Iowa gambling task
Encyclopedia
The Iowa gambling task is a psychological task thought to simulate real-life decision making
.
It was introduced by Antoine Bechara, António Damásio
, Daniel Tranel and Steven Anderson, then researchers at the University of Iowa
. It has been brought to popular attention by António Damásio
(proponent of the Somatic markers hypothesis
) in his best-selling book Descartes' Error
.
The task was originally presented simply as the Gambling Task. Later, it has referred to as the Iowa Gambling Task and, less frequently, as Bechara's Gambling Task. The Iowa Gambling Task is widely used in research of cognition
and emotion
: A recent review listed more than 100 papers that made use of this paradigm.
(OFC) dysfunction, however, continue to perseverate
with the bad decks, sometimes even though they know that they are losing money overall. Concurrent measurement of galvanic skin response
shows that healthy participants show a "stress" reaction to hovering over the bad decks after only 10 trials, long before conscious sensation that the decks are bad. By contrast, patients with OFC dysfunction never develop this physiological reaction to impending punishment. Bechara and his colleagues explain this in terms of the somatic marker hypothesis. The Iowa gambling task is currently being used by a number of research groups using fMRI to investigate which brain regions are activated by the task in healthy volunteers as well as clinical groups with conditions such as schizophrenia
and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Decision making
Decision making can be regarded as the mental processes resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternative scenarios. Every decision making process produces a final choice. The output can be an action or an opinion of choice.- Overview :Human performance in decision terms...
.
It was introduced by Antoine Bechara, António Damásio
Antonio Damasio
Antonio Damasio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, where he heads USC's Brain and Creativity Institute and Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute. Prior to taking up his posts at USC, in 2005, Damasio was M.W...
, Daniel Tranel and Steven Anderson, then researchers at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
. It has been brought to popular attention by António Damásio
Antonio Damasio
Antonio Damasio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California, where he heads USC's Brain and Creativity Institute and Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute. Prior to taking up his posts at USC, in 2005, Damasio was M.W...
(proponent of the Somatic markers hypothesis
Somatic markers hypothesis
The somatic-marker hypothesis proposes a mechanism by which emotional processes can guide behavior, particularly decision-making. This hypothesis has been formulated by Antonio Damasio.-Hypothesis:...
) in his best-selling book Descartes' Error
Descartes' Error
Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain is a book by neurologist Antonio R. Damasio presenting the author's "somatic marker hypothesis", a proposed mechanism by which emotions guide behavior and decision-making, and positing that rationality requires emotional input...
.
The task was originally presented simply as the Gambling Task. Later, it has referred to as the Iowa Gambling Task and, less frequently, as Bechara's Gambling Task. The Iowa Gambling Task is widely used in research of cognition
Cognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
and emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
: A recent review listed more than 100 papers that made use of this paradigm.
Task structure
Participants are presented with 4 virtual decks of cards on a computer screen. They are told that each time they choose a card they will win some game money. Every so often, however, choosing a card causes them to lose some money. The goal of the game is to win as much money as possible. Every card drawn will earn the participant a reward. Occasionally, a card will also have a penalty. Thus, some decks are "bad decks", and other decks are "good decks", because some will lead to losses over the long run, and others will lead to gains. The decks differ from each other in the number of trials over which the losses are distributed.Common findings
Most healthy participants sample cards from each deck, and after about 40 or 50 selections are fairly good at sticking to the good decks. Patients with orbitofrontal cortexOrbitofrontal cortex
The orbitofrontal cortex is a prefrontal cortex region in the frontal lobes in the brain which is involved in the cognitive processing of decision-making...
(OFC) dysfunction, however, continue to perseverate
Perseveration
Perseveration is the repetition of a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of a stimulus, usually caused by brain injury or other organic disorder. If an issue has been fully explored and discussed to a point of resolution, it is not uncommon for...
with the bad decks, sometimes even though they know that they are losing money overall. Concurrent measurement of galvanic skin response
Galvanic skin response
Skin conductance, also known as galvanic skin response , electrodermal response , psychogalvanic reflex , skin conductance response or skin conductance level , is a method of measuring the electrical conductance of the skin, which varies with its moisture level...
shows that healthy participants show a "stress" reaction to hovering over the bad decks after only 10 trials, long before conscious sensation that the decks are bad. By contrast, patients with OFC dysfunction never develop this physiological reaction to impending punishment. Bechara and his colleagues explain this in terms of the somatic marker hypothesis. The Iowa gambling task is currently being used by a number of research groups using fMRI to investigate which brain regions are activated by the task in healthy volunteers as well as clinical groups with conditions such as schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Critiques of the Iowa Gambling Task
Although the IGT has achieved prominence, it is not without its critics. Criticisms have been raised over both its design and its interpretation. Published critiques include:- A paper by Dunn, Dalgliesh and Lawrence
- Research by Lin, Chiu, Lee and Hsieh, who argue that a common result (the “prominent deck B” phenomenon) argues against some of the interpretations that the IGT has been claimed to support.
- Research by Chiu and Lin http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/3/1/37, the “sunken deck C” phenomenon was identified, which confirmed a serious confound embedded in the original design of IGT, this confound makes IGT serial studies misinterpret the effect of gain-loss frequency as final-outcome for Somatic marker hypothesis.
- A research group in Taiwan utilized an IGT-modified and relatively symmetrical gamble for gain-loss frequency and long-term outcome, namely the Soochow Gambling Task (SGT) http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/4/1/13 demonstrated a reverse finding of Iowa Gambling Task. Normal decision makers in SGT were mostly occupied by the immediate perspective of gain-loss and inability to hunch the long-term outcome in the standard procedure of IGT (100 trials under uncertainty). Richard Peterson http://www.marketpsych.com/blog/2006/10/neuroeconomics-2006-book-large-cap.html http://www.marketpsych.com/blog/2007/10/neuroeconomics-2007-happenings-at-sfn.html in his book, Inside the investor’s brain http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470067373, considered the serial findings of SGT may be congruent with the Nassim TalebNassim TalebNassim Nicholas Taleb is a Lebanese American essayist whose work focuses on problems of randomness and probability. His 2007 book The Black Swan was described in a review by Sunday Times as one of the twelve most influential books since World War II....
’s http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/ suggestion on some fooled choices in investment.
External links
- A free implementation of the Iowa Gambling task is available as part of the PEBL Project
- A customizable version of the web implementation that works with Google Spreadsheets (your own spreadsheet) is here.
- An Italian implementation is available here.