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Research considers link between gambling and emotion
4 August 2006
Seemingly rational people are not necessarily more logical than the rest of us, just better at overriding innate emotional responses, new research suggests.
Researchers from 果冻影院 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. 鈥�
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 果冻影院 study were given similar options in a gambling test.
They were given 拢50 and were asked to choose a certainty - "keep 拢20" or "lose 拢30" - or a gamble, in which they could win or lose the entire amount. 鈥�
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 拢20 but also highly likely to gamble when threatened with losing 拢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. 鈥�
Benedetto de Martino [果冻影院 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'