Dopamine and Risky Decision-Making in Gambling Disorder

Course overview

Gambling disorder is a behavioral addiction associated with impairments in value-based decision-making and cognitive control. These functions are thought to be regulated by dopamine within fronto-striatal circuits, but the role of altered dopamine neurotransmission in the etiology of gambling disorder remains controversial. Preliminary evidence suggests that increasing frontal dopamine tone might improve cognitive functioning in gambling disorder. We therefore examined whether increasing frontal dopamine tone via a single dose of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor tolcapone would reduce risky choice in human gamblers.