Higher Risk Taking and Impaired Probability Judgment in Behavioral Addiction

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Decision-making and judgment deficits are implicated in psychiatric disorders, including addiction.
• Behavioral addiction is a novel psychiatric condition with debated diagnostic criteria.
• This study investigates compromised decision-making and judgment in behavioral addiction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To characterize decision-making and judgment impairments in behavioral addiction.
• To explore the relationship between cognitive biases, economic decision-making, and prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity in behavioral addiction.

Main Methods:

• Recruited healthy controls (n=31) and patients with behavioral addictions (kleptomania, paraphilia; n=16).
• Administered questionnaires for cognitive biases and economic decision-making.
• Assessed jumping-to-conclusions bias using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) of PFC activity.

Main Results:

• Behavioral addicts showed stronger cognitive biases, partly due to lower intelligence.
• Patients exhibited higher risk-taking and poorer economic decision-making, indicating compromised probability judgment.
• Diminished right-hemisphere PFC activity was observed in behavioral addicts.

Conclusions:

• Behavioral addiction may involve impaired probability judgment linked to reduced PFC activity.
• These impairments contribute to increased risk-taking behavior in decision-making.
• Findings characterize behavioral addiction as a condition with specific neurocognitive deficits.