Research considers link between gambling and emotion

Researchers from UCL are trying to clarify the role emotions play in decision making, saying understanding such a link could lead to a better picture of what is happening in the brains of compulsive gamblers and drug addicts. …

Patients are more likely to agree to an operation if they are told they have an 80% chance of surviving it, rather than a 20% chance of dying from it. Participants in the UCL study were given similar options in a gambling test.

They were given £50 and were asked to choose a certainty - "keep £20" or "lose £30" - or a gamble, in which they could win or lose the entire amount. …

Some individuals were far more rational and consistent in choosing to gamble than others were. Others were highly risk-averse when offered the chance of keeping £20 but also highly likely to gamble when threatened with losing £30.

All the participants had some degree of emotional response - recorded by the researchers as activity in the amygdala region of the brain - but the more rational among them showed a particularly strong response in the prefrontal cortex, responsible for cognitive functions. …

Benedetto de Martino [UCL Institute of Neurology], said: "Our study provides neurobiological evidence that an amygdala-based emotional system underpins this biasing of human decisions."

Katherine Demopoulos, 'Education Guardian'