What are the Odds? The Neural Correlates of Active Choice during Gambling

Abstract

Gambling is a widespread recreational activity and requires pitting the values of potential wins and losses against their probability of occurrence. Neuropsychological research showed that betting behavior on laboratory gambling tasks is highly sensitive to focal lesions to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and insula. In the current study, we assessed the neural basis of betting choices in healthy participants, using functional magnetic resonance imaging of the Roulette Betting Task. In half of the trials, participants actively chose their bets; in the other half, the computer dictated the bet size. Our results highlight the impact of volitional choice upon gambling-related brain activity: Neural activity in a distributed network – including key structures of the reward circuitry (midbrain, striatum) – was higher during active compared to computer-dictated bet selection. In line with neuropsychological data, the anterior insula and vmPFC were more activated during self-directed bet selection, and responses in these areas were differentially modulated by the odds of winning in the two choice conditions. In addition, responses in the vmPFC and ventral striatum were modulated by the bet size. Convergent with electrophysiological research in macaques, our results further implicate the inferior parietal cortex (IPC) in the processing of the likelihood of potential outcomes: Neural responses in the IPC bilaterally reflected the probability of winning during bet selection. Moreover, the IPC was particularly sensitive to the odds of winning in the active-choice condition, when the processing of this information was required to guide bet selection. Our results indicate an important role of the IPC in human decision-making under risk and help to integrate neuropsychological data of risk-taking following vmPFC and insula damage with models of choice derived from human neuroimaging and monkey electrophysiology.

The angular gyrus and visuospatial attention in decision-making under risk

“…The BrainSight software allows a-posteriori normalizing of individual coordinates with respect to the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) brain atlas, by means of an iterative algorithm that searches for an optimal projection of an individual brain to the MNI template. Averaged normalized MNI coordinates were −56, −60, 31 (SD: 3, 4, 2) and 60, − 53, 31 (SD: 2, 4, 2) for the left and right AG respectively (Fig.1), in line with parietal activations reported in previous neuroimaging studies of decision-making (Berns et al, 2008;Mohr et al, 2010;Studer et al, 2012). Average normalized MNI coordinates for the left and right PMC were −22, −3, 71 (SD: 2, 2, 1) and 23, −3, 71 (SD: 2, 3, 2), respectively, similar to those used in previous TMS studies (Davare et al, 2010;Duque et al, 2012).…”

“…Previous neuroimaging studies found that the AG is activated during decision-making (Ernst et al, 2004;Labudda et al, 2008;Vickery and Jiang, 2009) and moreover, showed that hemodynamic responses in this area during the choice process reflect the probability Berns et al, 2008;Studer et al, 2012) and variance (Symmonds et al, 2011) of potential outcomes. The AG is also thought to be a key area for visuospatial attention.…”

Sex-Steroid Hormone Manipulation Reduces Brain Response to Reward

“…Neuroimaging studies have reliably shown insula's involvement in experimental tasks addressing risk-taking, monetary rewards, and punishment (Critchley et al, 2001;Kuhnen and Knutson, 2005;Clark et al, 2008;Preuschoff et al, 2008;Studer et al, 2012). An abnormal top-down regulation of emotional processing in the insular cortex has been proposed to have a key role in the pathophysiology of depression (Sliz and Hayley, 2012), which is associated with a blunted emotional response to normally pleasant or rewarding stimuli (Snaith, 1993).…”

Healthy co-twins of patients with affective disorders show reduced risk-related activation of the insula during a monetary gambling task

“…27 Neuroimaging and lesion studies have consistently shown an involvement of the anterior insula in risk-taking during experimental tasks involving monetary reward and punishment. [28][29][30][31][32] Specifically, insula activity has been associated with risk-averse financial decisions, 29,31,33 and is suggested to be involved in learning the negative value of loss-predicting cues. 34 In good agreement with its functional involvement in risk-taking, in both the high-risk and the low-risk twins, the anterior insula scaled its activity during the choice phase to the risk of the gamble, along with other brain regions that were previously shown to be involved in risk-related decision making.…”