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Increased ventral‐striatal activity during monetary decision making is a marker of problem poker gambling severity
Author(s) -
Brevers Damien,
Noël Xavier,
He Qinghua,
Melrose James A.,
Bechara Antoine
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
addiction biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.445
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1369-1600
pISSN - 1355-6215
DOI - 10.1111/adb.12239
Subject(s) - ventral striatum , psychology , iowa gambling task , functional magnetic resonance imaging , fusiform gyrus , orbitofrontal cortex , superior frontal gyrus , neuroscience , neuroimaging , reward system , medial frontal gyrus , cognitive psychology , striatum , audiology , prefrontal cortex , cognition , medicine , dopamine
The aim of this study was to examine the impact of different neural systems on monetary decision making in frequent poker gamblers, who vary in their degree of problem gambling. Fifteen frequent poker players, ranging from non‐problem to high‐problem gambling, and 15 non‐gambler controls were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing the I owa G ambling T ask ( IGT ). During IGT deck selection, between‐group f MRI analyses showed that frequent poker gamblers exhibited higher ventral‐striatal but lower dorsolateral prefrontal and orbitofrontal activations as compared with controls. Moreover, using functional connectivity analyses, we observed higher ventral‐striatal connectivity in poker players, and in regions involved in attentional/motor control (posterior cingulate), visual (occipital gyrus) and auditory (temporal gyrus) processing. In poker gamblers, scores of problem gambling severity were positively associated with ventral‐striatal activations and with the connectivity between the ventral‐striatum seed and the occipital fusiform gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus. Present results are consistent with findings from recent brain imaging studies showing that gambling disorder is associated with heightened motivational–reward processes during monetary decision making, which may hamper one's ability to moderate his level of monetary risk taking.