Normal performance on a simulated gambling task in treatment-naive alcohol-dependent individuals

Research suggests that substance abusers make more disadvantageous decisions on the simulated gambling task (SGT); such decisions are associated with deviance proneness and antisocial symptoms. This study examines decision making on the SGT in young adults with alcohol dependence who are treatment-naive (TxN).

A total of 116 subjects (58 controls, 58 TxNs) were tested on the SGT, where participants choose cards from 4 different decks that vary in terms of the magnitude of the immediate gain (large/small) and the magnitude of long-term loss (larger/smaller). Participants were also assessed on measures of externalizing symptoms, personality traits reflecting social deviance, neuropsychological function, and the density of the family history of alcoholism.

Treatment-naïves did not differ from controls on measures of SGT decision making. Simulated gambling task performance was not associated with externalizing symptoms, social deviance proneness, or a familial density of alcoholism. Although TxNs had higher levels of externalizing symptoms, social deviance, and familial density of alcoholism compared with controls, these variables were only modestly elevated compared with previous samples of long-term abstinent alcohol-dependent individuals who showed decision-making deficits on the SGT.

The results suggest that our sample of young adult TxN adults with alcohol dependence do not have global deficits in decision making as measured by the SGT, and that their poor decisions regarding their alcohol consumption are more specific to drinking.