Pathological Gambling Experiment Definition
Pathological Gambling Experiment Meaning
Pathological Gambling Experiments
Pathological Gambling Experiment Games

The most common instrument used to screen for 'probable pathological gambling' behavior is the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) developed by Lesieur and Blume (1987) at the South Oaks Hospital in New York. This screen is undoubtedly the most cited instrument in psychological research literature (printable PDF version). Evidence indicates that pathological gambling is an addiction similar to chemical addiction. Monetary reward in gambling experiment produces brain activation very similar to that observed in drug addicts when they receiving an infusion of the drug. Problem gambling is often associated with increased suicidal ideation and attempts. Gambling addiction, also known as compulsive gambling, may be a type of impulse-control disorder. Compulsive gamblers keep gambling whether they’re up or down, broke or flush, happy or depressed. Pathological gambling caused by excessive. The researchers conducted an experiment on compulsive gambling patients using a standard experimental economics task and a mathematical.

Imagine that you are on vacation, and you go to a casino. Walking in, you notice a few people sitting behind a table with a large poster taped to the front: “SEE XXX PICS OR MAYBE WIN $$$. IT’S FOR SCIENCE.” Intrigued, you stroll over. A seated researcher asks if you want to participate in an experiment and describes the process. First, you would be shown a signal to anticipate one of two rewards: a picture of a naked woman, or a picture of how much money you could win. Next, you were to quickly press a button indicating the signaled reward. If you pressed correctly, you had a chance of being shown the picture or given the money. You participated and found the task simple. The woman was attractive, and it was nice to win money, so you responded equally quickly to both of the signals.

However, pathological gamblers respond differently to this task. In a real study by Guillaume Sescousse and colleagues, the researchers examined how pathological gamblers’ brains anticipated and responded to a reward of money versus a reward that was a picture of a naked woman. These researchers found that pathological gamblers responded faster and were more motivated by the possibility of receiving money than the possibility of seeing the photo. The researchers proposed that this behavior is due to a “motivational hierarchy” in which pathological gamblers want money over other kinds of rewards. This “motivational hierarchy” played an important role when the gamblers anticipated a reward, and the researchers suggest that it could promote gambling addiction. Furthermore, the severity of a gambler’s symptoms can predict how much they prefer money over sex.

The researchers indicated that this hierarchy is both due to pathological gamblers’ becoming more sensitive to anticipating money and less sensitive to anticipating other rewards. Additionally, this finding helps explain prior research showing that pathological gamblers sometimes are not aware of whether they are winning or losing while playing (Nower and Blaszczynski, 2010).

The researchers also found that pathological gamblers responded differently than non-pathological gamblers even after they received a reward. Sescousse and colleagues performed brain scans on their participants after they received the rewards, and the scans of the pathological gamblers indicated that they did not interpret the naked photo “reward” as rewarding. The researchers propose that the definition of a “reward” becomes skewed for pathological gamblers who are highly eager for money and less so for other rewards.

Thus, this research suggests that pathological gamblers pursue money over other kinds of rewards because they find it more intrinsically motivating, and even when they get other kinds of rewards, gamblers do not find them as exciting as money. Unfortunately, these two elements can work together to encourage a gambling addiction.

Eventually, you won money, just like all the real participants did, regardless of performance. Maybe you’ll donate your winnings to future research to seek ways of treating pathological gambling by “resetting” money’s motivational properties. Until then, have fun, and be careful.

References:

Articles: Nower L, Blaszczynski A. Gambling motivations, money-limiting strategies, and precommitment preferences of problem versus non-problem gamblers. J Gambl Stud 2010; 26: 361–72.

Sescousse, G., Barbalat, G., Domenech, P., & Dreher, J.-C. (2013). Imbalance in the sensitivity to different types of rewards in pathological gambling. Brain : a Journal of Neurology, 136(Pt 8), 2527–2538.

Images: [gambling_luck.jpg]. (2014, July). Retrieved from http://www.gamblingaffiliateplace.com/tag/gambling-affiliate-place/

Kathy. (2008, September 8). Reno [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/5pD4Aw

Humans bet for money, whereas rats gamble for food

Rats are able to play the odds in a 'gambling task' designed by scientists to test the biology of addiction.

In the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, researchers describe how the rodents developed a 'strategy' in a timed task where they make choices to earn treats.

The rodents avoided high-reward options because these carried high risks of punishment - their sugar pellet supply being cut off for a period.

This decision-making task provides an animal model to study neuropsychiatry.

During the task, which lasted for 30 minutes, rats were given four choices - in the form of holes to investigate.

Nosing each of these holes triggered either the delivery of tasty sugar pellets or a 'punishing time-out period' during which rewards could not be earned.

Pathological Gambling Experiment Definition

But high-reward holes - those that delivered more pellets at once - also carried the bigger risk of triggering longer periods of punishment.

And rats quickly learned an 'optimal strategy' - earning more pellets over the duration of the task by choosing the holes with smaller gains and smaller penalties.

Weigh the odds

The task is based on a card game used to test human decision-making

One of the authors of the study, Trevor Robbins from the University of Cambridge, explained that the rat task was based on an existing clinical experiment called the 'Iowa gambling test'.

'This is a game designed to test decision-making in patients who have suffered damage to the frontal lobes of their brains,' he explained.

'This type of injury is unusual - it doesn't really affect intellect, but patients become extremely compulsive, making disastrous decisions that can have serious impacts on their lives.'

In the Iowa gambling test, participants choose cards from four decks. With each card they draw, they either win or lose money, and the object of the game is to win as much as possible.

Some of the decks are associated with small gains and small losses, and will earn a player more money over time.

Certain 'bad decks' carry higher rewards, but also incur larger penalties, and will lose money over time.

Like the rat in its quest for sugary rewards, if the player adopts an 'optimal strategy', they will make a profit.

'But patients with frontal lobe damage just don't learn from their experiences', said Professor Robbins. They continue to choose from the 'bad decks'.

'Truly translational'

To further test their model, the team looked at how the rats' performance was affected by drugs that altered levels of two neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin.

These are signalling chemicals in the brain that are both thought to play an important role in addiction.