Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?

PLoS One. 2013 Jul 26;8(7):e70155. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070155. Print 2013.

Abstract

A recent study has shown that short-term training in response inhibition can make people more cautious for up to two hours when making decisions. However, the longevity of such training effects is unclear. In this study we tested whether training in the stop-signal paradigm reduces risky gambling when the training and gambling task are separated by 24 hours. Two independent experiments revealed that the aftereffects of stop-signal training are negligible after 24 hours. This was supported by Bayes factors that provided strong support for the null hypothesis. These findings indicate the need to better optimise the parameters of inhibition training to achieve clinical efficacy, potentially by strengthening automatic associations between specific stimuli and stopping.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Decision Making
  • Female
  • Gambling / psychology*
  • Gambling / therapy
  • Humans
  • Inhibition, Psychological*
  • Male
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

Funding came from an Economic and Social Research Council Grant (ES/J00815X/1) to FV, CDC, IPLM, a Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Grant to CDC, and a starting grant to FV from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 312445. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.