The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) in Brazil: a systematic review.
BACKGROUND
Decision-making is a complex, multidimensional cognitive function that requires the choice between two or more options and also the predictive analysis of its consequences. One of the tools most widely used to assess decision-making in neuropsychological research is the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).


OBJECTIVE
To conduct a systematic review of articles reporting empirical IGT studies based in Brazil.


METHODS
Articles were obtained from multiple journal databases including ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, SciELO, LILACS, and Scholar Google.


RESULTS
Thirty-six studies were included in this review and divided into four categories according to main subject matter (psychiatry & personality; demographic & cultural variables; medical/clinic; and psychometric properties & test administration standardization). In general, there was a significant growth in research employing IGT (Χ² = 17.6, df = 5, p = 0.0003), but this growth was restricted to a few geographic areas of Brazil. The psychiatry & personality subject matter was the most abundant, accounting for 14 publications (39% of the total sample).


CONCLUSIONS
Since its first adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese in 2006, a growing interest in decision-making as measured by the IGT can be observed, with psychiatry & personality topics representing a large portion of the scientific inquiry to date. Nevertheless, in order to extend the initial results of Brazilian IGT decision-making research, more studies are necessary - across a more diverse range of topics, including demographic & cultural variables, and psychometric properties & test administration standardization, the areas least studied -, as is the dissemination of the IGT to more regions of the country.
Master's Program in Psychology, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
André
A
Rutz
Department of Psychology, UFPR, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
Amer Cavalheiro
AC
Hamdan
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA.
Melissa
M
Lamar