The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.

Gambling disorder sufferers prefer immediately larger rewards despite long term losses on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and these impairments are associated with dopamine dysfunctions. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter linked with temporal and structural dysfunctions in substance use disorder, which ha...

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Main Author: Jakob eLinnet
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-10-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00709/full
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spelling doaj-189bdbdce5484387adf0dc43eb6c621e2020-11-24T22:02:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-10-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0070960739The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.Jakob eLinnet0Jakob eLinnet1Jakob eLinnet2Jakob eLinnet3Jakob eLinnet4Aarhus University HospitalAarhus UniversityAarhus University HospitalCambridge Health AllianceHarvard Medical SchoolGambling disorder sufferers prefer immediately larger rewards despite long term losses on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and these impairments are associated with dopamine dysfunctions. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter linked with temporal and structural dysfunctions in substance use disorder, which has supported the idea of impaired decision-making and dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder. However, evidence from substance use disorders cannot be directly transferred to gambling disorder. This article focuses on three hypotheses of dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder, which appear to be fallacies, i.e., have not been supported in a series of positron emission tomography (PET) studies. The first fallacy suggests that gambling disorder suffers, similar to substance use disorders, have lower dopamine receptor availability. No evidence supported this hypothesis. The second fallacy suggests that maladaptive decision-making in gambling disorder is associated with higher dopamine release during gambling. No evidence supported the hypothesis, and the literature on substance use disorders offers limited support for this hypothesis. The third fallacy suggests that maladaptive decision-making in gambling disorder is associated with higher dopamine release during winning. The evidence did not support this hypothesis either. Instead, dopaminergic coding of reward prediction and uncertainty might better account for dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder. Studies of reward prediction and reward uncertainty shows a sustained dopamine response towards stimuli with maximum uncertainty, which may explain the continued dopamine release and gambling despite losses in gambling disorder. The findings from the studies presented here are consistent with the notion of dopaminergic dysfunctions of reward prediction and reward uncertainty signals in gambling disorder.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00709/fullDopaminePositron-Emission TomographyAddictionIowa Gambling Task (IGT)gambling disorder
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
spellingShingle Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.
Frontiers in Psychology
Dopamine
Positron-Emission Tomography
Addiction
Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)
gambling disorder
author_facet Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
Jakob eLinnet
author_sort Jakob eLinnet
title The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.
title_short The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.
title_full The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.
title_fullStr The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.
title_full_unstemmed The Iowa Gambling Task and the Three Fallacies of Dopamine in Gambling Disorder.
title_sort iowa gambling task and the three fallacies of dopamine in gambling disorder.
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Psychology
issn 1664-1078
publishDate 2013-10-01
description Gambling disorder sufferers prefer immediately larger rewards despite long term losses on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), and these impairments are associated with dopamine dysfunctions. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter linked with temporal and structural dysfunctions in substance use disorder, which has supported the idea of impaired decision-making and dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder. However, evidence from substance use disorders cannot be directly transferred to gambling disorder. This article focuses on three hypotheses of dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder, which appear to be fallacies, i.e., have not been supported in a series of positron emission tomography (PET) studies. The first fallacy suggests that gambling disorder suffers, similar to substance use disorders, have lower dopamine receptor availability. No evidence supported this hypothesis. The second fallacy suggests that maladaptive decision-making in gambling disorder is associated with higher dopamine release during gambling. No evidence supported the hypothesis, and the literature on substance use disorders offers limited support for this hypothesis. The third fallacy suggests that maladaptive decision-making in gambling disorder is associated with higher dopamine release during winning. The evidence did not support this hypothesis either. Instead, dopaminergic coding of reward prediction and uncertainty might better account for dopamine dysfunctions in gambling disorder. Studies of reward prediction and reward uncertainty shows a sustained dopamine response towards stimuli with maximum uncertainty, which may explain the continued dopamine release and gambling despite losses in gambling disorder. The findings from the studies presented here are consistent with the notion of dopaminergic dysfunctions of reward prediction and reward uncertainty signals in gambling disorder.
topic Dopamine
Positron-Emission Tomography
Addiction
Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)
gambling disorder
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00709/full
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