title: Impaired decision making under ambiguity but not under risk in individuals with pathological buying-behavioral and psychophysiological evidence.
abstract: Pathological buying (PB) is described as dysfunctional buying behavior, associated with harmful consequences. It is discussed whether decision-making deficits are related to PB, because affected individuals often choose the short-term rewarding option of buying despite persistent negative long-term consequences. We investigated 30 patients suffering from PB and 30 matched control participants with two different decision-making tasks: the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) measures decisions under ambiguity and involves emotional feedback processing, whereas the Game of Dice Task (GDT) measures decisions under risk and can be solved strategically. Potential emotional and cognitive correlates of decision making were investigated by assessing skin conductance response (SCR) and executive functioning. In comparison to the control participants, the patients showed more disadvantageous decisions under ambiguity in the IGT. These data were supported by the SCR results: patients failed to generate SCRs that usually occur before disadvantageous decisions. The physiological and behavioral performance on decisions under risk and executive functioning did not differ between groups. Thus, deficits in emotional feedback processing might be one potential factor in etiology and pathogenesis of PB and should be considered in theory and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology: Cognition, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany. Electronic address: patrick.trotzke@uni-due.de.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Trotzke
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology: Cognition, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany. Electronic address: katrin.starcke@uni-due.de.
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Starcke
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Kiel, Germany. Electronic address: pedersen@psychologie.uni-kiel.de.
authors.forename: Anya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany. Electronic address: mueller.astrid@mh-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of General Psychology: Cognition, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Essen, Germany. Electronic address: matthias.brand@uni-due.de.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D012201:Reward; D012309:Risk-Taking
keywords: Buying addiction; Compulsive buying; Decision under risk; Decision under uncertainty; Game of Dice Task (GDT); Iowa Gambling Task (IGT); Skin conductance response (SCR)