Introduction:Pathological gambling disorder (PG) has been associated with fronto-temporal dysfunction and maladaptive personality traits, such as impulsivity and novelty seeking. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive variance of neuropsychological and personality characteristics in PG.Methods:Persons with PG (n=25) and a comparison group (n=34) were administered a battery of neuropsychological tests, the Temperament and Character Inventory, and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale. Subjects with PG had evidence of fronto-temporal dysfunction as assessed by the Stroop, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Letter-Number Sequencing, Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination Animal Naming Test.Results:Subjects with PG also had impaired decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task. PG subjects had elevated levels of impulsivity, novelty seeking, and harm avoidance, and lower levels of self-directedness and cooperativeness. Logistic regression analyses indicated that neuropsychological variables did not add significant incremental variance over personality traits in predicting PG (Block χ2=5.19, P=.074), while personality variables added significant incremental variance over neuropsychological traits in predicting PG (Block χ2=25.13, P<.001).Conclusion:These results suggest that personality traits are better predictors than neuropsychological characteristics of whether someone has PG.

Objective HIV infection and illicit drug use are each associated with diminished cognitive performance. This study examined the separate and interactive effects of HIV and recent illicit drug use on verbal memory, processing speed and executive function in the multicenter Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). Methods Participants included 952 HIV-infected and 443 HIV-uninfected women (mean age=42.8, 64% African-American). Outcome measures included the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test - Revised (HVLT-R) and the Stroop test. Three drug use groups were compared: recent illicit drug users (cocaine or heroin use in past 6 months, n=140), former users (lifetime cocaine or heroin use but not in past 6 months, n=651), and non-users (no lifetime use of cocaine or heroin, n=604). Results The typical pattern of recent drug use was daily or weekly smoking of crack cocaine. HIV infection and recent illicit drug use were each associated with worse verbal learning and memory (p's<.05). Importantly, there was an interaction between HIV serostatus and recent illicit drug use such that recent illicit drug use (compared to non-use) negatively impacted verbal learning and memory only in HIV-infected women (p's <0.01). There was no interaction between HIV serostatus and illicit drug use on processing speed or executive function on the Stroop test. Conclusion The interaction between HIV serostatus and recent illicit drug use on verbal learning and memory suggests a potential synergistic neurotoxicity that may affect the neural circuitry underlying performance on these tasks.

Deficits in verbal learning and memory are a prominent feature of neurocognitive function in HIV-infected women, and are associated with high levels of perceived stress. To understand the neurobiological factors contributing to this stress-related memory impairment, we examined the association between stress, verbal memory, and brain volumes in HIV-infected women. Participants included 38 HIV-infected women (Mean age=43.9 years) from the Chicago Consortium of the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). Participants underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and completed standardized measures of verbal learning and memory, and stress (Perceived Stress Scale-10; PSS-10). Brain volumes were evaluated in a priori regions of interest, including the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Compared to HIV-infected women with lower stress (PSS-10 scores in lower two tertiles), HIV-infected women with higher stress, (scores in the top tertile) performed worse on measures of verbal learning and memory and showed smaller volumes bilaterally in the parahippocampal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus (p’s<0.05). Reduced volumes in the inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus (all right hemisphere) were negatively associated with verbal learning and memory performance. Prefrontal cortical atrophy is associated with stress-related deficits in verbal learning and memory in HIV-infected women. The time course of these volume losses in relation to memory deficits has yet to be elucidated, but the magnitude of the volumetric differences between women with higher versus lower stress suggests a prolonged vulnerability due to chronic stress and/or early life trauma.