Effects of Emotion on Decision-Making ofMethamphetamine Users: Based on theEmotional Iowa Gambling Task

The relapse of methamphetamine (meth) is associated with decision-making dysfunction. The present study aims to investigate theimpact of different emotions on the decision-making behavior of meth users. We used 2 (gender: male, female) × 3 (emotion:positive, negative, neutral) × 5 (block: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) mixed experiment design. The study involved 168 meth users who weredivided into three groups: positive emotion, negative emotion and neutral emotion group, and tested by the emotional IowaGambling Task (IGT). The IGT performance of male users exhibited a decreasing trend from Block 1 to Block 3. Female methusers in positive emotion had the best performance in IGT than females in the other two groups. In positive emotion, the IGTperformance of female meth users was significantly better than that of men. Female meth users in positive emotion had betterdecision-making than those in negative or neutral emotion. Female meth users in positive emotion had better decision-makingperformance than males in positive emotion. In negative and neutral emotions, there was no significant gender difference indecision-making.

Ongoing pain facilitates emotional decision-making behaviors

Emotion toward anticipated and actual outcomes acts as a vital signal on emotional decision-making,and the Iowa Gambling Task(IGT)can mimic this decision-making process.Pain can impair emotional decision-making behaviors because it captures attention and distracts from the task at hand.Alternatively,pain may facilitate emotional decision-making behaviors by prompting alertness and mobilizing cognitive resources to maximize rewards.The present study investigated the influence of ongoing pain on emotional decision-making behaviors using the IGT.Our study recruited two groups of participants and applied capsaicin(pain group)or control cream(control group)to their forearms.We then compared performances and selections between the pain and control groups.The results revealed that participants successfully learned the required adaptive selection strategy as the task progressed.The study observed a tendency toward optimal choices for both groups under the condition of frequent-small losses.However,we observed a disadvantageous preference for the control group,but not the pain group,when faced with choices with infrequent but large losses.The study implies that a distressing pain experience motivates individuals to adjust goal-directed behaviors to maximize their rewards in a task.Thus,the finding suggests that ongoing pain facilitates emotional decision-making behaviors.