Abnormal Affective Decision Making Of METH-Abusers

Previous research have investigated the influence of the neutral cues and methamphetamine-related cues on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) by within-group design. Yet, it may not excluded the mutual interference between two clues in this way, failing to check out the real influence of any single cue of each. In order to explore the influence of the two cues and the caving of METH-addicted individuals on IGT,48 METH-addicted and 48 normal individuals were recruited, and the between-group design were taken in present study. As emotional problems and impulsive behaviors go accompany with METH-addicted individuals frequently, this study also examined the relationship between IGT and depression, anxiety and impulsivity.Results showed that (1) the performance of the control group of the IGT and the self-report of how good or bad of the four decks is better than the addiction group; (2) on IGT, no difference has been found between this two clues in control group; but in the METH-clues, the addiction group's performance of IGT was showed a downward trend and significantly lower performance in block 4 and block 5 than the neutral cues. (3) in the neutral cues, there is no significant change in METH abusers'ratings of caving, but has a significant increase when the METH-related cues shows. (4) addiction group's depression and anxiety scores were significantly higher than control group, impulsivity total scores and motor impulsive and unplanned impulsive scores were significantly higher than the control group. But depression, anxiety and impulsivity did not have a significantly affect the IGT score.These results suggest that the METH-abusers might have a defect of affective decision-making. The METH-related cues could increased caving and exacerbated decision Making. METH-abusers are affected by depression, anxiety and impulsion, but it seems that they have no significant connection with the defect of decision-making. These findings might have significant clinical implications for the prevention of relapse.