frequent gambling, and larger wins and losses. Compared to casino-only gamblers, individuals who gambled in both locations reported less drug use, poorer subjective health, earlier age of gambling onset, greater frequency of gambling, and larger wins and losses. Compared to casino-only or non-casino-only gambling, gambling in both locations was associated with more frequent and heavier gambling. Findings suggest aspects of recreational gambling, such as gambling venue, may have important public health implications and should be considered in guidelines for responsible gambling. PMID:21550124

The convergence of gambling and digital media: implications for gambling in young people.

PubMed

King, Daniel; Delfabbro, Paul; Griffiths, Mark

2010-06-01

Adolescents' use of the Internet and other digital media for the purpose of gambling represents a serious concern in modern society. This paper overviews some of the available monetary and non-monetary forms of gambling within new digital and online media and monetary forms of games with gambling-like experiences. With reference to current psychological knowledge on the risk factors that promote adolescent gambling, it is suggested that new gambling technologies may: (a) make gambling more accessible and attractive to young people, (b) may promote factually incorrect information about gambling, (c) provide an easy escape from real world problems such as depression and social isolation, (d) create a gambling environment that easily facilitates peer pressures to gamble, (e) ease parental transmission of gambling attitudes and beliefs, and (f) make gambling more ubiquitous and socially acceptable. The unique risks of Internet gambling for young people are critically discussed, as well as the lack of restricted classification for video games and other media that feature interactive, non-monetary forms of gambling.

Sleep-dependent modulation of affectively guided decision-making.

PubMed

Pace-Schott, Edward F; Nave, Genevieve; Morgan, Alexandra; Spencer, Rebecca M C

2012-02-01

A question of great interest in current sleep research is whether and how sleep might facilitate complex cognitive skills such as decision-making. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was used to investigate effects of sleep on affect-guided decision-making. After a brief standardized preview of the IGT that was insufficient to learn its underlying rule, participants underwent a 12-h delay containing either a normal night's sleep (Sleep group; N = 28) or continuous daytime wake (Wake group; N = 26). Following the delay, both groups performed the full IGT. To control for circadian effects, two additional groups performed both the preview and the full task either in the morning (N = 17) or the evening (N = 21). In the IGT, four decks of cards were presented. Draws from two 'advantageous decks' yielded low play-money rewards, occasional low losses and, over multiple draws, a net gain. Draws from 'disadvantageous' decks yielded high rewards, occasional high losses and, over multiple draws, a net loss. Participants were instructed to win and avoid losing as much as possible, and better performance was defined as more advantageous draws. Relative to the wake group, the sleep group showed both superior behavioral outcome (more advantageous draws) and superior rule understanding (blindly judged from statements written at task completion). Neither measure differentiated the two control groups. These results illustrate a role of sleep in optimizing decision-making, a benefit that may be brought about by changes in underlying emotional or cognitive processes. © 2011 European Sleep Research Society.

The moderating effect of gender on the relation between expectancies and gambling frequency among college students.

PubMed

Teeters, Jenni B; Ginley, Meredith K; Whelan, James P; Meyers, Andrew W; Pearlson, Godfrey D

2015-03-01

Compared to college females, college males are more likely to report frequent gambling. Research on gambling outcome expectancies has shown that expectations about gambling influence gambling behavior and that endorsement of particular expectancies differs by gender. Knowledge regarding the differential predictive utility of specific gambling expectancies based on gender would help to determine how beliefs about gambling may be fundamentally different for men and women. The present study explored whether gender moderates the relation between gambling expectancy and gambling frequency in a college sample. 421 college students completed an online survey that included questions about their demographics, gambling frequency, and gambling expectancies. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that gender moderated the relations between the expectancies of social consequences, material gain, and gambling frequency. For females, greater endorsement of social consequences predicted less frequent gambling. For both males and females, greater endorsement of material gain predicted more frequent gambling. The current findings can help inform prevention and intervention efforts by identifying gambling expectations that are differentially related to college student gambling behavior choices.

A hidden curriculum: gambling and problem gambling among high school students in Auckland.

PubMed

Sullivan, Sean

2005-12-01

Participation in gambling by young people aged 13-18 years. During 2001, prior to the passing of legislation to minimise gambling harm, more than 500 students from six high schools completed a survey of their participation in gambling during the previous 12 months, and completed three problem gambling screens. Gambling, including under-age gambling, was a common event. Up to one in five were identified as at risk for problem gambling on at least one screen. Students who were non-European, or were from low socioeconomic areas, were more likely to be at risk for problem gambling. Help for gambling problems was preferred from friends and family rather than others, while inclusion of information in the education curriculum about risk of gambling problems was supported. The survey provided evidence for pre-legislation baseline gambling behaviour, and risk for problem gambling, of students attending high schools in Auckland. Levels of risk for problem gambling paralleled the elevated risk found for youth in many countries. Raising awareness, through a school curriculum, of risk for gambling problems among adolescents may be explored as a strategy to reduce the high levels of risk for gambling problems identified.

Gambling in Sweden: the cultural and socio-political context.

PubMed

Binde, Per

2014-02-01

To provide an overview, with respect to Sweden, of the cultural history of gambling, the commercialization of gambling, problem gambling research, the prevalence of problem gambling and its prevention and treatment. A review of the literature and official documents relating to gambling in Sweden; involvement in gambling research and regulation. Gambling has long been part of Swedish culture. Since about 1980 the gambling market, although still largely monopolistic, has been commercialized. At the same time, problem gambling has emerged as a concept in the public health paradigm. Debate regarding whether or not Sweden's national restrictions on the gambling market are compliant with European Community legislation has helped to put problem gambling on the political agenda. Despite expanded gambling services, the extent of problem gambling on the population level has not changed significantly over the past decade. The stability of problem gambling in Sweden at the population level suggests a homeostatic system involving the gambling market, regulation, prevention and treatment and adaption to risk and harm by gamblers. We have relatively good knowledge of the extent and characteristics of problem gambling in Sweden and of how to treat it, but little is known of how to prevent it effectively. Knowledge is needed of the effectiveness of regulatory actions and approaches, and of responsible gambling measures implemented by gambling companies. © 2013 The Author, Addiction © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

The intergenerational transmission of problem gambling: The mediating role of offspring gambling expectancies and motives.

PubMed

Dowling, N A; Oldenhof, E; Shandley, K; Youssef, G J; Vasiliadis, S; Thomas, S A; Frydenberg, E; Jackson, A C

2018-02-01

The risk for developing a gambling problem is greater among offspring who have a problem gambling parent, yet little research has directly examined the mechanisms by which this transmission of problem gambling occurs. For this reason, the present study sought to examine the degree to which children's expectancies and motives relating to gambling explain, at least in part, the intergenerational transmission of problem gambling. Participants (N=524; 56.5% male) were recruited from educational institutions, and retrospectively reported on parental problem gambling. Problem gambling was measured using the Problem Gambling Severity Index and a range of positive and negative expectancies and gambling motives were explored as potential mediators of the relationship between parent-and-participant problem gambling. The relationship between parent-and-participant problem gambling was significant, and remained so after controlling for sociodemographic factors and administration method. Significant mediators of this relationship included self-enhancement expectancies (feeling in control), money expectancies (financial gain), over-involvement (preoccupation with gambling) and emotional impact expectancies (guilt, shame, and loss), as well as enhancement motives (gambling to increase positive feelings) and coping motives (gambling to reduce or avoid negative emotions). All mediators remained significant when entered into the same model. The findings highlight that gambling expectancies and motives present unique pathways to the development of problem gambling in the offspring of problem gambling parents, and suggest that gambling cognitions may be potential candidates for targeted interventions for the offspring of problem gamblers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gambling and problem gambling in The Netherlands.

PubMed

Goudriaan, Anna E

2014-07-01

To provide an overview of gambling in the Netherlands, focusing on historical background, policy, legislation, prevalence of problem gambling, availability of treatment options and research base. Literature review. Contradictions between gambling policy and practice have been present in the past 15-20 years, and have led to an increasingly stricter gambling regulation to retain the government policy to restrict gambling within a national monopoly. Conversely, political efforts have been made to legalize internet gambling, but have not yet been approved. Compared to other European countries, slot machine gambling and casino gambling are relatively popular, whereas betting is relatively unpopular. Last-year problem gambling prevalence (South Oaks Gambling Screen score > 5) is estimated at 0.22-0.15% (2005, 2011). Treatment for problem gambling is covered by health insurance under the same conditions as substance dependence, but only a small proportion of Dutch problem gamblers seeks help at addiction treatment centres. Gambling policy in the Netherlands has become stricter during recent last years in order to maintain the Dutch gambling monopoly. Problem gambling in the Netherlands is relatively stable. Dutch research on problem gambling has a lack of longitudinal studies. Most of the epidemiological gambling studies are reported in non-peer-reviewed research reports, which diminishes control by independent peers on the methodology and interpretation of results. Recent efforts to enhance consistency in research methods between gambling studies over time could enhance knowledge on changes in (problem) gambling in the Netherlands. © 2013 Society for the Study of Addiction.

Gambling Motives: Do They Explain Cognitive Distortions in Male Poker Gamblers?

PubMed

Mathieu, Sasha; Barrault, Servane; Brunault, Paul; Varescon, Isabelle

2018-03-01

Gambling behavior is partly the result of varied motivations leading individuals to participate in gambling activities. Specific motivational profiles are found in gamblers, and gambling motives are closely linked to the development of cognitive distortions. This cross-sectional study aimed to predict cognitive distortions from gambling motives in poker players. The population was recruited in online gambling forums. Participants reported gambling at least once a week. Data included sociodemographic characteristics, the South Oaks Gambling Screen, the Gambling Motives Questionnaire-Financial and the Gambling-Related Cognition Scale. This study was conducted on 259 male poker gamblers (aged 18-69 years, 14.3% probable pathological gamblers). Univariate analyses showed that cognitive distortions were independently predicted by overall gambling motives (34.8%) and problem gambling (22.4%) (p < .05). The multivariate model, including these two variables, explained 39.7% of cognitive distortions (p < .05). The results associated with the literature data highlight that cognitive distortions are a good discriminating factor of gambling problems, showing a close inter-relationship between gambling motives, cognitive distortions and the severity of gambling. These data are consistent with the following theoretical process model: gambling motives lead individuals to practice and repeat the gambling experience, which may lead them to develop cognitive distortions, which in turn favor problem gambling. This study opens up new research perspectives to understand better the mechanisms underlying gambling practice and has clinical implications in terms of prevention and treatment. For example, a coupled motivational and cognitive intervention focused on gambling motives/cognitive distortions could be beneficial for individuals with gambling problems.

The Relationship Between Age of Gambling Onset and Adolescent Problematic Gambling Severity

PubMed Central

Rahman, Ardeshir S.; Pilver, Corey E.; Desai, Rani A.; Steinberg, Marvin A.; Rugle, Loreen; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Potenza, Marc N.

2012-01-01

The aim of this study was to characterize the association between problem gambling severity and multiple health, functioning and gambling variables in adolescents aged 13–18 stratified by age of gambling onset. Survey data in 1624 Connecticut high school students stratified by age of gambling onset (≤11 years vs. ≥ 12 years) were analyzed in descriptive analyses and in logistic regression models. Earlier age of onset was associated with problem gambling severity as indexed by a higher frequency of at-risk/problem gambling (ARPG). Most health, functioning and gambling measures were similarly associated with problem gambling severity in the earlier- and later-age-of-gambling-onset groups with the exception of participation in non-strategic forms of gambling, which was more strongly associated with ARPG in the earlier-onset (OR=1.74, 95%CI=[1.26, 2.39]) as compared to later-onset (OR=0.94, 95%CI=[0.60, 1.48]) group (Interaction OR=1.91, 95%CI=[1.18, 3.26]). Post-hoc analysis revealed that earlier-onset ARPG was more strongly associated with multiple forms of non-strategic gambling including lottery (instant, traditional) and slot-machine gambling. The finding that problem gambling severity is more closely associated with multiple non-strategic forms of gambling amongst youth with earlier onset of gambling highlights the relevance of these types of youth gambling. The extent to which non-strategic forms of gambling may serve as a gateway to other forms of gambling or risk behaviors warrants additional study, and efforts targeting youth gambling should consider how best to address non-strategic gambling through education, prevention, treatment and policy efforts. PMID:22410208

Impaired decision making under ambiguity but not under risk in individuals with pathological buying-behavioral and psychophysiological evidence.

PubMed

Trotzke, Patrick; Starcke, Katrin; Pedersen, Anya; Müller, Astrid; Brand, Matthias

2015-09-30

Pathological buying (PB) is described as dysfunctional buying behavior, associated with harmful consequences. It is discussed whether decision-making deficits are related to PB, because affected individuals often choose the short-term rewarding option of buying despite persistent negative long-term consequences. We investigated 30 patients suffering from PB and 30 matched control participants with two different decision-making tasks: the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) measures decisions under ambiguity and involves emotional feedback processing, whereas the Game of Dice Task (GDT) measures decisions under risk and can be solved strategically. Potential emotional and cognitive correlates of decision making were investigated by assessing skin conductance response (SCR) and executive functioning. In comparison to the control participants, the patients showed more disadvantageous decisions under ambiguity in the IGT. These data were supported by the SCR results: patients failed to generate SCRs that usually occur before disadvantageous decisions. The physiological and behavioral performance on decisions under risk and executive functioning did not differ between groups. Thus, deficits in emotional feedback processing might be one potential factor in etiology and pathogenesis of PB and should be considered in theory and treatment. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Parent-Child Engagement in Decision Making and the Development of Adolescent Affective Decision Capacity and Binge Drinking

PubMed Central

Xiao, Lin; Bechara, Antoine; Palmer, Paula H.; Trinidad, Dennis R.; Wei, Yonglan; Jia, Yong; Johnson, C. Anderson

2010-01-01

The goal of this study was to investigate how parents’ engagement of their child in everyday decision-making influenced their adolescent’s development on two neuropsychological functions, namely, affective decision-making and working memory, and its effect on adolescent binge-drinking behavior. We conducted a longitudinal study of 192 Chinese adolescents. In 10th grade, the adolescents were tested for their affective decision-making ability using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and working memory capacity using the Self-ordered Pointing Test (SOPT). Questionnaires were used to assess perceived parent-child engagement in decision-making, academic performance and drinking behavior. At one-year follow-up, the same neuropsychological tasks and questionnaires were repeated. Results indicate that working memory and academic performance were uninfluenced by parent-child engagement in decision-making. However, compared to adolescents whose parents made solitary decisions for them, adolescents engaged in everyday decision-making showed significant improvement on affective decision capacity and significantly less binge-drinking one year later. These findings suggest that parental engagement of children in everyday decision-making might foster the development of neurocognitive functioning relative to affective decision-making and reduce adolescent substance use behaviors. PMID:21804682