Department of Experimental Psychology, Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2010 Jan 27;365(1538):319-30. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0147.
Gambling is a widespread form of entertainment that may afford unique insights into the interaction between cognition and emotion in human decision-making. It is also a behaviour that can become harmful, and potentially addictive, in a minority of individuals. This article considers the status of two dominant approaches to gambling behaviour. The cognitive approach has identified a number of erroneous beliefs held by gamblers, which cause them to over-estimate their chances of winning. The psychobiological approach has examined case-control differences between groups of pathological gamblers and healthy controls, and has identified dysregulation of brain areas linked to reward and emotion, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and striatum, as well as alterations in dopamine neurotransmission. In integrating these two approaches, recent data are discussed that reveal anomalous recruitment of the brain reward system (including the vmPFC and ventral striatum) during two common cognitive distortions in gambling games: the near-miss effect and the effect of personal control. In games of chance, near-misses and the presence of control have no objective influence on the likelihood of winning. These manipulations appear to harness a reward system that evolved to learn skill-oriented behaviours, and by modulating activity in this system, these cognitive distortions may promote continued, and potentially excessive, gambling.
赌博是一种广泛的娱乐形式，它可能为人类决策中认知和情感的相互作用提供独特的见解。它也是一种行为，在少数人身上可能会变得有害，甚至可能会上瘾。本文考虑了两种占主导地位的赌博行为方法。认知方法已经确定了赌徒持有的一些错误信念，这些信念使他们高估了自己获胜的机会。心理生物学方法研究了病理性赌徒和健康对照组之间的病例对照差异，并发现与奖励和情绪相关的大脑区域（包括腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）和纹状体）以及多巴胺神经传递的失调，病理性赌徒和健康对照组之间的病例对照差异。在整合这两种方法时，讨论了最近的数据，这些数据揭示了在赌博游戏中两种常见认知扭曲过程中大脑奖励系统（包括 vmPFC 和腹侧纹状体）的异常募集：近失效应和个人控制效应。在机会游戏中，近失和控制的存在对获胜的可能性没有客观影响。这些操作似乎利用了一个奖励系统，该系统是为学习技能导向的行为而进化的，通过调节这个系统的活动，这些认知扭曲可能会促进持续的、潜在的过度赌博。
