Using deliberate mind-wandering to escape negative mood states: Implications for gambling to escape.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Slot machines are a pervasive form of gambling in North America. Some gamblers describe entering "the slot machine zone"-a complete immersion into slots play to the exclusion of all else. METHODS: We assessed 111 gamblers for mindfulness (using the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)), gambling problems (using the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI)), depressive symptoms (using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale), and boredom proneness (using the Boredom Proneness Scale). In a counterbalanced order, participants played a slot machine simulator and completed an auditory vigilance task. During each task, participants were interrupted with thought probes to assess whether they were: on-task, spontaneously mind-wandering, or deliberately mind-wandering. After completing each task, we retrospectively assessed flow and affect. Compared to the more exciting slots play, we propose that gamblers may use deliberate mind-wandering as a maladaptive means to regulate affect during a repetitive vigilance task. RESULTS: Our key results were that gamblers reported greater negative affect following the vigilance task (when compared to slots) and greater positive affect following slots play (when compared to the vigilance task). We also found that those who scored higher in problem gambling were more likely to use deliberate mind-wandering as a means to cope with negative affect during the vigilance task. Using hierarchical multiple regression, we found that the number of "deliberately mind-wandering" responses accounted for unique variance when predicting problem gambling severity (over and above depression, mindfulness, and boredom proneness). CONCLUSIONS: These assessments highlight a potential coping mechanism used by problem gamblers in order to deal with negative affect.

Shared striatal activity in decisions to satisfy curiosity and hunger at the risk of electric shocks.

Curiosity is often portrayed as a desirable feature of human faculty. However, curiosity may come at a cost that sometimes puts people in harmful situations. Here, using a set of behavioural and neuroimaging experiments with stimuli that strongly trigger curiosity (for example, magic tricks), we examine the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying the motivational effect of curiosity. We consistently demonstrate that across different samples, people are indeed willing to gamble, subjecting themselves to electric shocks to satisfy their curiosity for trivial knowledge that carries no apparent instrumental value. Also, this influence of curiosity shares common neural mechanisms with that of hunger for food. In particular, we show that acceptance (compared to rejection) of curiosity-driven or incentive-driven gambles is accompanied by enhanced activity in the ventral striatum when curiosity or hunger was elicited, which extends into the dorsal striatum when participants made a decision.

The Controllability Hypothesis: Near-miss effect points to common neurological machinery in posterior parietal cortex for controllable objects and concepts.

In this paper, I postulate that the processing of concepts which are deemed controllable is rooted in neurological machinery located in the posterior parietal cortex specialised for the processing of objects which are immediately actionable because they are within reach. This is demonstrated with reference to the near-miss effect in gambling behaviour, where it is argued that the configurative proximity of the near-miss outcome to the win outcome creates the impression that the win outcome is 'almost within reach' or controllable. The perceived realisability of the desired outcome increases subjective reward probability and the associated expected action value, which impacts decision-making and behaviour. When extended to substance addiction, this novel hypothesis adds fresh insight into understanding the motivational effects associated with cue exposure and opportunity for drug-taking. Moreover, by postulating that a perception of control can be generated to minimise unpleasant affective states, it can also reconcile contrasting models of decision-making and provide a neurological explanation for the efficacy of mindfulness-based techniques in treating addictions. With reference to the previously hypothesised link between the self and control, these ideas can provide an explanation for the increased subjective value of self-associated concepts in the 'endowment effect', as well as a neurological correlate for the concept of the 'narrative self'. This paper therefore provides an innovative and unifying perspective for the study and treatment of behavioural and substance addictions as well as contributing to our neurological understanding of philosophical approaches to the self.

Prior Exposure to Salient Win-Paired Cues in a Rat Gambling Task Increases Sensitivity to Cocaine Self-Administration and Suppresses Dopamine Efflux in Nucleus Accumbens: Support for the Reward Deficiency Hypothesis of Addiction.

Rats trained to perform a version of the rat gambling task (rGT) in which salient audiovisual cues accompany reward delivery, similar to commercial gambling products, show greater preference for risky options. Given previous demonstrations that probabilistic reinforcement schedules can enhance psychostimulant-induced increases in accumbal DA and locomotor activity, we theorized that performing this cued task could perpetuate a proaddiction phenotype. Significantly more rats developed a preference for the risky options in the cued versus uncued rGT at baseline, and this bias was further exacerbated by cocaine self-administration, whereas the choice pattern of optimal decision-makers was unaffected. The addition of reward-paired cues therefore increased the proportion of rats exhibiting a maladaptive cognitive response to cocaine self-administration. Risky choice was not associated with responding for conditioned reinforcement or a marker of goal/sign-tracking, suggesting that reward-concurrent cues precipitate maladaptive choice via a unique mechanism unrelated to simple approach toward, or responding for, conditioned stimuli. Although "protected" from any resulting decision-making impairment, optimal decision-makers trained on the cued rGT nevertheless self-administered more cocaine than those trained on the uncued task. Collectively, these data suggest that repeated engagement with heavily cued probabilistic reward schedules can drive addiction vulnerability through multiple behavioral mechanisms. Rats trained on the cued rGT also exhibited blunted locomotor sensitization and lower basal accumbal DA levels, yet greater cocaine-induced increases in accumbal DA efflux. Gambling in the presence of salient cues may therefore result in an adaptive downregulation of the mesolimbic DA system, rendering individuals more sensitive to the deleterious effects of taking cocaine.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Impaired cost/benefit decision making, exemplified by preference for the risky, disadvantageous options on the Iowa Gambling Task, is associated with greater risk of relapse and treatment failure in substance use disorder. Understanding factors that enhance preference for risk may help elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying maladaptive decision making in addiction, thereby improving treatment outcomes. Problem gambling is also highly comorbid with substance use disorder, and many commercial gambling products incorporate salient win-paired cues. Here we show that adding reward-concurrent cues to a rat analog of the IGT precipitates a hypodopaminergic state, characterized by blunted accumbal DA efflux and attenuated locomotor sensitization, which may contribute to the enhanced responsivity to uncertain rewards or the reinforcing effects of cocaine we observed.

Reward and punishment hyposensitivity in problem gamblers: A study of event-related potentials using a principal components analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the latent neural correlates of incentive processing differ between problem gamblers (PGs) and healthy controls (HCs). METHODS: Event-related potential (ERP) data were derived while 16 PGs and 20 HCs played a computer electronic gaming machine (EGM) task. Psychophysiological responses to outcomes commonly encountered during EGM gambling, including Large wins, Small wins, Near-wins, and Losses, were examined using a spatiotemporal principal components analysis (PCA). Subjects also completed questionnaires that assessed their levels of impulsivity, attraction to appetitive stimuli, and avoidance of aversive stimuli. RESULTS: Losses elicited a feedback-related negativity (FRN), whereas wins elicited a feedback-related positivity (FRP) at the same latency and topography. PGs exhibited both attenuated FRN amplitudes following Losses and FRP amplitudes following Wins. Greater P3b amplitudes were found following Wins compared to Losses. FRN amplitudes following Near-wins were significantly reduced compared to Losses for both PGs and HCs. Trends for reduced P3b amplitudes following all outcome types, and for similar P3b amplitudes following Large and Small wins, were found for the PG group. CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence that PGs are hyposensitive to both positive and negative outcomes. SIGNIFICANCE: The finding that PGs are hyposensitive to reward and punishment provides valuable insight into the nature of deficit in this disorder, and provides a foundation for future research and clinical interventions.

Male and female pathological gamblers: bet in a different way and show different mental disorders

Although in the last years several studies comparing male and female pathological gamblers have been published, most of them have been carried out using only samples of males. The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in a sample of subjects diagnosed with pathological gambling (PG) attending three specialized outpatient units. Retrospective study was carried out of 96 patients (49% female and 51% male), comparing the main socio-demographic, clinical, and behavioral data. Most subjects (94%) met the criteria for pathological gambling. No significant differences between sexes were found in the severity of gambling behavior or the socio-demographic variables studied. Whereas slot machines were the main type of game for most subjects, a higher percentage of women were addicted to bingo (χ2 (1, 4) = 5.19, p = .029 Cohen’s d = 0.48) and had more than one type of game as a secondary addiction χ2 (1, 4) = 7.63, p = .006; Cohen’s d = 0.59) . Women started gambling at a later age than men (t(94) = 2.95, p = .004; Cohen’s d = 0.60), but developed a pattern of addiction faster ( t(94) = 2.95, p = .004; Cohen's d = -0.61) . Women also had higher comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders (χ2 (1) = 7.28, p = .007; Cohen’s d = 0.57), specifically with affective (χ2 (1) = 11.31, p = .001; Cohen’s d = 0.73) and personality disorders (χ2 (1) = 4.71, p = .030; Cohen’s d = 0.45). Our results indicate the existence of differences between women and men in the pattern of gambling behavior and in psychiatric comorbidity. These aspects should be considered in the design of treatment programs for pathological gamblers (AU)

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Diminished aversive classical conditioning in pathological gamblers.

AIMS: Impaired ability to form associations between negative events in gambling and aversive somatic reactions may be a predisposing factor for pathological gambling. The current study investigated whether a group of pathological gamblers and a control group differed in aversive classical conditioning. DESIGN: A differential aversive classical conditioning paradigm, which consisted of three phases. In the habituation phase, one 850-Hz tone stimulus and one 1500-Hz tone stimulus were presented three times each in random order. In the acquisition phase, the two tones were presented 10 times each in random order, and one was always followed by a 100-dB burst of white noise. In the extinction phase the two tones were presented three times each without the white noise. SETTING: University laboratory testing facilities and out-patient treatment facilities. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty pathological gamblers and 20 control participants. MEASUREMENTS: Duration of seven cardiac interbeat-intervals (IBIs) following tone offset, gambling severity, tobacco and alcohol use, anxiety and depression. FINDINGS: No group differences were found in the habituation and acquisition phases. However, a significant group × stimuli × trials × IBIs interaction effect was found in the extinction phase (P < 0.049). Follow-up analysis indicated that the pathological gamblers did not show aversive classical conditioning, but that the control group did. CONCLUSIONS: Pathological gamblers have a diminished capacity to form associations between aversive events and stimuli that predict aversive events. Aversion learning is likely to be an ineffective treatment for pathological gamblers.