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Published on: January 5, 2018
Decision-Making Under Risk and Uncertainty by Substance Abusers and Healthy Controls
Diana Mejía1, Laurent Avila-Chauvet1, Aldebarán Toledo-Fernández2
1Psychology Department, Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora (ITSON), Ciudad Obregón, Mexico.
This study explored decision-making differences between substance abusers and healthy individuals using cognitive tasks. While no significant group differences emerged, trends suggested increased impulsivity and risk-taking in substance abusers.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- Substance use disorders are linked to cognitive impairments like impulsivity and risk-taking.
- The precise impact of uncertainty, risk, and time on decision-making in substance abusers remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate behavioral differences in decision-making between substance abusers and healthy controls.
- To examine correlations between various cognitive tasks assessing risk-taking, impulsivity, and uncertainty.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a behavioral test battery including the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Columbia Card Task (CCT-hot and CCT-cold), and Delay Discounting (DD) task.
- Collected data from 54 adult participants (28 substance abusers, 26 healthy controls) via an anonymous online survey.
Main Results:
- No statistically significant differences were found between groups across all tasks.
- A trend indicated higher impulsivity (steep Delay Discounting curve) and risk-taking (low Iowa Gambling Task learning curve) in substance abusers.
- Factor analysis identified four key factors: IGT risk-taking, BART uncertainty, DD/IGT impulsivity, and CCT deliberate processing.
Conclusions:
- Uncertainty in BART and early IGT trials, risk cues in CCT, and time in DD tasks influence complex decision-making.
- These factors impact decision-making processes in both substance-abusing and healthy populations.
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