Pathological gambling is associated to brain functions

Decisions that lead to pathological gambling seems to be entrenched in the brain development of the gamblers. Scientists of Raul Carrea Institute for Neurological Research, Buenos Aires, Argentina are of the opinion that pathological gamblers may not be able to help but gamble.

According to the researchers who had looked into the decision making abilities of 11 spontaneous gamblers and 10 other people, the decision making abilities of the gamblers seem to be different from that of the others. They may make the wrong substitution of short-term happiness with long-term effect on employment, social relationships, and family life.

When gamblers were tested for decision-making tasks, inhibitory control, attention tasks and other measures with control group, the gamblers tend to make more damaging choices, and scored considerably less in inhibitory control and attention tasks.

Scientists are of the opinion that gambling is a neuropsychiatric disorder and is controlled by the prefrontal cortex of the brain. The results prove that the pathology of the decision making, which is seated in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, function differently in the chronic gamblers who plan, organize and execute decisions in a different way than the control group.