Iowa Gambling Task: what it is and how to use it

Every day of our life 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 they seem inconsequential to us and we hardly notice them, while in other cases we reflect and think carefully about the possible implications before taking a decision.

Sometimes guided by reason, sometimes by emotion. But we decide. In any of the cases, the fact of deciding does not stop requiring a wide set of operations and mental processes to be carried out.

Trying to explain how we decide is something that has generated great interest from disciplines such as psychology, having generated different instruments that aim to contribute to discovering it through the analysis of our answers. One of these instruments is the Iowa Gambling Task, better known by its English name: Iowa Gambling Task.. And it is about this interesting instrument that we are going to talk throughout this article.

• Related article: "Decision making: what it is, phases and parts of the brain involved"

What is Iowa Gaming?

The Iowa Gambling Task or "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 valued, indicating that he has a certain amount of virtual money (specifically $ 2,000). The subject must be lifting 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 the same as each other: two of them cause considerable gains and losses, while the cards of the other two involve both gains and minor losses. Specifically, deck A and deck B usually provide around $ 100 per play, and one in ten times they cause a loss of $ 1,250 (although deck A causes losses more often, the total amount is the same as deck B).

As for decks C and D, they cause losses of $ 250 every ten trials, the loss being more common in C although the final balance is the same in both decks. While Decks A and B have an ending balance of -250, Decks C and D have a positive balance of $ 250. Thus, decks A and B would actually show negative results and would be bad decks, while decks C and B would allow for a moderate but sure profit.

However, the subject does not know anything about this: he is faced with an ambiguous task since he does not have any kind of knowledge regarding what is in each deck. Thus, part of 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 you make will depend not on prior knowledge but on the feedback you generate to emotional level the successive choice of cards, although they will learn to choose those that most favor.

Although this task has traditionally been carried out physically, currently there is a computerized version that allows a more comfortable performance and evaluation for both the evaluated and the evaluator, being this much more common in consultation.

• You may be interested: "Types of psychological tests: their functions and characteristics

The somatic marker hypothesis

The Iowa Gaming was proposed and designed primarily based on a concrete, explanatory decision-making hypothesis. Is about the Damasio somatic marker hypothesis.

In it, it is proposed that the decision-making process is fundamentally guided and modulated by emotional and somatic responses that anticipate the consequences of our decisions, in this way we classify the possible choices in search of the most favorable ones for U.S. Emotional responses are interpreted by a neural network or pathway in which the amygdala, in contact with the hypothalamus and the brain stem, generates impulses that are subsequently regulated by these nuclei in order to generate a somatic response.

That is why a response is “marked” at the somatic level as pleasant or unpleasant, something that has the consequence that the behavior that caused it is replicated or avoided. Likewise, through the frontal orbit we generate a replication of this sensation every time we carry carried out a similar task, something that explains why the trends of answer.

In what situations or disorders is this task commonly used?

Although technically it could be used in any area in which an attempt is made to analyze what the decision-making process is like of a person (since there are interpersonal or even intrapersonal differences depending on the moment and state of the subject), for General rule the use of the Iowa Gambling Task or "Iowa Gambling Task" is usually limited to the clinical setting or to the investigation.

Both in one and the other case 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 deemed "bad" after some time, in anticipation of a possible punishment, in the case of subjects with problems in that area this reaction is not observed in the same area measure.

While it does not have a specific target audience, the Iowa Gambling Task usually used in patients with head injuries, epilepsy, cerebrovascular accidents or dementia (as long as damage is observed in the orbitofrontal or the symptoms indicate some type of dysfunction in decision-making), thus as in disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder (in which doubt and difficulty making decisions is common) or schizophrenia.

Bibliographic references:

• Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Tranel, D., & Damasio A. R. (2005). The Iowa Gambling Task and the somatic marker hypothesis: some questions and answers. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9 (4), 159-162.
• Damasio, A.R. (nineteen ninety six). The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 351, 1413-20.
• García-Molina, A., Rodríguez, Rajo, P., Vendrell Gómez, P., Junqué i Platja, C. and Roig-Rovira, T. (2008). Orbitofrontal Dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis: Iowa Gambling Task. Psicothema, 20 (3): 445-448.
• Li, X., Lu, Z.L., D'Argembeau, A., Ng, M. & Bechara, A. (2010). The Iowa Gambling Task in fMRI images. Hum Brain Mapp, 31: 410-423.