Electrocortical components of anticipation and consumption in a monetary incentive delay task

In order to improve our understanding of the components that reflect functionally important processes during reward anticipation and consumption, we used principle components analyses (PCA) to separate and quantify averaged ERP data obtained from each stage of a modified monetary incentive delay (MID) task. Although a small number of recent ERP studies have reported that reward and loss cues potentiate ERPs during anticipation, action preparation, and consummatory stages of reward processing, these findings are inconsistent due to temporal and spatial overlap between the relevant electrophysiological components. Our results show three components following cue presentation are sensitive to incentive cues (N1, P3a, P3b). In contrast to previous research, reward‐related enhancement occurred only in the P3b, with earlier components more sensitive to break‐even and loss cues. During feedback anticipation, we observed a lateralized centroparietal negativity that was sensitive to response hand but not cue type. We also show that use of PCA on ERPs reflecting reward consumption successfully separates the reward positivity from the independently modulated feedback‐P3. Last, we observe for the first time a new reward consumption component: a late negativity distributed over the left frontal pole. This component appears to be sensitive to response hand, especially in the context of monetary gain. These results illustrate that the time course and sensitivities of electrophysiological activity that follows incentive cues do not follow a simple heuristic in which reward incentive cues produce enhanced activity at all stages and substages

Use of Consumer Protection Tools on Internet Gambling Sites: Customer Perceptions, Motivators, and Barriers to Use

Internet gambling has been widely legalised in recognition of its capacity to, and the importance of, providing consumer protection tools to prevent and minimise gambling-related harms. Most licensed Internet gambling sites are required to provide consumer protection tools, including activity statements, deposit limits, and time-outs (temporary self-exclusion). However, few Internet gambling customers engage with the tools. An online survey of 564 customers of Australian Internet gambling sites aimed to understand the extent to which consumer protection tools are used, characteristics of those using these tools, and the perceptions and attitudes towards tool use, including barriers to use. Most participants were aware of the tools and had accessed activity statements; few had used deposit limits (24.5%) or time-outs (8.1%) but use of these restrictive tools was higher among those at-risk of gambling problems. Satisfaction with tools was generally high among users and tools were mostly used as intended; however, only moderate changes in behaviour were reported. Participants predominately did not use the restrictive tools as they did not see these as relevant for them, and they were perceived to be intended for people with gambling problems. The findings are important to drive necessary improvements to consumer protection efforts including efforts to encourage perception that tools are relevant for all customers. Changes to current practice, including terminology and promotion of tools, are needed by Internet gambling operators and policy makers to improve the utilisation and effectiveness of consumer protection tools to enable sustainable gambling among the broader cohort of Internet gamblers.This work was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award [DE1060100459] awarded to Dr Sally Gainsbury and research funding provide by Responsible Wagering Australia to Gainsbury and Blaszczynski

Isolating the impact of specific gambling activities and modes on problem gambling and psychological distress in internet gamblers

Background Gambling disorder is related to high overall gambling engagement; however specific activities and modalities are thought to have stronger relationships with gambling problems. This study aimed to isolate the relationship between specific gambling activities and modalities (Internet and venue/land-based) to gambling disorder and general psychological distress. Past-month Internet gamblers were the focus of this investigation because this modality may be associated with gambling disorders in a unique way that needs to be separated from overall gambling intensity. Methods Australians who had gambled online in the prior 30 days (N = 998, 57% male) were recruited through a market research company to complete an online survey measuring self-reported gambling participation, problem gambling severity, and psychological distress. Results When controlling for overall gambling frequency, problem gambling was significantly positively associated with the frequency of online and venue-based gambling using electronic gaming machines (EGMs) and venue-based sports betting. Psychological distress was uniquely associated with higher frequency of venue gambling using EGMs, sports betting, and casino card/table games. Conclusions This study advances our understanding of how specific gambling activities are associated with disordered gambling and psychological distress in users of Internet gambling services. Our results suggest that among Internet gamblers, online and land-based EGMs are strongly associated with gambling disorder severity. High overall gambling engagement is an important predictor of gambling-related harms, nonetheless, venue-based EGMs, sports betting and casinos warrant specific attention to address gambling-related harms and psychological distress among gamblers.This work was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award [DE1060100459] awarded to Dr. Sally Gainsbury. The funding body played no role in the design of the study, collection, analysis or interpretation of data or writing or approving the manuscript

Understanding use of consumer protection tools among Internet gambling customers: Utility of the Theory of Planned Behavior and Theory of Reasoned Action

Consumer protection tools such as activity statements, deposit limits, and temporary self-exclusion are provided by most Internet gambling websites to minimise gambling related harms through the prevention of problems and enhancement of controls for those at risk of disordered gambling. However, customer engagement with these tools is very low. Developing a theoretical framework to understand the reasons individuals use consumer protection tools is important to design strategies to increase uptake. Customers of Australian online wagering sites (N = 564) completed an online survey with a follow-up (N = 193) to assess whether the Theory of Planned Behaviour explained intention to use tools and actual behaviour with additional consideration of past tool use. Results showed that past tool use, attitudes and subjective norms, but not perceived behavioural control, were positively correlated with intention to use consumer protection tools. Intention to use the tools prospectively predicted actual tool use. The study validates past behaviour as a predictor of intention, and intention representing a significant predictor of future behaviour. The Theory of Reasoned Action (without the inclusion of perceived behavioural control), rather than Theory of Planned Behaviour, appears to be a suitable conceptual model to understand consumer protection tool use for Internet wagering websites. Use and application of consumer protection tools on gambling websites is not perceived as effortful, but under volitional control and straightforward. Positively influencing individual attitudes, perceived views of others and past tool use could increase online wagering customers' use of consumer protection tools.This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award [DE1060100459] awarded to SG, and by funding from the Responsible Wagering Australia provided to SG and AB. The funding bodies had no involvement in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication

Test-retest reliability of spectral parameterization by 1/f characterization using SpecParam

SpecParam (formally known as FOOOF) allows for the refined measurements of electroencephalography periodic and aperiodic activity, and potentially provides a non-invasive measurement of excitation: inhibition balance. However, little is known about the psychometric properties of this technique. This is integral for understanding the usefulness of SpecParam as a tool to determine differences in measurements of cognitive function, and electroencephalography activity. We used intraclass correlation coefficients to examine the test-retest reliability of parameterized activity across three sessions (90 minutes apart and 30 days later) in 49 healthy young adults at rest with eyes open, eyes closed, and during three eyes closed cognitive tasks including subtraction (Math), music recall (Music), and episodic memory (Memory). Intraclass correlation coefficients were good for the aperiodic exponent and offset (intraclass correlation coefficients &gt; 0.70) and parameterized periodic activity (intraclass correlation coefficients &gt; 0.66 for alpha and beta power, central frequency, and bandwidth) across conditions. Across all three sessions, SpecParam performed poorly in eyes open (40% of participants had poor fits over non-central sites) and had poor test-retest reliability for parameterized periodic activity. SpecParam mostly provides reliable metrics of individual differences in parameterized neural activity. More work is needed to understand the suitability of eyes open resting data for parameterization using SpecParam.</p

Motivation moderates gender differences in navigation performance.

Gender differences in navigation performance are a recurrent and controversial topic. Previous research suggests that men outperform women in navigation tasks and that men and women exhibit different navigation strategies. Here, we investigate whether motivation to complete the task moderates the relationship between navigation performance and gender. Participants learned the locations of landmarks in a novel virtual city. During learning, participants could trigger a top-down map that depicted their current position and the locations of the landmarks. During testing, participants were divided into control and treatment groups and were not allowed to consult the map. All participants were given 16 minutes to navigate to the landmarks, but those in the treatment group were monetarily penalized for every second they spent completing the task. Results revealed a negative relationship between physiological arousal and the time required to locate the landmarks. In addition, gender differences in strategy were found during learning, with women spending more time with the map and taking 40% longer than men to locate the landmarks. Interestingly, an interaction between gender and treatment group revealed that women in the control group required more time than men and women in the treatment group to retrieve the landmarks. During testing, women in the control group also took more circuitous routes compared to men in the control group and women in the treatment group. These results suggest that a concurrent and relevant stressor can motivate women to perform similarly to men, helping to diminish pervasive gender differences found in the navigation literature

Periodic and aperiodic contributions to theta‐beta ratios across adulthood

The ratio of fronto-central theta (4–7 Hz) to beta oscillations (13–30 Hz), known as the theta-beta ratio, is negatively correlated with attentional control, reinforcement learning, executive function, and age. Although theta-beta ratios have been found to decrease with age in adolescents and young adults, theta has been found to increase with age in older adults. Moreover, age-related decrease in individual alpha peak frequency and flattening of the 1/f aperiodic component may artifactually inflate the association between theta-beta ratio and age. These factors lead to an incomplete understanding of how theta-beta ratio varies across the lifespan and the extent to which variation is due to a conflation of aperiodic and periodic activity. We conducted a partially preregistered analysis examining the cross-sectional associations between age and resting canonical fronto-central theta-beta ratio, individual alpha peak frequency, and aperiodic component (n = 268; age 36–84, M = 55.8, SD = 11.0). Age was negatively associated with theta-beta ratios, individual peak alpha frequencies, and the aperiodic exponent. The correlation between theta-beta ratios and age remained after controlling for individual peak alpha frequencies, but was nonsignificant when controlling for the aperiodic exponent. Aperiodic exponent fully mediated the relationship between theta-beta ratio and age, although beta remained significantly associated with age after controlling for theta, individual peak alpha, and aperiodic exponent. Results replicate previous observations and show age-related decreases in theta-beta ratios are not due to age-related decrease in individual peak alpha frequencies but primarily explained by flattening of the aperiodic component with age