The neuroscience and neuropsychology of gambling and gambling addiction: an introduction to the special issue

ABSTRACT

Neuroscience research on gambling, including neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and psychophysiological experiments, is often regarded as aligned with the ‘brain disease model of addictions’. We assert that a bio-psycho-social framework represents the consensus view of disordered gambling, giving equal weighting to biological and psychosocial predisposing factors (and their interactions). Within this framework, we highlight three ways in which neuroscience can inform gambling research - none of which rely on one’s endorsement of biological ‘causal explanations’: i) as a toolbox of objective measures for studying gambling behaviour, ii) as a way of understanding treatment mechanisms, of both psychological and biological treatments, iii) as a way of probing the impact of gambling product features relevant to gambling policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Neuroimaging
• neurobiology
• biopsychosocial
• decision-making
• behavioural addiction