How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?

Abstract

Recent research suggests that response-inhibition training can alter impulsive and compulsive behaviour. When stop signals are introduced in a gambling task, people not only become more cautious when executing their choice responses, they also prefer lower bets when gambling. Here we examined how stopping motor responses influences gambling. Experiment 1 showed that the reduced betting in stop-signal blocks was not caused by changes in information sampling styles or changes in arousal. In Experiments 2a-2b, people preferred lower bets when they occasionally had to stop their response in a secondary decision-making task, but not when they were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. Experiment 3 showed that merely introducing trials on which subjects could not gamble did not influence gambling preferences. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to different populations. Furthermore, two combined analyses suggest that the effect of stopping on gambling preferences was reliable but small. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to a different task. Based on our findings and earlier research we propose that the presence of stop signals influences gambling by reducing approach behaviour and altering the motivational value of the gambling outcome.