![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
Abstract
Impairments in inhibitory control characterize a range of addictive behaviours including gambling disorder. This study investigated the relationship between a neuropsychological measure of inhibitory control and behaviour on a simulated slot machine that included a measure of gambling persistence, in a non-clinical sample of regular gamblers. Regular gamblers (n = 75) performed a laboratory slot machine task for 30 trials where they could win real money, followed by a persistence phase under extinction (i.e. without wins). Participants also completed a stop-signal task, along with measures of gambling-related cognitions, social desirability, and symptoms of disordered gambling. In hierarchical regression models, reduced inhibitory control was found to predict greater persistence and a higher subjective desire to play again after both wins and near-misses (i.e. unsuccessful outcomes close to the jackpot). These data illustrate the impact of low inhibitory control on relevant behavioural tendencies in a group of regular gamblers. Our results help elucidate a cognitive process that may contribute to problem gambling, with implications for screening and treatment.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Gabrielle Gemma for her help in data collection.
Conflicts of interest
Funding sources: This research was supported by a grant obtained from the Belgium National Lottery. The funding agency had no role in the design and conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis and interpretation of the data, or with the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. The Centre for Gambling Research at UBC is supported by funding from the Province of BC government and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation, which is a Crown Corporation. Pierre Maurage (Research Associate) is founded by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS, Belgium). None of the authors have received any direct or indirect payments from the gambling industry or any other groups substantially funded by gambling to conduct research, or to speak at conferences or events.
Competing interests: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Constraints on publishing
No constraints on publishing were reported by the authors.
Notes
1. In Billieux, Lagrange, et al. (Citation2012), impaired performance was operationalized as falling more than 1.65 standard deviations below the mean of the control group, corresponding to the fifth percentile in a normal distribution.
2. Participants rated the personal value of gaining 1 euro (Belgian participants) or 1 Swiss franc (Swiss participants). An independent samples t-test compared the two samples. As no significant difference was observed (t(73) = − .494, p = .623), we proceeded to merge the two samples.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Gaëtan Devos
Luke Clark is an associate professor and the director of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC. His research focus on the psychological and neurobiological basis of cognitive distortions in gambling, and their role in disordered gambling.
Luke Clark
Pierre Maurage is professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the Université catholique de Louvain and Research Associate at the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS, Belgium). His works aim at exploring the behavioural and cerebral correlates of the emotional and interpersonal impairments observed in alcohol-related problems and alcohol-dependence.
Pierre Maurage
Joël Billieux is associate professor at the Faculty of Psychology of the Université catholique de Louvain. His main research focus on the psychological processes underlying impulsive behaviours, and their role in the etiology of addictive behaviours.
Marlena Kazimierczuk
Gaëtan Devos is a Phd Student at the Faculty of Psychology of the Université catholique de Louvain. His PhD thesis focuses on the conjoint role of impulsivity and cognitive distortions in gambling and disordered gambling.
Joël Billieux
Marlena Kazimierzcuk is a clinical psychologist. She realized a master thesis on the role of inhibitory control in gambling behaviours at the Faculty of Psychology of the Université de Louvain.