Evidence for a differential visual M300 brain response in gamblers

• Published in: Clinical neurophysiology 2018-11, Vol.129 (11), p.2228-2238
• Main Authors: Zilberman, Noam, Dor Ziderman, Yair, Zeev-Wolf, Maor, Goldstein, Abraham, Yadid, Gal, Neumark, Yehuda, Rassovsky, Yuri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addiction; Adult; Attention; Cue-reactivity; Cues; Event-Related Potentials, P300; Evoked Potentials, Visual; Female; Gambling - physiopathology; Gambling disorder; Humans; Incentive-sensitization; Male; MEG; P300; Sensorimotor Cortex - physiopathology
• ISSN: 1388-2457; 1872-8952
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2018.08.010

•Gamblers exhibit a reduced visual M300 brain response over frontal regions.•Gamblers display sensitivity to addiction cues in frontoparietal attention network.•Non-gamblers demonstrate reduced sensitivity to addiction cues in the right insula. Gambling disorder is the first behavioral addiction recognized in the DSM-5. This marks the growing realization that both behavioral and substance-related addictions are manifestations of an ‘addicted brain’, displaying similar altered neurophysiological mechanisms. A decreased electrophysiological visual P300 is considered a hallmark effect of substance-related addictions, but has not yet been shown in behavioral addictions. Magnetoencephalographic recordings of 15 gamblers and 17 controls were taken as they performed a cue-reactivity paradigm in which they passively viewed addiction- and non-addiction-related cues. The main finding of the study is a reduction in the magnetic counterpart of P300 (M300) for gamblers beyond cue condition over frontal regions. Additionally, we found a significant group by cue-type interaction. Gamblers exhibited heightened sensitivity to addiction-related cues in regions corresponding to the frontoparietal attentional network, whereas controls exhibited an opposite effect localized to the right insula. The results suggest that a reduced P300 characterizes addictions in general, not just substance-related addictions, thus providing important neurophysiological support for the inclusion of behavioral addictions in the DSM-5 and in the incentive-sensitization theory. The study offers important insights into neural mechanisms underlying behavioral addictions, and may assist in developing better prevention and intervention strategies.