Decision-making during gambling: an integration of cognitive and psychobiological approaches

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Jan 2010

Gambling is a widespread form of entertainment that may afford unique insights into the interaction between cognition and emotion in human decision-making. It is also a behaviour that can become harmful, and potentially addictive, in a minority of individuals. This article considers the status of two dominant approaches to gambling behaviour. The cognitive approach has identified a number of erroneous beliefs held by gamblers, which cause them to over-estimate their chances of winning. The psychobiological approach has examined case-control differences between groups of pathological gamblers and healthy controls, and has identified dysregulation of brain areas linked to reward and emotion, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum, as well as alterations in dopamine neurotransmission. In integrating these two approaches, recent data are discussed that reveal anomalous recruitment of the brain reward system (including the vmPFC and ventral striatum) during two common cognitive distortions in gambling games: the near-miss effect and the effect of personal control. In games of chance, near-misses and the presence of control have no objective influence on the likelihood of winning. These manipulations appear to harness a reward system that evolved to learn skill-oriented behaviours, and by modulating activity in this system, these cognitive distortions may promote continued, and potentially excessive, gambling.

A PDF file should load here. If you do not see its contents the file may be temporarily unavailable at the journal website or you do not have a PDF plug-in installed and enabled in your browser.

Alternatively, you can download the file locally and open with any standalone PDF reader:

https://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/365/1538/319.full.pdf

Decision-making during gambling: an integration of cognitive and psychobiological approaches

0 Department of Experimental Psychology, Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge , Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB , UK Articles on similar topics can be found in the following collections Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article - sign up in the box at the top right-hand corner of the article or click here - Subject collections Email alerting service Decision-making during gambling: an integration of cognitive and psychobiological approaches Luke Clark* Gambling is a widespread form of entertainment that may afford unique insights into the interaction between cognition and emotion in human decision-making. It is also a behaviour that can become harmful, and potentially addictive, in a minority of individuals. This article considers the status of two dominant approaches to gambling behaviour. The cognitive approach has identified a number of erroneous beliefs held by gamblers, which cause them to over-estimate their chances of winning. The psychobiological approach has examined case-control differences between groups of pathological gamblers and healthy controls, and has identified dysregulation of brain areas linked to reward and emotion, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum, as well as alterations in dopamine neurotransmission. In integrating these two approaches, recent data are discussed that reveal anomalous recruitment of the brain reward system (including the vmPFC and ventral striatum) during two common cognitive distortions in gambling games: the near-miss effect and the effect of personal control. In games of chance, near-misses and the presence of control have no objective influence on the likelihood of winning. These manipulations appear to harness a reward system that evolved to learn skill-oriented behaviours, and by modulating activity in this system, these cognitive distortions may promote continued, and potentially excessive, gambling. 1. INTRODUCTION The term gambling refers to a form of entertainment where a wager, typically a sum of money, is placed on the uncertain prospect of a larger monetary outcome. As a form of recreation, gambling has been widespread for several centuries, and across many cultures (Raylu & Oei 2004b). The 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey found that 68 per cent of respondents reported gambling at least once in the past year, and 48 per cent reported gambling on games other than the state lottery (Wardle et al. 2007). To economists and psychologists, the popularity of gambling represents an enduring paradox, as the vast majority of gamblers are well aware of the popular saying the house always wins. This refers to the fact that gambling odds are carefully arranged to ensure a steady profit for the bookmaker, casino or slot machine; something that can only be achieved at the expense of the gambler. In economic terms, the expected value of gambling is negative, such that an accumulating debt is inevitable over a large number of trials. Thus, the widespread tendency to accept such gambles may provide some useful insights into the mechanisms of human irrationality. However, in addition to the financial considerations, it is probable that gambling is also One contribution of 12 to a Theme Issue Rationality and emotions. motivated by cognitive and emotional factors. Unpredictable monetary wins are a potent form of positive reinforcement that strengthen the instrumental response. Gambling is associated with physiological arousal that is manifested in heart rate increases and elevated cortisol levels (Anderson & Brown 1984; Meyer et al. 2004). Environmental cues (e.g. flashing lights, the chime of coins) that are associated with this arousal become conditioned stimuli via Pavlovian processes. Gambling may also serve to alleviate unpleasant states of boredom, anxiety or low mood (i.e. negative reinforcement). These emotional learning mechanisms will play a key role in shaping gambling behaviour (Blaszczynski & Nower 2002). Gambling is also a behaviour that can spiral out of control in some individuals. As gambling becomes excessive, there are observable harms including debt, illegal activity and interpersonal conflict. In its most extreme form, pathological gambling is a recognized psychiatric diagnosis in the Diagnostic and statistical manual, version 4 (text revision) (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association 2000), with a prevalence of around 1 per cent (Petry et al. 2005). The severity of gambling involvement is thought to lie on a continuum, and the label of problem gambling is used to denote the less severe form. The US prevalence of problem gambling is estimated between 1 and 4 per cent (Shaffer et al. 1999; Welte et al. 2002). 320 L. Clark Review. Decision-making during gambling The current psychiatric system places pathological gambling within the impulse control disorders, a heterogeneous rag-bag of conditions that also includes kleptomania (compulsive stealing) (...truncated)


This is a preview of a remote PDF: https://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/365/1538/319.full.pdf

Luke Clark. Decision-making during gambling: an integration of cognitive and psychobiological approaches, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2010, pp. 319-330, 365/1538, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0147