Computational modeling reveals distinct effects of HIV and history of drug use on decision-making processes in women.
OBJECTIVE
Drug users and HIV-seropositive individuals often show deficits in decision-making; however the nature of these deficits is not well understood. Recent studies have employed computational modeling approaches to disentangle the psychological processes involved in decision-making. Although such approaches have been used successfully with a number of clinical groups including drug users, no study to date has used computational modeling to examine the effects of HIV on decision-making. In this study, we use this approach to investigate the effects of HIV and drug use on decision-making processes in women, who remain a relatively understudied population.


METHODS
Fifty-seven women enrolled in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) were classified into one of four groups based on their HIV status and history of crack cocaine and/or heroin drug use (DU): HIV+/DU+ (n = 14); HIV+/DU- (n = 17); HIV-/DU+ (n = 14); and HIV-/DU- (n = 12). We measured decision-making with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and examined behavioral performance and model parameters derived from the best-fitting computational model of the IGT.


RESULTS
Although groups showed similar behavioral performance, HIV and DU exhibited differential relationship to model parameters. Specifically, DU was associated with compromised learning/memory and reduced loss aversion, whereas HIV was associated with reduced loss aversion, but was not related to other model parameters.


CONCLUSIONS
Results reveal that HIV and DU have differential associations with distinct decision-making processes in women. This study contributes to a growing line of literature which shows that different psychological processes may underlie similar behavioral performance in various clinical groups and may be associated with distinct functional outcomes.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America. jvassileva@psych.uic.edu
Jasmin
J
Vassileva
Woo-Young
WY
Ahn
Kathleen M
KM
Weber
Jerome R
JR
Busemeyer
Julie C
JC
Stout
Raul
R
Gonzalez
Mardge H
MH
Cohen
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D014888:Wechsler Scales
D000998:Antiviral Agents