Differences Found in Brain Physiology of Problem Gamblers

The authors theorize that the compulsive gamblers have a form of cognitive rigidity which prevents them from learning from mistakes or changing their behavior.

Scientists in Italy have found evidence that compulsive gamblers may have physical differences in their brains from healthy gamblers. A study at the University of Pisa suggests that both environmental and genetic factors may result in differences in the prefrontal lobes of addictive gamblers.

Neuropsychological tests were run on problem gamblers and a control group, and test results were similar in all but the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, a problem-solving test that requires changing approaches to reach solutions.

In this test, the control subjects improved with practice, while the dysfunctional gamblers continued to try the same methods resulting in the same failures. The study states, "Our findings show that in spite of normal intellectual, linguistic and visual-spatial abilities, the pathological gamblers could not learn from their mistakes to look for alternative solutions."

The authors theorize that the compulsive gamblers have a form of cognitive rigidity which prevents them from learning from mistakes or changing their behavior.

It seems likely that this disability in the prefrontal region might be the cause of similar behavior in alcoholics and drug addicts. Perhaps most ironic, the patterns shown by the most diehard gambling opponents, the Religious Right and the Politically Correct Left, are eerily similar in form to those of the problem gambler: a mental rigidity that cannot adapt to processing new information on a problem.