Iowa gambling task

The Iowa gambling task (IGT) is a psychological task thought to simulate real-life decision making. It was introduced by Antoine Bechara, Antonio Damasio, Hanna Damasio and Steven Anderson,[1] then researchers at the University of Iowa. It has been brought to popular attention by Antonio Damasio (proponent of the somatic marker hypothesis) in his best-selling book Descartes' Error.[2]

The IGT is thought to measure an individual's approach to risk-taking, impulsivity, and ability to delay short-term gratification to achieve long-term rewards.[3]

The task was originally presented simply as the Gambling Task, or the "OGT". Later, it has been referred to as the Iowa gambling task and, less frequently, as Bechara's Gambling Task.[4] The Iowa gambling task is widely used in research of cognition and emotion. A recent review listed more than 400 papers that made use of this paradigm.[5]

  1. ^ Bechara A, Damasio AR, Damasio H, Anderson SW (1994). "Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex". Cognition. 50 (1–3): 7–15. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3. PMID 8039375. S2CID 204981454.
  2. ^ Damasio AR (2008) [1994]. Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4070-7206-7. Descartes' Error
  3. ^ "The Iowa Gambling Task and Risky Decision Making » AllPsych". AllPsych. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  4. ^ Busemeyer JR, Stout JC (2002). "A contribution of cognitive decision models to clinical assessment: Decomposing performance on the Bechara gambling task". Psychological Assessment. 14 (3): 253–262. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.14.3.253. PMID 12214432.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dunn06 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).