Can people feel worse off as the options they face increase? The present studies suggest that some people-maximizers-can. Study 1 reported a Maximization Scale, which measures individual differences in desire to maximize. Seven samples revealed negative correlations between maximization and happiness, optimism, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, and positive correlations between maximization and depression, perfectionism, and regret. Study 2 found maximizers less satisfied than nonmaximizers (satisficers) with consumer decisions, and more likely to engage in social comparison. Study 3 found maximizers more adversely affected by upward social comparison. Study 4 found maximizers more sensitive to regret and less satisfied in an ultimatum bargaining game. The interaction between maximizing and choice is discussed in terms of regret, adaptation, and self-blame.

While methamphetamine addiction has been associated with both impulsivity and striatal dopamine D 2 /D 3 receptor deficits, human studies have not directly linked the latter two entities. We therefore compared methamphetamine-dependent and healthy control subjects using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (version 11, BIS-11) and positron emission tomography with [18 F]fallypride to measure striatal dopamine D 2 /D 3 receptor availability. The methamphetamine-dependent subjects reported recent use of the drug 3.3 g per week, and a history of using methamphetamine, on average, for 12.5 years. They had higher scores than healthy control subjects on all BIS-11 impulsiveness subscales ( p Ͻ 0.001). Volume-of-interest analysis found lower striatal D 2 /D 3 receptor availability in methamphetamine-dependent than in healthy control subjects ( p Ͻ 0.01) and a negative relationship between impulsiveness and striatal D 2 /D 3 receptor availability in the caudate nucleus and nucleus accumbens that reached statistical significance in methamphetamine-dependent subjects. Combining data from both groups, voxelwise analysis indicated that impulsiveness was related to D 2 /D 3 receptor availability in left caudate nucleus and right lateral putamen/claustrum ( p Ͻ 0.05, determined by threshold-free cluster enhancement). In separate group analyses, correlations involving the head and body of the caudate and the putamen of methamphetamine-dependent subjects and the lateral putamen/claustrum of control subjects were observed at a weaker threshold ( p Ͻ 0.12 corrected). The findings suggest that low striatal D 2 /D 3 receptor availability may mediate impulsive temperament and thereby influence addiction.

Relative to individuals who do not have addictive disorders, drug abusers exhibit greater devaluation of rewards as a function of their delay ("delay discounting"). The present study sought to extend this finding to methamphetamine (MA) abusers and to help understand its neural basis. MA abusers (n = 12) and control subjects who did not use illicit drugs (n = 17) participated in tests of delay discounting with hypothetical money rewards. We then used a derived estimate of each individual's delay discounting to generate a functional magnetic resonance imaging probe task consisting of three conditions: "hard choices," requiring selections between "smaller, sooner" and "larger, later" alternatives that were similarly valued given the individual's delay discounting; "easy choices," in which alternatives differed dramatically in value; and a "no choice" control condition. MA abusers exhibited more delay discounting than control subjects (P < 0.05). Across groups, the "hard choice > no choice" contrast revealed significant effects in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and areas surrounding the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). With group comparisons limited to these clusters, the "hard choice > easy choice" contrast indicated significant group differences in task-related activity within the left DLPFC and right IPS; qualitatively similar nonsignificant effects were present in the other clusters tested. Whereas control subjects showed less recruitment associated with easy than with hard choices, MA abusers generally did not. Correlational analysis did not indicate a relationship between this anomaly in frontoparietal recruitment and greater degree of delay discounting exhibited by MA abusers. Therefore, while apparent inefficiency of cortical processing related to decision-making in MA abusers may contribute to the neural basis of enhanced delay discounting by this population, other factors remain to be identified.

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Background-In cigarette smokers, the most commonly-reported areas of brain activation during visual cigarette cue exposure are: the prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and visual cortices. We sought to determine changes in brain activity in response to cigarette cues when smokers actively resist craving.