Reward Sensitivity and “unbalance” cortical effect as a biomarker of new addictions. A multi-method study

The present research explored the effect of cortical lateralisation activity during the decisional process in a gambling context. We supposed that increasing of the left DLPFC activity and personality trait make subjects’ strategies more disadvantageous and “gambling” during an online game. Twenty-one subjects were tested using the IGT and GO/noGo task while the EEG was registered and alpha-band modulation was considered. Secondly, the Behavioral Activation System (BAS)/Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) scale was use for testing the effect of reward sensitivity and metacognitive questionnaire was applied. It was found that high-BAS subjects increased their tendency to opt in favour of the immediate reward rather than the long-term option, that it was correlate with a significant increasing of the left-hemisphere activation in response to immediate reward choices if compared to low-BAS subjects. Finally, they tended to have difficulties to inhibit the automatic response, and they show a dysfunctional metacognition abilities. A reward bias effect was supposed to explain both the bad strategy and the unbalanced hemispheric activation for high-BAS and more risk-taking subjects. These findings could have important repercussions in the social context for the prevention of dysfunctional behaviours that affect compulsive disorders like new forms of addiction.