Increased ventral anterior insular connectivity to sports betting availability indexes problem gambling.

With the advent of digital technologies, online sports betting is spurring a fast-growing expansion. In this study, we examined how sports betting availability modulates the brain connectivity of frequent sports bettors with [problem bettors (PB)] or without [non-problem bettors (NPB)] problematic sports betting. We conducted functional connectivity analyses centred on the ventral anterior insular cortex (vAI), a brain region playing a key role in the dynamic interplay between reward-based processes. We re-analysed a dataset on sports betting availability undertaken in PB (n = 30) and NPB (n = 35). Across all participants, we observed that sports betting availability elicited positive vAI coupling with extended clusters of brain activation (encompassing the putamen, cerebellum, occipital, temporal, precentral and central operculum regions) and negative vAI coupling with the orbitofrontal cortex. Between-group analyses showed increased positive vAI coupling in the PB group, as compared with the NPB group, in the left lateral occipital cortex, extending to the left inferior frontal gyrus, the anterior cingulate gyrus and the right frontal pole. Taken together, these results are in line with the central assumptions of triadic models of addictions, which posit that the insular cortex plays a pivotal role in promoting the drive and motivation to get a reward by 'hijacking' goal-oriented processes toward addiction-related cues. Taken together, these findings showed that vAI functional connectivity is sensitive not only to gambling availability but also to the status of problematic sport betting.

Physical Exercise to Redynamize Interoception in Substance use Disorders.

Physical exercise is considered a promising medication-free and cost-effective adjunct treatment for substance use disorders (SUD). Nevertheless, evidence regarding the effectiveness of these interventions is currently limited, thereby signaling the need to better understand the mechanisms underlying their impact on SUD, in order to reframe and optimize them. Here we advance that physical exercise could be re-conceptualized as an "interoception booster", namely as a way to help people with SUD to better decode and interpret bodily-related signals associated with transient states of homeostatic imbalances that usually trigger consumption. We first discuss how mismatches between current and desired bodily states influence the formation of reward-seeking states in SUD, in light of the insular cortex brain networks. Next, we detail effort perception during physical exercise and discuss how it can be used as a relevant framework for re-dynamizing interoception in SUD. We conclude by providing perspectives and methodological considerations for applying the proposed approach to mixed-design neurocognitive research on SUD.

The landscape of open science in behavioral addiction research: Current practices and future directions.

Open science refers to a set of practices that aim to make scientific research more transparent, accessible, and reproducible, including pre-registration of study protocols, sharing of data and materials, the use of transparent research methods, and open access publishing. In this commentary, we describe and evaluate the current state of open science practices in behavioral addiction research. We highlight the specific value of open science practices for the field; discuss recent field-specific meta-scientific reviews that show the adoption of such practices remains in its infancy; address the challenges to engaging with open science; and make recommendations for how researchers, journals, and scientific institutions can work to overcome these challenges and promote high-quality, transparently reported behavioral addiction research. By collaboratively promoting open science practices, the field can create a more sustainable and productive research environment that benefits both the scientific community and society as a whole.

Operationalization and measurement of compulsivity across video gaming and gambling behavioral domains.

BACKGROUND: Compulsivity is the hallmark of addiction progression and, as a construct, has played an important role in unveiling the etiological pathways from learning mechanisms underlying addictive behavior to harms resulting from it. However, a sound use of the compulsivity construct in the field of behavioral addictions has been hindered to date by the lack of consensus regarding its definition and measurement. Here we capitalize on a previous systematic review and expert appraisal to develop a compulsivity scale for candidate behavioral addictions (the Granada Assessment for Cross-domain Compulsivity, GRACC). METHODS: The initial scale (GRACC90) consisted of 90 items comprising previously proposed operationalizations of compulsivity, and was validated in two panel samples of individuals regularly engaging in gambling and video gaming, using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and convergence analyses. RESULTS: The GRACC90 scale is unidimensional and structurally invariant across samples, and predicted severity of symptoms, lower quality of life, and negative affect, to similar degrees in the two samples. Additionally, poorer quality of life and negative affect were comparably predicted by compulsivity and by severity of symptoms. A shorter version of the scale (GRACC18) is proposed, based on selecting the 18 items with highest factor loadings. CONCLUSIONS: Results support the proposal that core symptoms of behavioral addictions strongly overlap with compulsivity, and peripheral symptoms are not essential for their conceptualization. Further research should clarify the etiology of compulsive behavior, and whether pathways to compulsivity in behavioral addictions could be common or different across domains.

Stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulates brain cue reactivity to reward (un)availability.

Brain imaging studies have shown that stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), which plays a pivotal role in high-order cognitive control processes, modulates brain reactivity to reward-related cues. Nevertheless, the impact of contextual factors such as reward availability (the reward that is depicted in the cue exposure task) on such modulation effect remains unclear. Here we tested whether a single session of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) over the left dlPFC differently impacts brain reactivity to cues signalling either availability or unavailability of a sports betting opportunity. Employing a within-subject design (verum versus sham HF-rTMS) among thirty-two frequent sports bettors, we first observed that, as compared to the sham condition, verum HF-rTMS modulated brain reactivity to game cues prior to being made (un)available for betting, through simultaneous increases (posterior insula and caudate nucleus) and decreases (occipital pole) in brain activation. Second, verum HF-rTMS led to increased ventral striatal activity towards cues available for betting but did not modulate brain response to cues unavailable for betting. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that transient stimulation of the left dlPFC led to a general modulation in brain activity in responses to cues, and that this effect is only partly dependent on cues signalling for reward (un)availability.

Pictograms to aid laypeople in identifying the addictiveness of gambling products (PictoGRRed study).

The structural addictive characteristics of gambling products are important targets for prevention, but can be unintuitive to laypeople. In the PictoGRRed (Pictograms for Gambling Risk Reduction) study, we aimed to develop pictograms that illustrate the main addictive characteristics of gambling products and to assess their impact on identifying the addictiveness of gambling products by laypeople. We conducted a three-step study: (1) use of a Delphi consensus method among 56 experts from 13 countries to reach a consensus on the 10 structural addictive characteristics of gambling products to be illustrated by pictograms and their associated definitions, (2) development of 10 pictograms and their definitions, and (3) study in the general population to assess the impact of exposure to the pictograms and their definitions (n = 900). French-speaking experts from the panel assessed the addictiveness of gambling products (n = 25), in which the mean of expert's ratings was considered as the true value. Participants were randomly provided with the pictograms and their definitions, or with a standard slogan, or with neither (control group). We considered the control group as representing the baseline ability of laypeople to assess the addictiveness of gambling products. Each group and the French-speaking experts rated the addictiveness of 14 gambling products. The judgment criterion was the intraclass coefficients (ICCs) between the mean ratings of each group and the experts, reflecting the level of agreement between each group and the experts. Exposure to the pictograms and their definition doubled the ability of laypeople to assess the addictiveness of gambling products compared with that of the group that read a slogan or the control group (ICC = 0.28 vs. 0.14 (Slogan) and 0.14 (Control)). Laypeople have limited awareness of the addictive characteristics of gambling products. The pictograms developed herein represent an innovative tool for universally empowering prevention and for selective prevention.

On the pitfalls of conceptualizing excessive physical exercise as an addictive disorder: Commentary on Dinardi et al. (2021).

This commentary challenges some of the proposals made in the opinion paper entitled "The expanded interactional model of exercise addiction" by Dinardi, Egorov, and Szabo (2021). We first question the usefulness of the (expanded) interactional model of exercise addiction to determine the psychological processes underlying distress and functional impairment in excessive physical exercise. We then consider the authors' use of the Self-Determination Theory to model exercise addiction, which risks the misclassification of strenuous, but adaptive, patterns of physical exercise as exercise addiction. We finally address broader concerns regarding the idea that maladaptive exercising could be conceptualized as an addictive disorder.

Increased brain reactivity to gambling unavailability as a marker of problem gambling.

The unprecedented development and ubiquity of sports betting constitute an emerging public health concern. It is crucial to provide markers that could help to better identify people experiencing sports betting-related harms. The current study investigated whether problem gambling status, sports betting passion, and trait-self-control modulate brain reactivity to sports betting cues. Sixty-five frequent sports bettors (35 "nonproblem bettors" and 30 "problem bettors") were exposed to cues representing real upcoming sport events (with varying levels of winning confidence) that were made available or blocked for betting, during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recording. Sports betting passion and trait-self-control were assessed using self-report scales. Sport events nonavailable for betting elicited higher insular and striatal activation in problem bettors, as compared with nonproblem bettors. Within a large cluster encompassing the ventral striatum, hippocampus, and amygdala, lower trait-self-control was associated with increased brain reactivity to sport events with high levels of winning confidence that were nonavailable for betting. No significant effect of sports betting passion was observed. These findings suggest that sports bettors' brain reactivity to gambling unavailability might be a relevant marker of sports betting-related harms, as well as of blunted trait-self-control.

Delineating adaptive esports involvement from maladaptive gaming: a self-regulation perspective.

The last decade has witnessed the rise of electronic sports (esports), yet little is known about how involvement in intensive esports relates to self-regulatory processes, such as executive functioning (EF). In this paper, we review the evidence on EF in problematic and non-problematic video-game use. We also consider research on EF in traditional sports athletes, as well as in 'exercise addiction'. The focus of the review is on two core components of EF, namely response inhibition and cognitive flexibility. The available evidence suggests that EF is a reliable marker for indexing specific types of sport and video-gaming expertise, but does not appear to consistently delineate maladaptive from adaptive video-game involvement. Future research avenues on EF that characterize esport players are suggested to advance this area.

Individual differences in learning during decision-making may predict specific harms associated with gambling.

Problem gambling has been linked to impairments in decision-making under uncertainty. Problem gamblers are more likely to favor high-risk, high-reward, and short-term gains over more advantageous choice alternatives, and this preference has been linked to impaired learning about decision outcomes. In this paper we link specific learning processes in decision-making to specific harms related to problem gambling. We asked a group of 140 casual gamblers to 1) perform a canonical decision-making task (the Iowa Gambling Task) online, and 2) to complete a self-report survey (the GamTest) designed to measure self-perceived harm caused by their gambling. We used a reinforcement learning model to explain individual differences in the decision task, and related individuals' model parameters to the specific problem areas reported using the questionnaire. We found that people who learned more from gains than from losses on the task were more likely to report overall gambling problems, and problems specifically related to money. We also found that people whose learning was more driven by the frequency of rewards were more likely to report problems related to the amount of time spent gambling, as well as social problems. We discuss possible psychological and neural processes mediating learning and gambling related harms, and we discuss the relevance of our approach to the diagnosis of problem gambling and its consequences.

Smoking cues impair monitoring but not stopping during response inhibition in abstinent male smokers.

The attenuated inhibitory control of smokers is a stumbling block for treating nicotine dependence. Unfortunately, smokers are often exposed to cigarette-related salient cues, which may violate homeostasis, override self-control, and lead to relapse. To understand the mechanisms underlying these associations, we investigate the cognitive and neural processes of inhibitory control (including proactive and reactive inhibition) of smoking cues in abstinent smokers. Twenty-six smokers completed cue-reactivity and stop signal tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, on two separate sessions, 2-3 weeks apart: one involved a neutral cue reactivity task, and the other a smoking cue reactivity task. Findings pointed to no significant subjective craving changes, or behavioral influences of smoking cues on proactive and reactive inhibition. However, abstinent smokers exhibited hyperactive brain reactivity in response to smoking versus neutral stimuli, in regions including the insula, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and putamen. They also had hypoactive bilateral rostral ACC (rACC) and hyperactive right pre-supplementary motor area during reactive inhibition in smoking versus neutral conditions. Support vector regression analysis showed that activation of these regions predicted and correlated with reactive inhibition index (i.e., SSRT), alluding to the possibility of their involvement in the reactive inhibition. Subjective craving scores were predicted by and correlated with activation of bilateral dorsal and rostral ACC, supporting the ideas of their possible involvement in subjective craving. These findings suggest that smoking cues evoke hyperactive brain reactivity; this may interfere with normal performance monitoring and rapid reactive inhibition. These findings have important implication for treating smoking dependence.

Strategies for self-controlling social media use: Classification and role in preventing social media addiction symptoms.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Many people present excessive patterns of social networking site (SNS) use and try to self-regulate it. However, little is known regarding the strategies employed by young adult SNS users and their role in preventing the emergence of addiction-like symptoms in relation to SNS use. METHODS: In Study 1, we employed a naturalistic-qualitative approach for finding commonly employed self-control strategies in relation to SNS use. In Study 2, we examined differences between the frequency and difficulty of the strategies identified in Study 1 and tested the process through which trait self-control exerts influence on reducing SNS addiction symptomology. RESULTS: Study 1 revealed six families of self-control strategies, some reactive and some proactive. Study 2 pinpointed the most commonly used and most difficult to enact ones. It also showed that the difficulty to enact self-control strategies in relation to SNS use partially mediates the effect of trait self-control via SNS use habit on SNS addiction symptom severity. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the present findings revealed that strategies for self-controlling SNS use are common and complex. Their theoretical and clinical significance stems from their ability to prevent the translation of poor trait self-control and strong SNS use habit to the emergence of excessive use as manifested in SNS addiction-like symptoms.

Examining neural reactivity to gambling cues in the age of online betting.

Purpose of Review: The goal of this review is to provide new insights as to how and why functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research on gambling cue reactivity can contribute to significant progress towards the understanding of gambling disorder. After having offered a detailed description of experimental paradigms and a comprehensive summary of findings related to gambling cue reactivity, the present review suggests methodological avenues for future research. Recent Findings: The fMRI literature on problem gambling has identified the main neural pathways associated with reactivity to gambling cues. Yet, the current knowledge on the key factors underlying cue reactivity in gambling is still very incomplete. Here, we suggest that the recent expansion of online sports betting calls for a new line of research offering a fine-grained and up-to-date approach of neural cue reactivity in gambling disorder. Summary: Experimental designs that investigate individual-specific and study-specific factors related to sports betting have the potential to foster progress towards efficient treatment and prevention of gambling disorder.

The impact of self-control cues on subsequent monetary risk-taking.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The "process-model" of self-control proposes that the ego-depletion effect is better explained by a switch between interest in "have-to" labor and cognitive "want-to" leisure, rather than being mainly due to a decrease in cognitive resources, as advanced by the "strength-model" of self-control. However, it is currently difficult to disentangle the "process-model" from the "strength-model" of self-control. Here, we employed a stepwise approach, featuring three studies, for testing the process model of self-control. METHODS: In Study 1, we created a list of 30 self-control events for characterizing "have-to" conducts in the daily life. In Study 2, mental visualization of effortful self-control events ("have-to") and monetary risk-taking ("want-to") were employed for testing the strength-model of self-control. In Study 3, to test the process-model of self-control, participants were simply required to read self-control (or neutral) sentences. RESULTS: Study 1 provided evidence regarding external validly for the list of self-control events. Study 2 showed that mental visualization of effortful self-control events increases subsequent monetary risk-taking. Study 3 highlighted that the brief apparition of a self-control-related sentence was sufficient for increasing risk-taking. These patterns were evidenced in the trial with the less advantageous gain/loss ratio. DISCUSSION: Altogether these findings support the process-model of self-control in showing that triggering the semantic content of a "have-to" conduct, without its actual execution, is sufficient for modulating subsequent "want-to" activity. CONCLUSION: These findings could contribute to advancing current knowledge on how the high availability of ready-to-consume rewards in modern environments is redefining humans' self-control ability.

Facing temptation: The neural correlates of gambling availability during sports picture exposure.

Nowadays, sports betting has become increasingly available and easy to engage in. Here we examined the neural responses to stimuli that represent sporting events available for betting as compared to sporting events without a gambling opportunity. We used a cue exposure task in which football (soccer) fans (N = 42) viewed cues depicting scheduled football games that would occur shortly after the scanning session. In the "betting" condition, participants were instructed to choose, at the end of each block, the game (and the team) they wanted to bet on. In the "watching" condition, participants chose the game they would prefer to watch. After the scanning session, participants completed posttask rating questionnaires assessing, for each cue, their level of confidence about the team they believed would win and how much they would enjoy watching the game. We found that stimuli representing sport events available for betting elicited higher fronto-striatal activation, as well as higher insular cortex activity and functional connectivity, than sport events without a gambling opportunity. Moreover, games rated with more confidence towards the winning team resulted in greater brain activations within regions involved in affective decision-making (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), cognitive inhibitory control (medial and superior frontal gyri) and reward processing (ventral and dorsal striatum). Altogether, these novel findings offer a sensible simulation of how the high availability of sports betting in today's environment impacts on the reward and cognitive control systems. Future studies are needed to extend the present findings to a sample of football fans that includes a samilar proportion of female and male participants.