People with autism spectrum disorders (“autism”) may find it challenging to socially interact with others, engage in nonverbal communication behaviour, and develop and maintain relationships. Previous research has found that people with autism often report difficulties with neurocognitive tasks. These are tasks used to assess brain functions, such as decision making. People with autism may display different tendencies with respect to gambling-related behaviours compared to people without autism.
This article is a systematic review of studies that examined the links between autism and gambling. The authors specifically focused on neurocognitive tasks. The authors identified a lack of research on the links between autism and gambling with respect to neurocognitive tasks. Findings reported in previous studies are inconsistent. The authors provided direction for future research, including recommendations to use large enough samples and validated tools to assess problem gambling.
