Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T05:53:28.073Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hierarchical Organization of Cortical Morphology of Decision-Making when Deconstructing Iowa Gambling Task Performance in Healthy Adults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2012

David A. Gansler ,
Matthew W. Jerram ,
Tracy D. Vannorsdall  and
David J. Schretlen
David A. Gansler*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts
Matthew W. Jerram
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts
Tracy D. Vannorsdall
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
David J. Schretlen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: David A. Gansler, Suffolk University, Department of Psychology, 41 Temple Street, Boston, MA 02114. E-mail: dgansler@suffolk.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is a measure of decision-making, in which alternative metrics have greater construct validity than conventional metrics. No large scale study has examined the neural correlates in healthy adults. We administered the IGT and structural MRI to 124 healthy participants. We analyzed the conventional IGT metric of advantageous minus disadvantageous choices (i.e., decks C + D minus decks A + B), and three alternative metrics based on choices from decks D and A alone, and all selections from each deck. Using regression and voxel-based morphometry, we examined regional gray matter volumes as predictors of IGT performance. No neural correlates of the conventional metric emerged, and the neural correlates of individual deck selections were disparate from one another. Alternative metrics showed expected neural correlates of decision-making in prefrontal cortex, insula, thalamus, and other regions. IGT alternative metrics have neural correlates consistent with decision-making theory as those difference scores reduce heterogeneity in cognitive processes. The CD-AB metric construct failure may reflect an artificial amalgamation of processes. The D-A metric appears to more successfully combine multiple levels of representation (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, sub-cortical, cerebellar). (JINS, 2012, 18, 585–594)

Keywords

Decision makingBrain mapping/methodsPrefrontal cortex/neuropsychologyNeuropsychological task/statistics & numerical dataAdultHumans
Type
Research Articles
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 585 - 594
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarez, J.A., Emory, E. (2006). Executive function and the frontal lobes: A meta-analytic review. Neuropsychology Review, 16(1), 17–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ashburner, J., Friston, K.J. (2005). Unified segmentation. Neuroimage, 26(3), 839–851.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barbas, H., Zikopoulos, B. (2006). Sequential and parallel circuits for emotional processing in primate orbitofrontal cortex. In D. Zald & S. Rauch (Eds.), The orbitofrontal cortex. New York: Oxford University Press (p. 57–91).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bechara, A. (2007). Iowa gambling task professional manual. Boca Raton, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.Google Scholar
Bechara, A., Damasio, A.R. (2005). The somatic marker hypothesis: a neural theory of economic decision. Games and Economic Behaviour, 52(2), 336–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bechara, A., Damasio, A.R., Damasio, H., Anderson, S.W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50, 7–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Damasio, A.R., Lee, G.P. (1999). Different contributions of the human amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex to decision-making. The Journal of Neuroscience, 19(13), 5473–5481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., Anderson, S.W. (1998). Dissociation of working memory from decision making within the human prefrontal cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience, 18(1), 428–437.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechara, A., Tranel, D., Damasio, H. (2000). Characterization of the decision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Brain, 123, 2189–2202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bechara, A., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., Damasio, A.R. (1996). Failure to respond autonomically to anticipated future outcomes following damage to prefrontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 6, 215–225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergouignan, L., Chupin, M., Czechowska, Y., Kinkingnéhun, S., Lemogne, C., Le Bastard, G., Fossati, P. (2009). Can voxel based morphometry, manual segmentation and automated segmentation equally detect hippocampal volume differences in acute depression? Neuroimage, 45(1), 29–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolla, K.I., Eldreth, D.A., Matochik, J.A., Cadet, J.L. (2005). Neural substrates of faulty decision-making in abstinent marijuana users. Neuroimage, 26, 480–492.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowman, C.H., Turnbull, O.H. (2003). Real versus facsimile reinforcers on the Iowa Gambling Task. Brain and Cognition, 53, 207–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brand, M., Recknor, E.C., Grabenhorst, F., Bechara, A. (2007). Decisions under ambiguity and decisions under risk: Correlations with executive functions and comparisons of two different gambling tasks with implicit and explicit rules. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 29(1), 86–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brogan, A., Hevey, D., Pignatti, R. (2010). Anorexia, bulimia, and obesity: Shared decision making deficits on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 16(4), 1–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buelow, M.T., Suhr, J.A. (2009). Construct validity of the Iowa Gambling Task. Neuropsychology Review, 19, 102–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chen, Z.J., He, Y., Rosa-Neto, P., Germann, J., Evans, A.C. (2008). Revealing modular architecture of human brain structural networks by using cortical thickness from MRI. Cerebral Cortex, 18, 2374–2381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christakou, A., Brammer, M., Giampietro, V., Rubia, K. (2009). Right ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices mediate adaptive decisions under ambiguity by integrating choice utility and outcome evaluation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29(5), 11020–11028.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colombetti, G. (2008). The somatic marker hypotheses, and what the Iowa Gambling Task does and does not show. British Journal of Philosophy of Science, 59, 51–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cowell, P.E., Sluming, V.A., Wilkinson, I.D., Cezayirli, E., Romanowski, C.A.J., Webb, J.A., Roberts, N. (2007). Effects of sex and age on regional prefrontal brain volume in two human cohorts. European Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 307–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Damasio, A.R. (1994). Descartes’ error: Emotion, rationality and the human brain. New York: Putnam.Google Scholar
Dunn, B.D., Dalgleish, T., Lawrence, A.D. (2006). The somatic marker hypothesis: A critical evaluation. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30, 239–271.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eslinger, P.J., Damasio, A.R. (1985). Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal lobe ablation: Patient EVR. Neurology, 35, 1731–1741.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gansler, D.A., Jerram, M.W., Vannorsdall, T.D., Schretlen, D.J. (2011a). Comparing Alternative Metrics to Assess Performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 33(9), 1040–1048.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gansler, D.A., Jerram, M.W., Vanorsdall, T.D., Schretlen, D.J. (2011b). Does the Iowa Gambling Task Measure Executive Functioning? Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 26(8), 706–717.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gansler, D.A., Lee, A.K.W., Emerton, B.C., D'Amato, C., Bhadelia, R., Jerram, M., Fulwiler, C. (2011). Prefrontal regional correlates of self-control in male psychiatric patients. Psychiatry Research, 191, 16–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grant, S., Contoreggi, C., London, E.D. (2000). Drug abusers show impaired performance in a laboratory test of decision making. Neuropsychologia, 38, 1180–1187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hornak, J., Bramham, J., Rolls, E.T., Morris, R.G., O'Doherty, J., Bullock, P.R., Polkey, C.E. (2003). Changes in emotion after circumscribed surgical lesions of the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices. Brain, 126, 1691–1712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luria, A.R. (1980). Higher cortical functions in man. New York: Basic Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maia, T.V., McClelland, J.L. (2004). A reexamination of the evidence for the somatic marker hypothesis: What participants really know in the Iowa Gambling Task. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101, 16075–16080.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manes, F., Sahakian, B., Clark, L., Rogers, R., Antoun, N., Aitken, M., Robbins, T. (2002). Decision-making processes following damage to the prefrontal cortex. Brain, 125, 624–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nakamura, M., Nestor, P.G., Levit, J., Cohen, A.S., Kawashima, T., Shenton, M.E., McCarley, R.W. (2008). Orbitofrontal volume deficit in schizophrenia and thought disorder. Brain, 131, 180–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rotheram-Fuller, E., Shoptaw, S., Berman, S.M., London, E.D. (2004). Impaired performance in a test of decision-making by opiate-dependent tobacco smokers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 73, 79–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suhr, J., Hammers, D. (2010). Who fails the Iowa Gambling Test (IGT)? Personality, neuropsychological, and near-infrared spectroscopy findings in healthy young controls. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 25, 293–302.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Testa, S.M., Winicki, J.M., Pearlson, G.D., Gordon, B., Schretlen, D.J. (2009). Accounting for estimated IQ in neuropsychological test performance with regression-based techniques. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 15(6), 1012–1022.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
The Mathworks Inc. (2009). MATLAB 7.9 [computer software]. Natick, MA: The Mathworks.Google Scholar
Tisserand, D.J., Pruessner, J.C., Sanz Arigita, E.J., van Boxtel, M.P.J., Evans, A.C., Jolles, J., Uylings, H.B.M. (2002). Regional frontal cortical volumes decrease differentially in aging: An MRI study to compare volumetric approaches and voxel-based morphometry. Neuroimage, 17, 657–669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Toplak, M.E., Sorge, G.B., Benoit, A., West, R.F., Stanovich, K.E. (2010). Decision-making and cognitive abilities: A review of associations between Iowa Gambling Task performance, executive functions, and intelligence. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 562–581.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Torralva, T., Roca, M., Gleichgerrcht, E., Bekinschtein, T., Manes, F. (2009). A neuropsychological battery to detect specific executive and social cognitive impairments in early frontotemporal dementia. Brain, 132, 1299–1309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tranel, D., Bechara, A., Damasio, A.R. (2000). Decision imaking and the somatic marker hypothesis. In M.S. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The new cognitive neurosciences (2nd ed., pp. 1047–1061). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Tucker, K.A., Potenza, M.N., Beauvais, J.E., Browndyke, J.N., Gottschalk, C., Kosten, T.R. (2004). Perfusion abnormalities and decision making in cocaine dependence. Biological Psychiatry, 56, 527–530.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verdejo-Garcia, A., Lopez-Torrecillas, F., Calandre, E.P., Delgado-Rodriguez, A., Bechara, A. (2009). Executive function and decision-making in women with fibromyalgia. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24, 113–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging. (2009). SPM8 [computer software].Google Scholar
Windmann, S., Kirsch, P., Mier, D., Stark, R., Walter, B., Gunturkun, O., Vaitl, D. (2006). On framing Effects in Decision Making: Linking Lateral versus Medial Orbitofrontal Cortex Activation to Choice Outcome Processing. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(7), 1198–1211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed