title: Pathological gambling and the loss of willpower: a neurocognitive perspective.
abstract: The purpose of this review is to gain more insight on the neurocognitive processes involved in the maintenance of pathological gambling. Firstly, we describe structural factors of gambling games that could promote the repetition of gambling experiences to such an extent that some individuals may become unable to control their gambling habits. Secondly, we review findings of neurocognitive studies on pathological gambling. As a whole, poor ability to resist gambling is a product of an imbalance between any one or a combination of three key neural systems: (1) an hyperactive 'impulsive' system, which is fast, automatic, and unconscious and promotes automatic and habitual actions; (2) a hypoactive 'reflective' system, which is slow and deliberative, forecasting the future consequences of a behavior, inhibitory control, and self-awareness; and (3) the interoceptive system, translating bottom-up somatic signals into a subjective state of craving, which in turn potentiates the activity of the impulsive system, and/or weakens or hijacks the goal-driven cognitive resources needed for the normal operation of the reflective system. Based on this theoretical background, we focus on certain clinical interventions that could reduce the risks of both gambling addiction and relapse.
authors.affiliation: Psychological Medicine laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Brugmann-campus, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium ; Department of Psychology, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brevers
authors.affiliation: Psychological Medicine laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Brugmann-campus, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Noël
keywords: craving; decision making; impulsive system; pathological gambling; reflective system; willpower