RESEARCH QUESTION
Which neural systems are activated when individuals are engaged in the decision to chase losses (i.e., continue gambling in an effort to recover a gambling loss) or to quit gambling?
PURPOSE
The decision to continue gambling in an effort to recover previous losses (loss-chasing) is a central issue related to pathological gambling. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms related to loss-chasing behaviour. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural activity in healthy adults engaged in a loss-chasing game.
HYPOTHESES
The authors hypothesized that decisions to chase losses depend upon activity in neural pathways involved in the representation of reward expectancy (i.e., ventromedial prefrontal cortex) and decisions to quit chasing losses depend upon activity in neural circuits involved in primitive arousal and the anticipation of aversive consequences (i.e., dorsal anterior cingulate and insula cortices).
PARTICIPANTS
Twenty three adults (average age of 26 years). None met criteria for pathological gambling and self-reported that they were infrequent gamblers.
PROCEDURE
Participants completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) and the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS) and a 14-item questionnaire to assess tendency to engage in loss-chasing behaviour. The game involved being confronted with a series of dilemmas involving a choice between gambling to recover a loss at the risk of doubling the size of the loss or sustaining a loss and ending the chase. A separate control task was included (to examine the visual and motor demands of the game) in which no decisions were to be made. Participants engaged in the loss-chasing game and control task while their brains were scanned using fMRI.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
fMRI brain images. fMRI measures changes in blood flow in particular regions of the brain correlated with changes in brain (neural) activity.
KEY RESULTS
Decisions to chase were related to increased neural activity in the ventrolmedial prefrontal cortex. Decisions to quit chasing losses were related to increased neural activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate, the ventral striatum and the anterior insula cortices.
LIMITATIONS
The study was conducted with infrequent gamblers, so it is not clear whether results would replicate in problem gamblers. The chasing losses task may not be a good representation of a chasing loss situation in a real world gambling situation (e.g., no real money was involved, real world gambling games are different and are associated with more and different cues such as sound and sights).
CONCLUSIONS
The authors concluded that decisions to chase losses or to quit gambling during a series of losing gambles is associated with activity within neural systems that are known to be important in the interaction between emotion and cognition. The decision to chase losses or quit is related to an appropriate balance of activity between distinct neural systems that represent conflicting emotions. Excessive loss chasing behaviour might involve a failure to balance activity within these neural systems. Loss chasing is related to activity within neural systems associated with negative affect.
