 |
|
Gambling Urges in Pathological Gambling
A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Marc N. Potenza, MD, PhD;
Marvin A. Steinberg, PhD;
Pawel Skudlarski, PhD;
Robert K. Fulbright, MD;
Cheryl M. Lacadie, BS;
Mary K. Wilber, BA;
Bruce J. Rounsaville, MD;
John C. Gore, PhD;
Bruce E. Wexler, MD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003;60:828-836.
Background Gambling urges in pathological gambling (PG) often immediately precede engagement in self-destructive gambling behavior. An improved understanding of the neural correlates of gambling urges in PG would advance our understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying PG and would help direct research into effective treatments.
Methods Echoplanar functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess brain function during viewing of videotaped scenarios with gambling, happy, or sad content. Participants rated the quality and magnitude of their emotional and motivational responses.
Results Men with PG (n = 10) reported mean ± SD greater gambling urges after viewing gambling scenarios vs control subjects (n = 11) (5.20 ± 3.43 vs 0.32 ± 0.60;  21,19 = 21.71; P<.001). The groups did not differ significantly in their subjective responses to the happy (P = .56) or sad (P = .81) videotapes. The most pronounced between-group differences in neural activities were observed during the initial period of viewing of the gambling scenarios: PG subjects displayed relatively decreased activity in frontal and orbitofrontal cortex, caudate/basal ganglia, and thalamus compared with controls. Distinct patterns of regional brain activity were observed in specific temporal epochs of videotape viewing. For example, differences localized to the ventral anterior cingulate during the final period of gambling videotape viewing, corresponding to the presentation of the most provocative gambling stimuli. Although group differences in brain activity were observed during viewing of the sad and happy scenarios, they were distinct from those corresponding to the gambling scenarios.
Conclusions In men with PG, gambling cue presentation elicits gambling urges and leads to a temporally dynamic pattern of brain activity changes in frontal, paralimbic, and limbic brain structures. When viewing gambling cues, PG subjects demonstrate relatively decreased activity in brain regions implicated in impulse regulation compared with controls.
From the Departments of Psychiatry (Drs Potenza, Rounsaville, and Wexler and Ms Wilber) and Diagnostic Radiology (Drs Skudlarski and Fulbright and Ms Lacadie), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn; Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, Guilford (Dr Steinberg); and the Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn (Dr Gore).
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati
What's this?
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
|
At-risk for pathological gambling: imaging neural reward processing under chronic dopamine agonists
Abler et al.
Brain 2009;0:awp170v1-awp170.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
The neurobiology of pathological gambling and drug addiction: an overview and new findings
Potenza
Phil Trans R Soc B 2008;363:3181-3189.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Age-related differences in neural activities during risk taking as revealed by functional MRI
Lee et al.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2008;3:7-15.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Personality predicts activity in reward and emotional regions associated with humor
Mobbs et al.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2005;102:16502-16506.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Substance use disorders and the orbitofrontal cortex: Systematic review of behavioural decision-making and neuroimaging studies
Dom et al.
Br. J. Psychiatry 2005;187:209-220.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
An fMRI Stroop Task Study of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortical Function in Pathological Gamblers
Potenza et al.
Am. J. Psychiatry 2003;160:1990-1994.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
|
