Motor inhibition in behavioral addiction: A TMS study on pathological gamblers

Details

Supervisors

Duque, Julie ; Quoilin, Caroline ; Grandjean, Julien

Faculty

Faculté des sciences de la motricité

Degree label

Master [60] en kinésithérapie et réadaptation

Abstract

Impulsivity appears to be an important key factor to both development and maintenance of addictive behavior. This idea was mainly studied in substance-related disorders while behavioral addictions, such as gambling disorder, were not yet considered. The aim of this study consists in testing whether a deficit in preparatory inhibition could be present in gamblers compared to healthy subjects. This question is addressed using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) during an instructed-delay choice RT task, neuropsychological tasks and self-reported measures. Impulsivity can be divided into two main domains: rapid-response impulsivity and choice impulsivity. Rapid-response impulsivity corresponding to a poor motor behavioral inhibition was evaluated using TMS and some neuropsychological tasks such as Stop Signal and Anti-saccade tasks. Choice impulsivity was evaluated with the Monetary Choice Questionnaire. Trait impulsivity and current clinical status were evaluated through self-reported measures. The experience was performed with samples of 8 gamblers and 8 control subjects. It is observed that the gamblers group presented a deficit in choice impulsivity compared to controls. Unfortunately, no deficit in motor inhibitory mechanism in gambler subjects is observed: the limited sample size could maybe explain this last observation.