California Institute of Technology Finds Gambling Zone in Brain
The zone in the brain that is stimulated by making wagers has been mapped out by scientists. They say that the breakthrough finding could help in understanding gambling addiction and some mental disorders.
California Institute of Technology researchers conducted the study by asking the subjects to choose two cards from a deck and place a bet on which is the higher card.
The subjects' brains were then scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging to see which parts of the brain were stimulated by making wagers and the anticipation of a reward.
The scientists found a gambling zone on the brain's subcortex that is controlled by dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is also involved in learning and motivation.
"Pathological behaviours ranging from addiction to gambling, as well as a variety of mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, are partially characterized by risk-taking," the team of scientists wrote in a recent issue of the journal Neuron.
"For example, a bipolar subject during a manic episode may invest in a risky business proposition either because they misperceive the risk to be lower than it actually is, or because they accurately perceive the risk to be high but may have impaired learning, attentional, working memory, or choice processes."
The new finding might open the way to better understand the role of risk misperception and cognitive impairments in pathological cases, they said.