| 1. |
Impulsivity in Pathological Gambling (June 2006 - July 2011)
The goal of this project is to clarify which components of impulsivity are associated with pathological gambling. Non-treatment seeking, pathological gamblers and controls will be recruited from the community. Each participant will be administered a battery of tests that represent different operational definitions of impulsivity. Between group comparisons on this battery of impulsivity tests will be made to clarify which components of impulsivity are associated with pathological gambling.
Funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse
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| 2. |
Neuropsychological performance, impulsivity and pathological gambling (May 2003 - Present)
This study compares performance of pathological gamblers versus healthy controls on measures of attention, planning and concentration. Preliminary results suggest that gamblers perform worse than controls and similar to those with methamphetamine dependence. Results from this study have been submitted for publication (February 2006).
Funded by the Program for Minority Research and Training in Psychiatry
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| 3. |
Pre-pulse inhibition of acoustic startle as a measure of behaviorally induced changes in bioactivity of pathological gamblers (May 2003 – December 2005)
The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between pathological gamblers versus non-gamblers to measure responses in noises in the environment (also known as sensory perception). Gambling is known to produce chemical changes in the brain, and it is thought that these chemical changes can be measured by the way people respond when they are slightly startled by noises in the environment.
Funded by the Program for Minority Research and Training in Psychiatry.
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| 4. |
Characterizing the effect of context on a measure of impulsivity among pathological gamblers (May 2003 – December 2005)
The purpose of this study is to help understand how environment-setting affects decision making, particularly, aspects of impulsivity in both pathological gamblers and non-gamblers. Both pathological gamblers and non-gamblers were administered a behavioral task, called delay discounting. Delayed discounting helps measure an aspect of impulsivity. This task occurred in two differerent settings: 1) UCLA Gambling Program lab and in a casino setting.
Funded by the Program for Minority Research and Training in Psychiatry |
