Towards a Better Understanding of Disordered Gambling: Efficacy of Animal Paradigms in Modelling Aspects of Gambling Behaviour

Abstract

The parallels between gambling and substance addiction are increasingly acknowledged; despite this, legislation surrounding gambling is being progressively relaxed and opportunities to gamble continue to increase. There are currently no dedicated treatment options for gambling disorder, and as such, it may come to represent a considerable public health concern. Gamblers represent a heterogeneous population; yet, deficits have been repeatedly observed in regard to impulse control and decision making. Additionally, gamblers typically demonstrate greater endorsement of irrational or distorted beliefs regarding gambling in comparison to healthy controls. In this review, we suggest that animal models may offer a valuable opportunity to elucidate the neurobiological basis underlying these three major areas of dysfunction. We present a number of rodent behavioural paradigms that indicate a somewhat common involvement of the dopamine D 2 -like receptor family. Yet, importantly, these tasks show that these behaviours appear to be both pharmacologically and neurologically dissociable. Use of these animal models could therefore theoretically inform more symptomdirected pharmacotherapies based on areas of dysfunction seen in individuals.