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Distorted expectancy coding in problem gambling: is the addictive in the anticipation?
Ruth J van Holst1, Dick J Veltman, Christian Büchel
1Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ruthvan.holst@gmail.com.
Biological Psychiatry
|February 21, 2012
Summary
Pathologic gamblers exhibit heightened reward system activity during reward anticipation compared to healthy individuals. This suggests that problem gamblers may be overly optimistic about potential gambling outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Pathologic gambling is linked to abnormal neural responses to wins and losses.
- Neural responses during reward and loss *expectations* in pathologic gamblers remain understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate neural differences in reward and loss expectancies in pathologic gamblers versus healthy controls.
- Examine the relationship between gambling severity and neural activation patterns.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
- 15 patients with problem gambling (PRGs) and 16 healthy controls (HCs) participated.
- Participants underwent a task involving varying probabilities and amounts of monetary wins and losses.
Main Results:
- PRGs showed greater activation in the ventral striatum and orbitofrontal cortex related to gain expectancy compared to HCs.
- A negative correlation was found between gambling severity and right amygdala activation for gain expectancy.
- No significant group differences were observed in brain activation for loss expectancy.
Conclusions:
- Problem gamblers display amplified reward system activity during reward expectation.
- Severity of problem gambling correlates with reduced amygdala activation, suggesting decreased risk aversion.
- Findings indicate that problem gamblers may possess an overactive reward expectancy coding, leading to overoptimism.
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