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Continued gambling despite negative consequences, commonly known as ‘chasing’, is a defining feature of disordered gambling. Yet chasing is also a complex and multi-faceted behavioural phenotype; for example, gamblers may chase winning outcomes as well as losses. This study characterized between-session chasing behavior in a large naturalistic dataset of online gambling data, comprising 1,909,681 eCasino sessions played by 15,544 individuals on PlayNow.com, the provincial online gambling platform in British Columbia, Canada. Analyses distinguished sessions on slot machines (as the reference category), blackjack, roulette, video poker, probability games, or mixed sessions. Overall, gamblers returned more slowly after losing sessions, and more quickly after winning sessions, across most product categories. For every standard deviation increase in the prior session net loss, slot machine gamblers took 8.59% longer to return to the website (b = 0.08, p < .001). For every standard deviation increase in the prior session net win, slot machine gamblers returned 6.68% faster (b = -0.07, p < .001). Loss chasing intensities in blackjack, probability, video poker, and mixed sessions did not differ significantly from slot machine sessions, but roulette was associated with a shorter interval to return (b = -0.13, p < .001). Similarly, win chasing intensities across blackjack, probability games, and video poker did not differ significantly from slot machine sessions, but roulette (b = -0.08, p < .001) and mixed (b = -0.02, p = 0.009) sessions were associated with shorter intervals to return. Average behavioural patterns provide limited evidence for loss chasing in the interval between sessions, but gamblers return faster after larger wins. Although slot machines are commonly considered as high-risk gambling products, in our analyses online roulette was associated with the greatest chasing intensities.

The Pathways Model of problem gambling has become a highly influential framework in the field of gambling studies. This special issue commemorates 20 years since the publication of the original paper, highlighting the sustained impact of the Pathways Model across the broader and emergent field of behavioral addictions. As a framework, the Pathways Model set out two distinct objectives: first, to synthesize an array of risk factors and psychological processes that have been implicated in the etiology of gambling problems, and second, to characterize heterogeneity among people with gambling problems. As the articles included in this collection confirm, the three subtypes proposed by Blaszczynski & Nower continue to be an especially powerful stimulus for research.

Open science refers to a set of practices that aim to make scientific research more transparent, accessible, and reproducible, including pre-registration of study protocols, sharing of data and materials, the use of transparent research methods, and open access publishing. In this opinion piece, we describe and evaluate the current state of open science practices in behavioral addiction research. We highlight the specific value of open science practices for the field; discuss recent field-specific meta-scientific reviews that show the adoption of such practices remains in its infancy; address the challenges to engaging with open science; and make recommendations for how researchers, journals, and scientific institutions can work to overcome these challenges and promote high-quality, transparently reported behavioral addiction research. By collaboratively promoting open science practices, the field can create a more sustainable and productive research environment that benefits both the scientificcommunity and society as a whole.

Cognitive flexibility refers to the ability to adjust to changes in the environment and is essential for adaptive behavior. It can be investigated using laboratory tests such as probabilistic reversal learning (PRL). In individuals with both Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) and Gambling Disorder (GD), overall impairments in PRL flexibility are observed. However, it is poorly understood whether this impairment depends on the same brain mechanisms in cocaine and gambling addictions. Reinforcement learning (RL) is the process by which rewarding or punishing feedback from the environment is used to adjust behavior, to maximise reward and minimise punishment. Using RL models, a deeper mechanistic explanation of the latent processes underlying cognitive flexibility can be gained. Here, we report results from a re-analysis of PRL data from control participants (n=18) and individuals with either GD (n=18) or CUD (n=20) using a hierarchical Bayesian RL approach. We observed significantly reduced ‘stimulus stickiness’ (i.e., stimulus-bound perseveration) in GD, which may reflect increased exploratory behavior that is insensitive to outcomes. RL parameters were unaffected in CUD. We relate the behavioral findings to their underlying neural substrates through an analysis of task-based fMRI data. We report differences in tracking reward and punishment expected values (EV) in individuals with GD compared to controls, with greater activity during reward EV tracking in the cingulate gyrus and amygdala. In CUD, we observed reduced responses to positive punishment prediction errors (PPE) and increased activity following negative PPEs in the superior frontal gyrus compared to controls. Thus, an RL framework serves to differentiate behavior in a probabilistic learning paradigm in two compulsive disorders, GD and CUD.

Drawing on literature linking bipolar disorder to both creativity and heightened motivation, our aim was to examine whether heightened motivation might contribute to creativity in those with and without bipolar disorder. To examine this, we recruited persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder (n = 49), and persons with no diagnosis of bipolar disorder (n = 37), with over-sampling of those from creative occupations. We gathered measures of lifetime creative accomplishment (Creative Accomplishment Questionnaire), willingness to persist as a creativity task became increasingly difficult (the Compound Remote Associates task) divergent thinking (Unusual Uses Test), self-rated high ambitions (The Willingly Approached Set of Statistically Unlikely Pursuits scale)) and a behavioral measure of willingness to exert physical effort for reward (the Effort Discounting Task). In multiple linear regression models controlling for age and examining the unique effects of the motivation variables, two behavioral indicators from the Effort Discounting task related to creativity. That is, insensitivity to the level of effort required related to higher lifetime creative accomplishment. Insensitivity to the level of reward that could be obtained correlated with more willingness to persist on the creativity task and was higher in the bipolar group than the control comparison group. In sum, effort-based decision-making was related to bipolar disorder, to lifetime creative accomplishment, and to performance on a difficult creativity task. As such, this work contributes to a growing body of research on the role of motivation in creativity. Limitations are discussed.

Influential learning-based accounts of substance addictions posit the attribution of incentive salience to drug-associated cues, and its escalation by the direct dopaminergic effects of drugs. In translating this account to disordered gambling, we have noted how the intermittent nature of monetary rewards in gambling (i.e. the variable ratio) may allow for analogous learning processes, via effects on dopaminergic signalling. The aim of the present article is to consider how multiple sources of reward variability operate within modern gambling products, and how similar sources of variability, as well as some novel sources of variability, also apply to other digital products implicated in behavioural addictions, including gaming, shopping, social media and online pornography. Online access to these activities facilitates not only unparalleled accessibility but also introduces novel forms of reward variability, as seen in the effects of infinite scrolls and personalized recommendations. We use the term uncertainty to refer to the subjective experience of reward variability. We further highlight two psychological factors that appear to moderate the effects of uncertainty: 1) the timecourse of uncertainty, especially with regard to its resolution, 2) the frequency of exposure, allowing temporal compression. Collectively, the evidence illustrates how qualitative and quantitative variability of reward can confer addictive potential to non-drug reinforcers by exploiting the psychological and neural processes that rely on predictability to guide reward seeking behaviour.

The ability to flexibly adjust beliefs about other people is crucial for human social functioning. Dopamine has been proposed to regulate the precision of beliefs, but direct behavioural evidence of this is lacking. We investigated how a relatively high dose of the selective D2/D3 dopamine receptor antagonist sulpiride impacts learning about other people’s prosocial attitudes in a repeated trust game. Using a Bayesian model of belief updating, we show that sulpiride increased the volatility of beliefs, which led to higher precision-weights on prediction errors. This effect was entirely driven by participants with genetically conferring higher dopamine availability (Taq1a polymorphism). Higher precision weights were reflected in higher reciprocal behaviour in the repeated trust game but not in single-round trust games. This finding suggests that antipsychotic medication might acutely reduce rigidity of pathological beliefs.

Objective Schizotypal personality (schizotypy) is a cluster of traits in the general population, including alterations in belief formation that may underpin delusional thinking. The psychological processes described by schizotypy could also fuel cognitive distortions in the context of gambling. This study sought to characterize the relationships between schizotypy, gambling-related cognitive distortions, and levels of problem gambling. Methods Analyses were conducted on three groups, a student sample (n = 104) with minimal self-reported gambling involvement, a crowdsourced sample of regular gamblers (via MTurk; n = 277), and an additional crowdsourced sample with a range of gambling involvement (via MTurk; n = 144). Primary measures included the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire – Brief (SPQ-B), the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI-21), the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). Luck was measured with either the Belief in Good Luck Scale (BIGLS) or the Beliefs Around Luck Scale (BALS). Results Small-to-moderate associations were detected between the components of schizotypy, including delusion proneness, and the gambling-related variables. Schizotypy was associated with the general belief in luck and bad luck, but not beliefs in good luck. A series of partial correlations demonstrated that when the GRCS was controlled for, the relationship between schizotypy and problem gambling was attenuated. Conclusions This study demonstrates that schizotypy is a small-to-moderate correlate of erroneous gambling beliefs and PG. These data help characterize clinical comorbidities between the schizotypal spectrum and problem gambling, and point to shared biases relating to belief formation and decision-making under chance.

Concerns regarding the similarities between video game 'loot boxes' and gambling have been supported by correlations in survey studies between loot box engagement and problem gambling scores. It is generally noted that this correlation could reflect loot box users migrating to conventional gambling, and/or people with gambling problems being attracted to loot boxes when they play video games. We describe a third possibility, that when gamers complete problem gambling screens they may be referring to harms incurred from their loot box use. Using three secondary datasets from cross-sectional online surveys, we explore this account in two ways. First, in participants who do not endorse any participation in conventional forms of gambling, we compare rates of positive (i.e. non-zero) scores on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) in participants with and without loot box use. Second, noting that some PGSI items have less relevance to loot box use versus gambling, we compare endorsement rates of individual PGSI items, in gamers versus gamblers, and loot box users vs non-loot box users (focusing on item 3 "going back another day to win back the money you lost"). In analysis 1, positive PGSI scorers among non-gamblers were significantly elevated in loot box users vs non-loot box users, although absolute numbers were low overall. In analysis 2, there were no reliable differences (gamers vs gamblers, loot box users vs non-loot box users) in PGSI item 3 endorsement rates. We conclude that these results provide partial support for this third option, and highlight a need for future studies to consider this possibility more directly.