The present study sought to extend these observations in regular gamblers and relate brain responses to an index of gambling severity. We observed previously that near misses recruited overlapping circuitry to monetary wins in a study in healthy volunteers ( Clark et al., 2009).
Near-miss outcomes are thought to fuel these distortions. During gambling, players experience a range of cognitive distortions that promote an overestimation of the chances of winning.
Gambling is a common recreational activity that becomes dysfunctional in a subset of individuals, with DSM “pathological gambling” regarded as the most severe form.
