Iowa Gambling Task (‘Iowa Gambling Task’): What It Is And How To Use It
Every day of our lives we make hundreds of decisions: what to have breakfast, where to go, with whom, how and what to talk about, what to prioritize, when to rest… Many of them seem inconsequential to us and we hardly notice them, while in other cases We reflect and think carefully about the possible implications before making a decision.
Sometimes guided by reason, other times by emotion. But we decided. In any case, the act of deciding still requires a broad set of mental operations and processes to be carried out.
Trying to explain how we decide is something that has generated great interest from disciplines such as psychology, with different instruments having been generated that aim to contribute to discovering it through the analysis of our responses. One of these instruments is the Iowa Gambling Task, better known by its name in English: Iowa Gambling Task And it is about this interesting instrument that we are going to talk about throughout this article.
The Iowa Gambling Task is a type of behavioral psychological test used as an evaluation instrument, which allows us to assess and evaluate the decision-making process of the person who carries it out Specifically, it aims to evaluate the degree of involvement of cognitive and emotional factors in decision making.
Is about a task of some complexity in which a total of 4 decks of cards are provided (A, B, C and D) to the subject to be evaluated, indicating that he has a certain amount of virtual money (specifically 2000 dollars). The subject must pick up cards from the decks, which can either cause economic gains or losses, and is assigned the task of obtaining the maximum possible benefit.
The decks are not equal to each other: two of them cause considerable wins and losses, while the cards of the other two imply both minor wins and losses Specifically, deck A and B usually provide around 100 dollars per play, and one in ten times they cause a loss of 1,250 dollars (although deck A causes losses more often, the total amount is the same as that of deck B ).
As for decks C and D, they cause losses of $250 every ten tries, with the loss being more common in C, although the final balance is the same in both decks. While decks A and B have a final balance of -250, decks C and D have a positive balance of $250. Thus, decks A and B would actually reflect negative results and be bad decks, while decks C and B would allow for a moderate but safe profit.
However, the subject does not know any of this: he is faced with an ambiguous task since he does not have any type of knowledge regarding what is in each deck. Thus, he starts from a situation of total uncertainty and little by little and through a process of trial and error you will learn the characteristics of the decks The choices they make will depend not on prior knowledge but on the feedback that the successive choice of cards generates on an emotional level, although they will learn to choose those that most favor them.
Although this task has traditionally been carried out physically, a computerized version is currently available that allows for more comfortable completion and evaluation for both the evaluated and the evaluator, this being much more common in consultation.
The Iowa Game of Chance was proposed and designed mainly based on a specific hypothesis, explaining decision making. Is about Damasio’s somatic marker hypothesis
In it, it is proposed that the decision-making process is fundamentally guided and modulated by the emotional and somatic responses that anticipate the consequences of our decisions, in this way we classify possible choices in search of the most favorable ones for us. Emotional responses are interpreted by a neural network or pathway in which the amygdala, in contact with the hypothalamus and the brainstem, generates impulses that are subsequently regulated by said nuclei in order to generate a somatic response.
This is why a response is “marked” on a somatic level as pleasant or unpleasant, something that results in the behavior that provoked it being replicated or avoided. Likewise, through the orbitofrontal we generate a replication of this sensation every time we carry out a similar task, something that explains why response tendencies arise and are maintained.
In what situations or disorders is this task usually used?
Although technically it could be used in any area in which an attempt is made to analyze what a person’s decision-making process is like (since there are interpersonal or even intrapersonal differences depending on the moment and state of the subject), as a general rule the use of the Game Iowa Gambling Task or “Iowa Gambling Task” is usually limited to the clinical or research field.
In both cases It is usually used to assess the existence of dysfunctions or alterations in the orbitofrontal cortex, especially in cases of disorders or injuries associated with problems in these areas. While those with an uninjured orbitofrontal tend to experience stress responses when faced with decks considered “bad” after a while, in anticipation of a possible punishment, in the case of subjects with problems in this area this reaction does not occur. is observed to the same extent.
While it does not have a specific target audience, the Iowa Gambling Task It is usually used in cases of patients with head injuries, epilepsy, strokes or dementia (as long as damage is observed in the orbitofrontal or the symptoms indicate some type of dysfunction in decision-making), as well as in disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (in which doubt and difficulty making decisions are common) or schizophrenia.
