Computational approaches to modeling gambling behaviour : opportunities for understanding disordered gambling

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Computational approaches to modeling gambling behaviour : opportunities for understanding disordered gambling Hales, C. A.; Clark, L.; Winstanley, C. A.

Abstract

Computational modeling has become an important tool in neuroscience and psychiatry research to provide insight into the cognitive processes underlying normal and pathological behavior. There are two modeling frameworks, reinforcement learning (RL) and drift diffusion modeling (DDM), that are well developed in cognitive science, and have begun to be applied to Gambling Disorder. RL models focus on explaining how an agent uses reward to learn about the environment and make decisions based on outcomes. The DDM is a binary choice framework that breaks down decision making into psychologically meaningful components based on choice reaction time analyses. Both approaches have begun to yield insight into aspects of cognition that are important for, but not unique to, gambling, and thus relevant to the development of Gambling Disorder. However, these approaches also oversimplify or neglect various aspects of decision making seen in real-world gambling behavior. Gambling Disorder presents an opportunity for ‘bespoke’ modeling approaches to consider these neglected components. In this review, we discuss studies that have used RL and DDM frameworks to investigate some of the key cognitive components in gambling and Gambling Disorder. We also include an overview of Bayesian models, a methodology that could be useful for more tailored modeling approaches. We highlight areas in which computational modeling could enable progression in the investigation of the cognitive mechanisms relevant to gambling.

Item Metadata

Title	Computational approaches to modeling gambling behaviour : opportunities for understanding disordered gambling
Creator	Hales, C. A.; Clark, L.; Winstanley, C. A.
Contributor	Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
Date Issued	2023-02-10
Description	Computational modeling has become an important tool in neuroscience and psychiatry research to provide insight into the cognitive processes underlying normal and pathological behavior. There are two modeling frameworks, reinforcement learning (RL) and drift diffusion modeling (DDM), that are well developed in cognitive science, and have begun to be applied to Gambling Disorder. RL models focus on explaining how an agent uses reward to learn about the environment and make decisions based on outcomes. The DDM is a binary choice framework that breaks down decision making into psychologically meaningful components based on choice reaction time analyses. Both approaches have begun to yield insight into aspects of cognition that are important for, but not unique to, gambling, and thus relevant to the development of Gambling Disorder. However, these approaches also oversimplify or neglect various aspects of decision making seen in real-world gambling behavior. Gambling Disorder presents an opportunity for ‘bespoke’ modeling approaches to consider these neglected components. In this review, we discuss studies that have used RL and DDM frameworks to investigate some of the key cognitive components in gambling and Gambling Disorder. We also include an overview of Bayesian models, a methodology that could be useful for more tailored modeling approaches. We highlight areas in which computational modeling could enable progression in the investigation of the cognitive mechanisms relevant to gambling.
Genre	Article; Postprint
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	2024-12-04
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0447406
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89780
Affiliation	Arts, Faculty of; Psychology, Department of
Citation	Hales, C., Clark, L., & Winstanley, C. (2023). Computational approaches to modeling gambling behaviour: Opportunities for understanding disordered gambling. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 147.
Publisher DOI	10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105083
Peer Review Status	Reviewed
Scholarly Level	Faculty; Postdoctoral
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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