Gambling addicts are genetically predetermined towards their addiction
A new scientific study shows that there’s a part of our brain that we specifically use whenever we gamble, and that some people are more susceptible to gambling addiction because of this:
A unique information processing structure in human brain is responsible for decisions linked with risk and reward in gambling, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday.
These findings, based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of people’s brains, distinguish the gambling function of the brain structures from their functions in learning, motivation, and assessment of the salience of a stimulus, according to a research group at the California Institute of Technology.
The experimental method in their study may help understand and perhaps treat gambling addiction, bipolar disorders, and schizophrenia, the researchers say in the Aug. 3 issue of the journal Neuron.
They tested this by having the test subjects gamble while the scientists studied their brain with an MRI. What interested them most was whenever a new card was flipped over, because the brain would then begin to weigh the risk, and this was when they’d see the most activity.
