Ability to use the wait-and-see strategy in pathological gamblers

Pathological gamblers (PGs) perform differently on neurocognitive tests than do healthy controls (HC). The aim of this study was to assess “waiting ability” - a major components of inhibition control-using a modified Stop Signal Task (SST) in a population of male PGs (N=55), and HCs (N=53). Results indicated no differences between PGs and HCs in reaction times, intra-individual response variability, or number of false alarms and misses. In conclusion, PGs were not impaired in their ability to manipulate their on-line response strategy during the experimental task and were instead able to change their strategy to decrease the number of false alarms. However, much more empirical and theoretical work needs to be carried out in order to understand the key neural basis of impulsivity among PGs.