Research Report: Study Finds Pathological Gambling Associated with Brain Impairment
Pathological gamblers exhibit brain impairments similar to those found in individuals with brain lesions and in "hard-core" substance abusers, according to the authors of a recent study conducted in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The study, led by Drs. Maria Roca and Facundo Manes of the Raul Carrea Institute for Neurological Research, examined the brain functions of 11 unmedicated pathological gamblers recruited from racetracks and casinos in Buenos Aires, as well as 10 control subjects. Study participants were given a series of standard psychological tests designed to evaluate their high-level executive functions, including decision-making, impulse control and others located in the frontal lobe of the brain.
According to the study, the pathological gamblers made more "disadvantageous" choices in decision-making tasks and committed more errors in inhibitory control and attention tasks than did the control subjects. Manes, the study's co-author, likened the gamblers' performance to behavior demonstrated by individuals with brain lesions or drug addiction.
Presented on April 13, 2005 at the 57th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, the study's findings support the idea that gambling addiction "shares characteristics with substance abuse and impulse control disorders," Manes said.
Manes and his fellow researchers noted these "cognitive deficits" may be a key factor in continued risky behavior among problem gamblers, causing them to repeatedly make poor choices and have trouble accurately assessing the value of short-term rewards in comparison with negative consequences in the long-term. Further, Manes credited the study's identification of cognitive deficits with having "clear implications" for the development of pharmacological and rehabilitative treatment strategies for problem gamblers in the future.
The researchers emphasized that their work simply identified an association between frontal lobe brain impairments and pathological gambling without indicating a causal relationship between the two. They expressed the need for further study to determine whether problem gambling is the cause of brain deficits found in pathological gamblers, or whether these individuals have pre-existing brain deficits that make them more susceptible to developing gambling problems.
