Reduced model-based decision-making in gambling disorder

Abstract

Compulsive behaviors (e.g., addiction) can be viewed as an aberrant decision process where inflexible reactions automatically evoked by stimuli (habit) take control over decision making to the detriment of a more flexible (goal-oriented) behavioral learning system. These behaviors are thought to arise from learning algorithms known as “model-based” and “model-free” reinforcement learning. Gambling disorder, a form of addiction without the confound of neurotoxic effects of drugs, showed impaired goal-directed control but the way in which problem gamblers (PG) orchestrate model-based and model-free strategies has not been evaluated. Forty-nine PG and 33 healthy participants (CP) completed a two-step sequential choice task for which model-based and model-free learning have distinct and identifiable trial-by-trial learning signatures. The influence of common psychopathological comorbidities on those two forms of learning were investigated. PG showed impaired model-based learning, particularly after unrewarded outcomes. In addition, PG exhibited faster reaction times than CP following unrewarded decisions. Troubled mood, higher impulsivity (i.e., positive and negative urgency) and current and chronic stress reported via questionnaires did not account for those results. These findings demonstrate specific reinforcement learning and decision-making deficits in behavioral addiction that advances our understanding and may be important dimensions for designing effective interventions.

The role of executive function in shaping reinforcement learning

“…Evidence of individual learning differences captured by an RL model might not reflect differences in the brain's RL process, but rather in upstream EF that shapes RL. Indeed, recent work on development [5,34], schizophrenia [68], and addiction [69,3] has shown that individual variability in learning might be driven by Figure 4. Traditional model of putative neural mechanisms involved in reward learning suggests that the RPE, are primarily driven by the primary and/or secondary reinforcement.…”

“…Rewarddriven choice processes have been extensively modeled using reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms [1]. This formalized account of learning and decision making has contributed significantly to expanding the frontiers of artificial intelligence research [2], our understanding of clinical pathologies [3,4], and research on developmental changes in learning [5,6].…”

Habitual Routines and Automatic Tendencies Differential Roles in Alcohol Misuse Among Undergraduates

“…Several behavioral paradigms, such as the fabulous fruit task (de Wit et al, 2007 ), the Two-Step Markov Task (Daw et al, 2011 ), or the appetitive instrumental learning task (Ersche et al, 2016 ), were used to study the use of habitual and goal-oriented processes in healthy and clinical populations. The results indicate that individuals with compulsive disorders rely more on a habitual mode of response to the detriment of a more flexible one (Gillan et al, 2016 ; Voon et al, 2017 ; Wyckmans et al, 2019 ), notably in alcohol use disorder (AUD; Sjoerds et al, 2013 ; Sebold et al, 2014 , 2017 ). Additionally, brain imaging studies indicate in compulsive disorder lower engagement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior putamen (goal-directed decisions), than the posterior putamen activation (habitual decisions) in alcohol use disorder (Sjoerds et al, 2013 ), as well as an association between habit formation bias and lower gray matter volumes in caudate and medial orbitofrontal cortices (Voon et al, 2015 ).…”

The Narrative of Persons with Gambling Problems and Substance Use: A Multidimensional Analysis of the Language of Addiction

“…Several factors can impair the integration of the self and reduce or remove control in GD. Gambling-related cues (internal and external) can affect the subjects' attention, resulting into an ''attentional prejudice'' towards gambling (Wyckmans et al, 2019). Subjects can also experience a strong desire, i.e., a strong internal motivation towards gambling leading them to act (sometimes automatically) on impulses eluding cognitive control.…”