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Detailed analysis of skin conductance responses during a gambling task : Decision, anticipation, and outcomes

Agren, Thomas ; Millroth, Philip ; Andersson, Peter ; Ridzén, Måns and Björkstrand, Johannes LU (2019) In Psychophysiology 56(6).
Abstract

Physiological arousal is considered a key factor of gambling behavior. Hence, to understand gambling behavior it is important to study the arousal responses during gambling. Moreover, crucial mechanisms of action could be uncovered by detailing the situations that produce an arousal response. A gamble, or bet, can be partitioned into three distinct phases: (a) decision phase, during which the information concerning the gamble is presented, outcomes are appraised, and a decision is made on how to gamble; (b) anticipation phase, during which the result of the gamble is awaited; (c) outcome phase, during which the outcome of the gamble is presented. Previous research on arousal responses to gambling have mostly measured tonic changes in... (More)

Physiological arousal is considered a key factor of gambling behavior. Hence, to understand gambling behavior it is important to study the arousal responses during gambling. Moreover, crucial mechanisms of action could be uncovered by detailing the situations that produce an arousal response. A gamble, or bet, can be partitioned into three distinct phases: (a) decision phase, during which the information concerning the gamble is presented, outcomes are appraised, and a decision is made on how to gamble; (b) anticipation phase, during which the result of the gamble is awaited; (c) outcome phase, during which the outcome of the gamble is presented. Previous research on arousal responses to gambling have mostly measured tonic changes in arousal, and when phasic responses have been measured, analyses have generally concentrated on one of the gamble phases. The aim of the present study was to map the arousal responses during gambling in more detail by measuring skin conductance responses (SCRs) during all three gamble phases of a simple card game. The anticipation phase was found to produce the largest arousal response, suggesting anticipation to be a major contributor to arousal during gambling behavior. Risk behavior during the gambling task was mirrored in self-reported risk taking in everyday life, and risk-takers displayed smaller SCRs compared to nonrisk-takers during decision making, suggesting this as a possible biomarker for risk-taking individuals.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
decision making, gambling, psychophysiology, risk, skin conductance
in
Psychophysiology
volume
56
issue
6
article number
e13338
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:30672602
  • scopus:85060614093
ISSN
0048-5772
DOI
10.1111/psyp.13338
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e61c16ad-4a2e-48fe-91ad-92e34e79806d
date added to LUP
2019-02-06 15:29:36
date last changed
2024-02-14 18:58:30
@article{e61c16ad-4a2e-48fe-91ad-92e34e79806d,
  abstract     = {{<p>Physiological arousal is considered a key factor of gambling behavior. Hence, to understand gambling behavior it is important to study the arousal responses during gambling. Moreover, crucial mechanisms of action could be uncovered by detailing the situations that produce an arousal response. A gamble, or bet, can be partitioned into three distinct phases: (a) decision phase, during which the information concerning the gamble is presented, outcomes are appraised, and a decision is made on how to gamble; (b) anticipation phase, during which the result of the gamble is awaited; (c) outcome phase, during which the outcome of the gamble is presented. Previous research on arousal responses to gambling have mostly measured tonic changes in arousal, and when phasic responses have been measured, analyses have generally concentrated on one of the gamble phases. The aim of the present study was to map the arousal responses during gambling in more detail by measuring skin conductance responses (SCRs) during all three gamble phases of a simple card game. The anticipation phase was found to produce the largest arousal response, suggesting anticipation to be a major contributor to arousal during gambling behavior. Risk behavior during the gambling task was mirrored in self-reported risk taking in everyday life, and risk-takers displayed smaller SCRs compared to nonrisk-takers during decision making, suggesting this as a possible biomarker for risk-taking individuals.</p>}},
  author       = {{Agren, Thomas and Millroth, Philip and Andersson, Peter and Ridzén, Måns and Björkstrand, Johannes}},
  issn         = {{0048-5772}},
  keywords     = {{decision making; gambling; psychophysiology; risk; skin conductance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{6}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Psychophysiology}},
  title        = {{Detailed analysis of skin conductance responses during a gambling task : Decision, anticipation, and outcomes}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13338}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/psyp.13338}},
  volume       = {{56}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}