Abstract
Neurobehavioral research on the role of impulsivity in gambling disorder (GD) has produced heterogeneous findings. Impulsivity is multifaceted with different experimental tasks measuring different subprocesses, such as response inhibition and distractor interference. Little is known about the neurochemistry of inhibition and interference in GD. We investigated inhibition with the stop signal task (SST) and interference with the Eriksen Flanker task, and related performance to metabolite levels in individuals with and without GD. We employed magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to record glutamate-glutamine (Glx/Cr) and inhibitory, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA+/Cr) levels in the dorsal ACC (dACC), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), and an occipital control voxel. We found slower processing of complex stimuli in the Flanker task in GD (P<.001, η2p=0.78), and no group differences in SST performance. Levels of dACC Glx/Cr and frequency of incongruent errors were correlated positively in GD only (r=0.92, P=.001). Larger positive correlations were found for those with GD between dACC GABA+/Cr and SST Go error response times (z=2.83, P=.004), as well as between dACC Glx/Cr and frequency of Go errors (z=2.23, P=.03), indicating general Glx-related error processing deficits. Both groups expressed equivalent positive correlations between posterror slowing and Glx/Cr in the right dlPFC (GD: r=0.74, P=.02; non-GD: r=.71, P=.01). Inhibition and interference impairments are reflected in dACC baseline metabolite levels and error processing deficits in GD.
Highlights
Gambling disorder (GD) is a psychiatric condition characterised by irritability and failing to stop gambling, recurrent thoughts about gambling and gambling as a coping mechanism, loss chasing, and hiding gambling behaviours from others or exploiting others for gambling money1, 2
Inhibition and interference impairments are reflected in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) baseline metabolite levels and error processing deficits in GD
In previous work conducted with the present sample of males with GD, we showed that baseline glutamate-glutamine
Summary
Gambling disorder (GD) is a psychiatric condition characterised by irritability and failing to stop gambling, recurrent thoughts about gambling and gambling as a coping mechanism, loss chasing, and hiding gambling behaviours from others or exploiting others for gambling money . The health-harming behaviours indicative of GD are widely recognised as a public health issue . Gambling disorder has long been associated with deficits in self-reported impulsivity and impaired task performance on behavioural indices of impulsive behaviour . As a result, observed deficits are heterogeneous across studies and individuals and warrant further investigation into the contribution of different impulsivity-related subprocesses in GD5, 10. This may include, for example, inhibitory control understood in terms of prepotent response inhibition and resistance to interference from distractors . Disentangling the separate and/or combined influence of specific impulsivity-related processes in GD might aid understanding of the various trajectories that lead to excessive gambling behaviour and enable future treatment development
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