Abstract
This study investigates the relationship between three different cognitive processes underlying the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and adolescent smoking behaviors in a longitudinal study. We conducted a longitudinal study of 181 Chinese adolescents in Chengdu City, China. The participants were followed from 10th to 11th grade. When they were in the 10th grade (Time 1), we tested these adolescents' decision-making using the IGT and working memory capacity using the Self-ordered Pointing Test (SOPT). Self-report questionnaires were used to assess school academic performance and smoking behaviors. The same questionnaires were completed again at the 1-year follow-up (Time 2). The Expectancy-Valence (EV) Model was applied to distill the IGT performance into three different underlying psychological components: (i) a motivational component which indicates the subjective weight the adolescents assign to gains vs. losses; (ii) a learning-rate component which indicates the sensitivity to recent outcomes vs. past experiences; and (iii) a response component which indicates how consistent the adolescents are between learning and responding. The subjective weight to gains vs. losses at Time 1 significantly predicted current smokers and current smoking levels at Time 2, controlling for demographic variables and baseline smoking behaviors. Therefore, by decomposing the IGT into three different psychological components, we found that the motivational process of weight gain vs. losses may serve as a neuropsychological marker to predict adolescent smoking behaviors in a general youth population.
Highlights
Affective decision-making is one of the most important social functions in our real-life, which enables us to choose wisely according to long-term negative outcomes rather than short-term immediate reward (Bechara, 2005)
We investigated the potential contribution of three different psychological processes to affective decision-making as measured by the Iowa Gambling Test (IGT) in Chinese adolescents, and their relationship to real-life risky behaviors, namely their smoking behavior, using a longitudinal study design
We found that only weight to gain vs. loss significantly predicted the current smoking behavior one year later
Summary
Affective decision-making is one of the most important social functions in our real-life, which enables us to choose wisely according to long-term negative outcomes rather than short-term immediate reward (Bechara, 2005). Recent longitudinal studies found that affective decision-making capability could predict relapse in addicts (De Wilde et al, 2013) and adolescent binge drinking behaviors (Xiao et al, 2009). One of the most frequently used neuropsychological tasks to assess affective decision-making in the laboratory is the Iowa Gambling Test (IGT) (Bechara et al, 1994). The decision-making in the IGT is guided by an emotional signal that assigns negative value for the disadvantageous choices and positive value for advantageous choices, thereby leading behavior toward long term favorable options (Bechara and Damasio, 2005). Research found that affective decision-making could be modified by social and environment factors and still develops during adolescence (Xiao et al, 2011)
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