Genetics & Etiology
Twin studies suggest that gambling disorder risk is best described as:
A) Entirely environmental.
B) Entirely genetic.
C) Moderately heritable with environmental interaction.
D) Caused by a single gene.
C) Moderately heritable with environmental interaction.
Risk–reward decision-making in gambling research is most commonly assessed using:
A) Stroop Task.
B) Go/No-Go Task.
C) Iowa Gambling Task.
D) Delay Discounting Task.
C) Iowa Gambling Task.
Impulsivity is best defined as:
A) Repetitive behaviour despite harm.
B) Acting without adequate forethought.
C) Emotional dysregulation.
D) Sensation seeking.
B) Acting without adequate forethought.
Problem gamblers show heightened neural responses to gambling cues in regions associated with:
A) Language processing.
B) Memory only.
C) Attention, emotion, and cognitive control.
D) Motor coordination.
C) Attention, emotion, and cognitive control.
The gambler’s fallacy is best defined as the belief that:
A) Wins are more likely after wins.
B) Random events will balance out in the short term.
C) Skill influences games of chance.
D) Near-misses signal future success.
B) Random events will balance out in the short term.
Genetic findings in gambling disorder most strongly support which model?
A) Mendelian inheritance.
B) Single dominant gene.
C) Polygenic risk with shared vulnerability across addictions.
D) No biological contribution.
C) Polygenic risk with shared vulnerability across addictions.
Disadvantageous decks on the Iowa Gambling Task are characterized by:
A) Small wins, no losses.
B) Large wins with larger long-term losses.
C) Equal wins and losses.
D) Guaranteed losses.
B) Large wins with larger long-term losses.
Compulsivity differs from impulsivity because it involves:
A) Novelty seeking.
B) Risk-taking.
C) Repetitive behaviour despite negative consequences.
D) Poor emotion regulation.
C) Repetitive behaviour despite negative consequences.
Lower P3 amplitudes observed in addiction research are generally associated with:
A) Heightened arousal.
B) Reduced cognitive processing capacity.
C) Improved attention.
D) Reward hypersensitivity.
B) Reduced cognitive processing capacity.
The partial reinforcement effect explains why gambling behaviour is:
A) Easily extinguished.
B) Resistant to extinction.
C) Motivated by punishment.
D) Controlled by skill.
B) Resistant to extinction.
A major implication of inconsistent genome-wide association study findings in gambling disorder is that:
A) Gambling disorder lacks a biological basis.
B) Genetic effects are likely complex and indirect.
C) Environmental factors fully explain gambling disorder.
D) Neurobiology is irrelevant.
B) Genetic effects are likely complex and indirect.
Problem gamblers’ poor Iowa Gambling Task performance reflects a tendency to:
A) Avoid punishment.
B) Overestimate long-term outcomes.
C) Prefer short-term gains despite long-term losses.
D) Fail to learn from feedback.
C) Prefer short-term gains despite long-term losses.
Reduced cognitive flexibility in gambling disorder is associated with:
A) Lower gambling severity.
B) Better treatment outcomes.
C) Greater severity and poorer outcomes.
D) Reduced craving.
C) Greater severity and poorer outcomes.
Which physiological pattern supports the chronic under-arousal hypothesis in gambling disorder?
A) Increased arousal during wins.
B) Lower arousal responses to wins.
C) Elevated resting heart rate.
D) Increased skin conductance at baseline.
B) Lower arousal responses to wins.
The hot-hand fallacy differs from the gambler’s fallacy because it involves:
A) Expecting losses after wins.
B) Expecting continued success after success.
C) Believing outcomes are independent.
D) Discounting delayed rewards.
B) Expecting continued success after success.
Which finding most strongly supports a shared etiology between gambling disorder and substance use disorders?
A) Similar gambling motives.
B) Similar prevalence rates.
C) Genetic correlations across disorders.
D) Identical symptom presentations.
C) Genetic correlations across disorders.
Lower activation in the ventral striatum in response to wins suggests that:
A) Wins are highly reinforcing.
B) Losses produce stronger neural responses than wins.
C) Reward anticipation is absent.
D) Gamblers are hypersensitive to rewards.
B) Losses produce stronger neural responses than wins.
Delay discounting reflects which behavioural tendency?
A) Overvaluing delayed rewards.
B) Devaluing delayed rewards relative to immediate ones.
C) Avoiding uncertainty.
D) Preferring guaranteed rewards.
B) Devaluing delayed rewards relative to immediate ones.
Heart-rate deceleration paired with increased skin conductance most strongly reflects:
A) Relaxation.
B) Cognitive disengagement.
C) Frustration.
D) Reward anticipation.
C) Frustration.
The availability heuristic contributes to gambling persistence by causing gamblers to:
A) Calculate expected value accurately.
B) Ignore recent outcomes.
C) Overestimate the likelihood of memorable wins.
D) Prefer certain rewards.
C) Overestimate the likelihood of memorable wins.
Why is a circuit-based approach favoured over symptom-based classification in gambling disorder research?
A) Symptoms are unreliable.
B) Circuits better capture overlapping and heterogeneous presentations.
C) DSM diagnoses are invalid.
D) Circuits replace behavioural explanations.
B) Circuits better capture overlapping and heterogeneous presentations.
Greater dorsal striatum activation during anticipation of large rewards indicates that gambling behaviour is increasingly driven by:
A) Pleasure from winning.
B) Habit formation and anticipation.
C) Cognitive control.
D) Loss avoidance.
B) Habit formation and anticipation.
Probability discounting reflects a tendency to:
A) Prefer certain rewards.
B) Avoid risk.
C) Overvalue large, unlikely rewards.
D) Minimize losses.
C) Overvalue large, unlikely rewards.
Which finding best explains why gambling cues are so powerful for problem gamblers?
A) Cues increase monetary value.
B) Cues bypass conscious decision-making.
C) Cues strongly activate attentional and emotional networks.
D) Cues reduce loss sensitivity.
C) Cues strongly activate attentional and emotional networks.
Losses Disguised as Wins (LDWs) are most commonly found in:
A) Single-line slots.
B) Sports betting.
C) Multiline slot machines.
D) Table games.
C) Multiline slot machines.