The impact of gambling speed of play on executive control functions : investigating gambling harm-minimisation approaches to combat impulsive action and impulsive choice
Abstract
Executive control functions are higher-order cognitive processes essential for exercising self-control over behaviour. These executive processes are the antithesis of impulsivity, which describes actions routinely and automatically triggered by environmental cues without planning and consideration of the consequences of those actions, and represents a construct intimately linked with disordered gambling behaviour. To prevent the potential harm that can be experienced during gambling, it is desirable that decisions and actions within a gambling context are governed by high-levels of executive control, as opposed to thought and actions that are triggered automatically and on impulse. Of interest to the present thesis is the way that technological developments have afforded increased sophistication of the structural characteristics of electronic gambling products, and how these interact with executive control processes during gambling. More specifically, this thesis aims to investigate how the increased speeds of play during gambling, afforded by electronic gambling products, impacts a gambler's ability to exercise self-control over motor actions. \n \nAn initial systematic critical review investigated the existing research findings pertaining to the impact of gambling speed of play on behaviour and cognition. Following an extensive literature search, 11 studies were selected for review based on several inclusion criteria. Some of the key findings stemming from the review were…
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