Iowa gambling task: Administration effects in older adults

Schneider, Daniela Di Giorgio; Wagner, Gabriela Peretti; Denburg, Natalie; Parente, Maria Alice de Mattos Pimenta

doi:10.1590/S1980-57642008DN10100011

Abstract

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) assesses decision-making.

Objective:

The objective of the present study was to investigate whether specific changes in administering the IGT can affect performance of older adults completing the task.

Method:

Three versions of the IGT were compared regarding the feedback on the amount of money won or lost over the course of the test. The first version (I) consisted of a replication of the original version (Bechara et al., 1994), which utilizes a computerized visual aid (green bar) that increases or decreases according to the gains or the losses. The second version (II), however, involved a non-computerized visual aid (cards) and, in the third version (III) the task did not include any visual aid at all. Ninety-seven older adults, divided into three groups, participated in this study. Group I received computerized cues (n=40), group II, non-computerized cues (n=17) and III was submitted to a version without any cues (n=40).

Results:

The participants without any cues achieved only a borderline performance, whereas for those with non-computerized cues, twice the number of participants showed attraction to risk in relation to those with aversion. The participants of the computerized version were homogeneously spread across the three performance levels (impaired, borderline and unimpaired).

Conclusions:

Aspects of the complexity of the decision process as well as of the task used are proposed as possible theoretical explanations for the performance variation exhibited.

KEY WORDS:
decision-making; Iowa gambling task; ageing.

Resumo

A Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) consiste em um instrumento que avalia tomada de decisão.

Objetivo:

O objetivo do presente estudo foi investigar se alterações específicas na administração da IGT podem afetar o desempenho de idosos na execução da tarefa.

Método:

Três versões da IGT foram comparadas, de acordo com o resultado obtido em termos do número de cartas selecionadas de cada um dos baralhos. A primeira versão (I) consistiu em uma replicação da versão original (Bechara et al., 1994), a qual apresenta uma pista visual (barra verde) que aumenta ou diminui de acordo com ganhos e perdas monetários. A segunda versão (II) envolveu uma pista visual não computadorizada (cartões) e, na terceira versão (III), não houve nenhuma espécie de pista. Noventa e sete idosos, divididos entre os três grupos, participaram do estudo. O grupo I (pista computadorizada) foi composto por 40 idosos, enquanto os grupo II (pista não computadorizada) contou com 17 e, por fim, o grupo III (sem pista), foi formado por 40 idosos.

Resultados:

Os participantes submetidos à versão sem pista apresentaram um desempenho limítrofe. Em relação aos idosos submetidos à variação com pista não computadorizada, os participantes apresentaram duas vezes mais atração ao risco, quando comparados àqueles com aversão. Os participantes que realizaram a tarefa com pista computadorizada apresentaram desempenho homogêneo entre os três subgrupos de desempenho quanto à busca ou aversão pelo risco.

Conclusões:

Possíveis explicações teóricas das diferenças de desempenho decorrem principalmente de diferentes aspectos da complexidade do processo de decisão e da tarefa.

Palavras-chave:
tomada de decisão; Iowa Gambling Task; envelhecimento.

Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.

Full text available only in PDF format.

References

¹
Bechara A, Damasio AR, Damasio H, Anderson S. Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition 1994;50:7-15.
²
Bechara A, Damasio H. Decision-making and addiction(part I): impaired activation of somatic states in substance dependent individuals when pondering decisions with negative future consequences. Neuropsychologia 2002;40: 1675-1689.
³
Bechara A, Damasio H, Damasio AR. Emotion, decisionmaking, and the orbitofrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 2000; 10:295-307.
⁴
Tranel D, Bechara A, Denburg N. Asymmetric functionalroles of right and left ventromedial prefrontal cortices in social conduct, decision-making and emotional processing. Cortex 2002;38:589-612.
⁵
Fellows LK, Farah M. Different underlying impairments indecision-making following ventromedial and dorsolateral frontal lobe damage in humans. Cereb Cortex 2003;15:58-63.
⁶
Palmini A. O cérebro e a tomada de decisões. In: Knapp, P.Terapia cognitivo-comportamental na prática psiquiátrica. Porto Alegre: Artmed; 2005:1-520.
⁷
Damasio A. O Erro de Descartes. São Paulo: Companhia dasLetras; 1996.
⁸
Bowman CH, Turnbull OH. Real versus facsimile reinforceson the Iowa Gambling Task. Brain Cogn 2003;53:207-210.
⁹
Mazas CA, Finn PR, Steinmetz JE. Decision-making biases,antisocial personality, and early-onset alcoholism. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2000;24:1036-1040.
¹⁰
Bechara A, Tranel D, Damasio H. Characterization of thedecision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Brain 2000;123:2189-2202.
¹¹
Parkin AJ, Getting old. Parkin A.J, editor. Memory phenomena, experiment and theory. Cambriged, USA: Blackwell; 1993.
¹²
MacPherson SE, Phillips LH, Della Sala S. Age, executivefunction, and social decision-making: a dorsolateral prefrontal theory of cognitive aging. Psychol Aging 2002; 17:598-609.
¹³
Wood S, Busemeyer J, Koling A, Cox C, Davis H. Olderadults as adaptive decision-makers: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task. Psychol Aging 2005;20:220-225.
¹⁴
Kovalchik S, Camerer C, Grether D, Plott C, Allman JM. Aging and decision-making: a comparison between neurologically healthy elderly and young individuals. J Econ Behav Org 2005;58:79-94.
¹⁵
Denburg N, Tranel D, Bechara A. The ability to decideadvantageously declines prematurely in some normal older persons. Neuropsychologia 2005;43:1099-1106.
¹⁶
Schneider DDG. O desempenho de adultos jovens e idososna tarefa do jogo: um estudo sobre tomada de decisão. Dissertação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, 2004.
¹⁷
Wagner GP. Disfunções executivas no envelhecimento cognitivo: investigações com os instrumentos tarefa do jogo e teste Wisconsin de classificação de cartas. Dissertação, Curso de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul , 2006.
¹⁸
Schneider DDG, Parente MAMP. O desempenho de adultosjovens e idosos no Iowa Gambling Task: um estudo sobre a tomada de decisão. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica (in press).
¹⁹
CFP Conselho Federal de Psicologia. Resolução 016/2000. Resolução para pesquisa com seres humanos.Brasília: CFP; 2000.
²⁰
Conselho Nacional de Saúde. Resolução 196/1996. Diretrizes e normas regulamentadoras de pesquisas envolvendo seres humanos, Brasília: CNS;1996.
²¹
Callegari-Jacques SM. Bioestatística. Princípios e aplicações. Porto Alegre: Artmed; 2004.
²²
Dancey CP, Reidy J. Estatística sem matemática para psicologia. Porto Alegre: Artmed; 2006.
²³
Gutbrod K, Krouzel C, Hofer H, Muri R, Perrig W, Ptag R.Decision-making in amnesia: Do advantageous decisions require conscious knowledge of previous behavioural choices? Neuropsychologia 2006;44:1315-1324.
²⁴
Czernecki V, Pillon B, Houeto JL, Pochon JB, Levy R, DuboisB. Motivation, reward, and Parkinson's disease: Influences of dopatherapy. Neuropsychologia 2002;40:2257-2267.
²⁵
Bechara A, Damasio H, Tranel D, Anderson C. Dissociationof working memory from decision-making within the human prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci 1998;18:428-437.
²⁶
Damasio A. Looking for Spinoza: joy, sorrow and the feelingbrain. London: William Heinemann; 2003.
²⁷
Crone EA, van der Molen MW, Developmental changes inreal life decision-making: performance on a gambling task previously shown to depend on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Dev Neuropsychol 2004;25:251-279.
²⁸
Hinson JM, Jameson TL, Whitney P. Somatic markers,working memory, and decision-making. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 2002;2:341-353.
²⁹
Hinson JM, Jameson TL, Whitney P. Impulsive decisionmaking and working memory. J Exp Psychology: Learn Mem Cogn 2003;29:298-306.
³⁰
Hooper CJ, Luciana M, Conklin HM, Yarger RS. Adolescents' performance on the Iowa Gambling Task: implications for the development of decision-making and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Dev Psychol 2004;40:11481158.
³¹
Bechara A, Martin EM. Impaired decision-making relatedto working memory deficits in individuals with substance addictions. Neuropsychology 2004;18:152-162.
³²
Martin EM, Pitrak DL, Weddington W, et al. Cognitive impulsivity and HIV serostatus in substance dependent males. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2004;10:931-938.
³³
Turnbull OH, Evans CEY, Bunce A, Carzolio B, O'Connor J.Emotion-based learning and central executive resources: an investigation of intuition and the Iowa Gambling Task. Brain Cogn 2005;57:244-247.
³⁴
Kahneman D. A perspective on judgment and choice. AmPsychol 2003;58:697-720.
³⁵
Denburg N, Buchanan T, Tramel D, Adolphs R. Evidence forpreserved emotional memory in normal older persons. Emotion 2003;3:239-253.
³⁶
Davis C, Patte K, Tweed S, Curtis C. Personality traits associated with decision-making deficits. Pers individ. differ 2007;42:279-290.
³⁷
Franken IHA, Muris P. Individual differences in decisionmaking. Pers individ differ 2005;39:991-998.
³⁸
Gonzalez R, Vassileva J, Bechara A, Grbesic S, Sworowski L,Novak RM. The influence of executive functions, sensation seeking, and HIV serostatus on the risky sexual practices of substance dependent individuals. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2005;11:121-131.
³⁹
Plumet J, GIL R, Gaonac'h D. Neuropsychological assessment of executive functions in women: Effects of age and education. Neuropsychology 2005;19:566-577.
⁴⁰
Rosselli M, Tappen R, Williams C, Salvatierra J. The relationof education and gender on the attention items of the MiniMental State Examination in Spanish speaking Hispanic elders. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2006;21:677-686.
⁴¹
Herrera-Guzman I, Pena-Casanova J, Lara JP, GudayolFerre E, Bohm P. Influence of age, sex, and education on the visual object and space perception Battery (VOSP) In a Healthy Normal Elderly Population. Clin Neuropsychol 2004;18:385-394.
⁴²
Johnson DK, Storandt M, Balota DA. Discourse analysis oflogical memory recall in normal aging and in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychology 2003;17:82-92.
⁴³
Lecours A, Mehler J, Parente MA, et al. Illiteracy and braindamage - 1. Aphasia testing in culturally contrasted populations (control subjects). Neuropsychologia 1987;25:231-245.
⁴⁴
Ostrosky-Solís F, Ardila A, Rosselli M. NEUROPSI: a briefneuropsychological test battery in Spanish with norms by age and educational level. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 1999; 5:413-433.

Publication Dates

Publication in this collection
Jan-Mar 2007

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

[1] ¹
Bechara A, Damasio AR, Damasio H, Anderson S. Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition 1994;50:7-15.

[2] ²
Bechara A, Damasio H. Decision-making and addiction(part I): impaired activation of somatic states in substance dependent individuals when pondering decisions with negative future consequences. Neuropsychologia 2002;40: 1675-1689.

[3] ³
Bechara A, Damasio H, Damasio AR. Emotion, decisionmaking, and the orbitofrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex 2000; 10:295-307.

[4] ⁴
Tranel D, Bechara A, Denburg N. Asymmetric functionalroles of right and left ventromedial prefrontal cortices in social conduct, decision-making and emotional processing. Cortex 2002;38:589-612.

[5] ⁵
Fellows LK, Farah M. Different underlying impairments indecision-making following ventromedial and dorsolateral frontal lobe damage in humans. Cereb Cortex 2003;15:58-63.

[6] ⁶
Palmini A. O cérebro e a tomada de decisões. In: Knapp, P.Terapia cognitivo-comportamental na prática psiquiátrica. Porto Alegre: Artmed; 2005:1-520.

[7] ⁷
Damasio A. O Erro de Descartes. São Paulo: Companhia dasLetras; 1996.

[8] ⁸
Bowman CH, Turnbull OH. Real versus facsimile reinforceson the Iowa Gambling Task. Brain Cogn 2003;53:207-210.

[9] ⁹
Mazas CA, Finn PR, Steinmetz JE. Decision-making biases,antisocial personality, and early-onset alcoholism. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2000;24:1036-1040.

[10] ¹⁰
Bechara A, Tranel D, Damasio H. Characterization of thedecision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. Brain 2000;123:2189-2202.

[11] ¹¹
Parkin AJ, Getting old. Parkin A.J, editor. Memory phenomena, experiment and theory. Cambriged, USA: Blackwell; 1993.

[12] ¹²
MacPherson SE, Phillips LH, Della Sala S. Age, executivefunction, and social decision-making: a dorsolateral prefrontal theory of cognitive aging. Psychol Aging 2002; 17:598-609.

[13] ¹³
Wood S, Busemeyer J, Koling A, Cox C, Davis H. Olderadults as adaptive decision-makers: evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task. Psychol Aging 2005;20:220-225.

[14] ¹⁴
Kovalchik S, Camerer C, Grether D, Plott C, Allman JM. Aging and decision-making: a comparison between neurologically healthy elderly and young individuals. J Econ Behav Org 2005;58:79-94.

[15] ¹⁵
Denburg N, Tranel D, Bechara A. The ability to decideadvantageously declines prematurely in some normal older persons. Neuropsychologia 2005;43:1099-1106.

[16] ¹⁶
Schneider DDG. O desempenho de adultos jovens e idososna tarefa do jogo: um estudo sobre tomada de decisão. Dissertação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, 2004.

[17] ¹⁷
Wagner GP. Disfunções executivas no envelhecimento cognitivo: investigações com os instrumentos tarefa do jogo e teste Wisconsin de classificação de cartas. Dissertação, Curso de Pós-Graduação em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul , 2006.

[18] ¹⁸
Schneider DDG, Parente MAMP. O desempenho de adultosjovens e idosos no Iowa Gambling Task: um estudo sobre a tomada de decisão. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica (in press).

[19] ¹⁹
CFP Conselho Federal de Psicologia. Resolução 016/2000. Resolução para pesquisa com seres humanos.Brasília: CFP; 2000.

[20] ²⁰
Conselho Nacional de Saúde. Resolução 196/1996. Diretrizes e normas regulamentadoras de pesquisas envolvendo seres humanos, Brasília: CNS;1996.

[21] ²¹
Callegari-Jacques SM. Bioestatística. Princípios e aplicações. Porto Alegre: Artmed; 2004.

[22] ²²
Dancey CP, Reidy J. Estatística sem matemática para psicologia. Porto Alegre: Artmed; 2006.

[23] ²³
Gutbrod K, Krouzel C, Hofer H, Muri R, Perrig W, Ptag R.Decision-making in amnesia: Do advantageous decisions require conscious knowledge of previous behavioural choices? Neuropsychologia 2006;44:1315-1324.

[24] ²⁴
Czernecki V, Pillon B, Houeto JL, Pochon JB, Levy R, DuboisB. Motivation, reward, and Parkinson's disease: Influences of dopatherapy. Neuropsychologia 2002;40:2257-2267.

[25] ²⁵
Bechara A, Damasio H, Tranel D, Anderson C. Dissociationof working memory from decision-making within the human prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci 1998;18:428-437.

[26] ²⁶
Damasio A. Looking for Spinoza: joy, sorrow and the feelingbrain. London: William Heinemann; 2003.

[27] ²⁷
Crone EA, van der Molen MW, Developmental changes inreal life decision-making: performance on a gambling task previously shown to depend on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Dev Neuropsychol 2004;25:251-279.

[28] ²⁸
Hinson JM, Jameson TL, Whitney P. Somatic markers,working memory, and decision-making. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 2002;2:341-353.

[29] ²⁹
Hinson JM, Jameson TL, Whitney P. Impulsive decisionmaking and working memory. J Exp Psychology: Learn Mem Cogn 2003;29:298-306.

[30] ³⁰
Hooper CJ, Luciana M, Conklin HM, Yarger RS. Adolescents' performance on the Iowa Gambling Task: implications for the development of decision-making and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Dev Psychol 2004;40:11481158.

[31] ³¹
Bechara A, Martin EM. Impaired decision-making relatedto working memory deficits in individuals with substance addictions. Neuropsychology 2004;18:152-162.

[32] ³²
Martin EM, Pitrak DL, Weddington W, et al. Cognitive impulsivity and HIV serostatus in substance dependent males. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2004;10:931-938.

[33] ³³
Turnbull OH, Evans CEY, Bunce A, Carzolio B, O'Connor J.Emotion-based learning and central executive resources: an investigation of intuition and the Iowa Gambling Task. Brain Cogn 2005;57:244-247.

[34] ³⁴
Kahneman D. A perspective on judgment and choice. AmPsychol 2003;58:697-720.

[35] ³⁵
Denburg N, Buchanan T, Tramel D, Adolphs R. Evidence forpreserved emotional memory in normal older persons. Emotion 2003;3:239-253.

[36] ³⁶
Davis C, Patte K, Tweed S, Curtis C. Personality traits associated with decision-making deficits. Pers individ. differ 2007;42:279-290.

[37] ³⁷
Franken IHA, Muris P. Individual differences in decisionmaking. Pers individ differ 2005;39:991-998.

[38] ³⁸
Gonzalez R, Vassileva J, Bechara A, Grbesic S, Sworowski L,Novak RM. The influence of executive functions, sensation seeking, and HIV serostatus on the risky sexual practices of substance dependent individuals. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2005;11:121-131.

[39] ³⁹
Plumet J, GIL R, Gaonac'h D. Neuropsychological assessment of executive functions in women: Effects of age and education. Neuropsychology 2005;19:566-577.

[40] ⁴⁰
Rosselli M, Tappen R, Williams C, Salvatierra J. The relationof education and gender on the attention items of the MiniMental State Examination in Spanish speaking Hispanic elders. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2006;21:677-686.

[41] ⁴¹
Herrera-Guzman I, Pena-Casanova J, Lara JP, GudayolFerre E, Bohm P. Influence of age, sex, and education on the visual object and space perception Battery (VOSP) In a Healthy Normal Elderly Population. Clin Neuropsychol 2004;18:385-394.

[42] ⁴²
Johnson DK, Storandt M, Balota DA. Discourse analysis oflogical memory recall in normal aging and in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Neuropsychology 2003;17:82-92.

[43] ⁴³
Lecours A, Mehler J, Parente MA, et al. Illiteracy and braindamage - 1. Aphasia testing in culturally contrasted populations (control subjects). Neuropsychologia 1987;25:231-245.

[44] ⁴⁴
Ostrosky-Solís F, Ardila A, Rosselli M. NEUROPSI: a briefneuropsychological test battery in Spanish with norms by age and educational level. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 1999; 5:413-433.

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