Neuronal and psychological underpinnings of pathological gambling
Abstract
Although pathological gambling (PG) is a prevalent disease, its neurobiological and psychological underpinnings are not well characterized. As legal gambling increases in prominence in a growing number of casinos as well as on the internet, the potential for a rise in PG diagnoses warrants investigation of the disorder. The recent reclassification of PG as a behavioral addiction in the DSM-5 raises the possibility that similar cognitive and motivational phenotypes may underlie both gambling and substance use disorders. Indeed, in this Research Topic, Zack et al. (2014) tested the hypothesis that exposure to reward unpredictability can recruit brain dopamine (DA) systems in a similar way to chronic exposure to drugs of abuse (see also Singer et al., 2012). Over the years a variety of models have proposed that alterations in DA signaling may mediate the transition from drug use to dependence; similarly, the hypothesis that aberrant DA responses may influence the transition from recreational, to problematic, and finally PG has only recently begun to be tested. The collection of articles in this Research Topic highlights the complexity of PG and posits several theories of how dopaminergic signaling may contribute to behavioral maladaptations that contribute to PG.
In this Research Topic, Paglieri et al. (2014) report a growing incidence of PG with a lack of effective treatments. As described by Goudriaan et al. (2014) (this Research Topic), PG is thought to result from…
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