Almost winning: induced MEG theta power in insula and orbitofrontal cortex increases during gambling near-misses and is associated with BOLD signal and gambling severity.
In slot machine gambling, the "near-miss effect" (when a losing display physically resembles an actual win display) has been implicated in pathological gambling (PG). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with PG and non-PG participants shows that near-misses recruit reward-related circuitry, but little is known about the temporal dynamics and oscillatory changes underlying near-misses. The present multi-modal imaging study investigated the near-miss effect by combining the spatial resolution of blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD)-fMRI with the spatial and temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG) during a slot machine task in PG and non-PG groups. Given previous findings on outcome (win and near-miss) processing, functional overlap was hypothesized between induced changes in temporal oscillations and BOLD response to wins and near-misses in PG. We first validated our task in a sample of varying gambling severity using BOLD-fMRI and then compared PG and non-PG participants using MEG to investigate changes in induced oscillatory power associated with win and near-miss, relative to loss, outcomes. Across both modalities, near-misses recruited similar brain regions to wins, including right inferior frontal gyrus and insula. Using MEG, increased theta-band (4-7Hz) oscillations to near-misses were observed in the insula and right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Furthermore, this theta-band activity was positively associated with gambling severity. These findings demonstrate that the near-miss effect in insula and OFC is associated with induced theta oscillations. The significance of these findings for theories of PG and the development of potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets is discussed.
Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. Electronic address: s.o.dymond@swansea.ac.uk.
Simon
S
Dymond
CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK; Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK.
Natalia S
NS
Lawrence
CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
Benjamin T
BT
Dunkley
Wolfson Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2AS, UK.
Kenneth S L
KS
Yuen
CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
Elanor C
EC
Hinton
Rehabilitation Institute, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA.
Mark R
MR
Dixon
Wolfson Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2AS, UK.
W Miles
WM
Cox
Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
Alice E
AE
Hoon
Department of Psychology, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
Anita
A
Munnelly
CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
Suresh D
SD
Muthukumaraswamy
CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre), School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, UK.
Krish D
KD
Singh
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000513:Alpha Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005715:Gambling / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood
D010100:Oxygen
Gambling; Insula; MEG; Orbitofrontal cortex; Theta; fMRI