Figure 5.

Insula Activation to Near-Misses Correlated with Trait Gambling Propensity and the Subjective Effect of Near-Misses

(A) A trait measure of the susceptibility to gambling biases (the gambling-related cognitions scale; GRCS) predicted near-miss-related neural activity (contrast of near-misses minus full-misses) in the anterior insula/caudolateral orbitofrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 47). An SPM5 regression of near-miss-related activity onto GRCS total score, using a mask of win-related activity, revealed a single significant cluster in the left anterior insula (x, y, z = −42, 18, −10, z = 3.98, p_FWE-corr = 0.018), with extracted signal change displayed on the right hand side. For display purposes, the regression map is thresholded at p < 0.005 uncorrected.

(B) Near-miss related activity in the anterior insula (Brodmann Area 13) was also significantly correlated with the subjective effects of near-miss outcomes on a rating of “How much do you want to continue to play the game?” The SPM5 regression map reveals a cluster in the right anterior insula (x, y, z = 30, 16, −10, z = 3.24, p_unc = 0.001), with extracted signal change displayed on the right hand side. For display purposes, the regression map is thresholded at p < 0.005 uncorrected.