Is the Clinical Version of the Iowa Gambling Task Relevant for Assessing Choice Behavior in Cases of Internet Addiction?

Abstract

Objective: A critical issue in research related to the Iowa gambling task (IGT) is the use of the alternative factors expected value and gain–loss frequency to distinguish between clinical cases and control groups. When the IGT has been used to examine cases of Internet addiction (IA), the literature reveals inconsistencies in the results. However, few studies have utilized the clinical version of IGT (cIGT) to examine IA cases. The present study aims to resolve previous inconsistencies and to examine the validity of the cIGT by comparing performances of controls with cases of Internet gaming disorder (IGD), a subtype of IA defined by the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders . Methods: The study recruited 23 participants with clinically diagnosed IGD and 38 age-matched control participants. Based on the basic assumptions of IGT and the gain–loss frequency viewpoint, a dependent variables analysis was carried out. Results: The results showed no statistical difference between the two groups in most performance indices and therefore support the findings of most IGT-IA studies; in particular, expected value and gain–loss frequency did not distinguish between the IGD cases and controls. However, the participants in both groups were influenced by the gain–loss frequency, revealing the existence of the prominent deck B phenomenon. Conclusion: The findings provide two possible interpretations. The first is that choice behavior deficits do not constitute a characteristic feature of individuals who have been diagnosed with IGD/IA. The second is that, as the cIGT was unable to distinguish the choice behavior of the IGD/IA participants from that of controls, the cIGT may not be relevant for assessing IGD based on the indices provided by the expected value and gain–loss frequency perspectives in the standard administration of IGT.

Decision Making and Risk Propensity in Individuals with Tendencies towards Specific Internet-Use Disorders

“…Studies using other risky decision-making tasks reported riskier decision making in individuals with tendencies towards sIUD or gaming disorder specifically [34][35][36][37][38][39]. However, other studies reported no behavioral differences [40][41][42]. Decision making and related cognitive processes, such as working memory and attention, are considered impaired in addictive disorders [23,25].…”

“…Using these tasks, studies reported deficient (i.e., riskier) decision making across various psychopathological conditions (for reviews see e.g., [ 4 , 33 ]) including individuals with tendencies towards sIUDs such as gaming disorder [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ] and social-networks-use disorder [ 38 , 39 ] as compared to healthy control groups. However, there were also contradictory findings reporting no significant differences between individuals with sIUD and control groups [ 40 , 41 , 42 ].…”

Gaming Disorder: How to Translate Behavioral Neuroscience Into Public Health Advances

“…This includes a stronger preference for smaller sooner over larger later rewards (i.e., have a higher discount rate) [44,45] and weaker (i.e., riskier) performance on gambling tasks that provide objective risk information [46,47]. In decisions under ambiguity, findings are less clear which suggests that decisionmaking performance in this type of situations might not be indicative of GD [48].…”

Linking ADHD and Behavioral Assessment Through Identification of Shared Diagnostic Task-Based Functional Connections

“…The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a computerized assessment that presents individuals with realistic gambling decisions, and is used experimentally to investigate normal and disordered decision making and adapted for clinical use (Lin et al, 2019), including for clinical diagnosis of ADHD (Toplak et al, 2010). The task assigns the participant an initial imaginary monetary account, and asks them to select cards from one of four decks, causing a gain or loss from this account.…”