Principal Investigator: Mark R. Dixon, PhD, Southern Illinois University
Awarded $34,500 in 2011
Aim: Test the hypothesis that exposure to “near-misses” that resemble large jackpot wins will produce greater activity in the dopamine reward system than near-misses that resemble small jackpot wins in an fMRI scanner; and evaluate the efficacy of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for reducing and altering disordered gambling behavior.
Principal Investigator: T. Celeste Napier, PhD, Rush University Medical Center
Awarded $28,750 in 2011
Aim: Identify the potential for repurposing the atypical antidepressant, mirtazapine, as a pharmacological intervention for reducing risk-behavior and/or relapse prevention of gambling disorders.
Principal Investigator: Joni Utley, Psy.D, VA Boston Healthcare System, VA Bedford/ Boston University School of Medicine
Awarded $ 1,500 in 2012
The Travel Grant supported Dr. Utley’s participation in the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference where she presented a paper on Creating Change (CC), a new past-focused behavioral therapy model developed for comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addictions, including gambling disorder.
Principal Investigator: Jennifer L. Tackett, PhD, University of Houston
Awarded: $64,800 in 2012
Aim: Investigate the extent to which dispositional traits (i.e. Extraversion and Neuroticism) and motivational pathways (i.e. approach and avoidance motivations) predict distinct pathways to youth gambling.
Tackett, J. L., Rodriguez, L. M., Rinker, D. V., & Neighbors, C. (2015). A personality-based latent class analysis of emerging adult gamblers. Journal of Gambling Studies, 31(4), 1337-1351.
Principal Investigator: T. Celeste Napier, PhD, Rush University Medical Center
Awarded $172,500 in 2012
Aim: Expedite the discovery and development of effective treatment strategies for gambling disorder by using a unique rat models to determine if medications used for other diseases can be repurposed for the treatment of gambling disorders.
Rokosik, S. L., & Napier, T. C. (2012). Pramipexole-induced increased probabilistic discounting: comparison between a rodent model of Parkinson’s disease and controls. Neuropsychopharmacology, 37(6), 1397-1408.
Tedford, S.E., Holtz, N.A., Persons, A.L., & Napier, T.C. (2014). A new approach to assess gambling-like behavior in laboratory rats: using intracranial self-stimulation as a positive reinforcer. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8.
Principal Investigator: Mary Larimer, PhD, University of Washington
Awarded $172,500 in 2012
Aim: Test a brief intervention for gambling with emerging adults (ages 18-25) recruited through social media.
Principal Investigator: Heather Gray, PhD, Cambridge Health Alliance
Awarded $141,362 in 2012
Aim: Use the actual online gambling transactions to describe the gambling behavior of the most active and “high risk” gamblers and to examine gamblers’ adaptation to new gambling opportunities.
Gray, H. M., Jónsson, G. K., LaPlante, D. A., & Shaffer, H. J. (2015). Expanding the study of internet gambling behavior: Trends within the Icelandic lottery and sportsbetting platform. Journal of Gambling Studies, 31(2), 483-499.
Principal Investigator: Iris Balodis, PhD, Yale University School of Medicine
Awarded $64,797 in 2012
Aim: Better understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship between the stress response and engagement in risky behaviors in populations with gambling disorder.
Balodis, I.M., & Potenza, M.N. (2015). Anticipatory reward processing in addicted populations: a focus on the monetary incentive delay task. Biological Psychiatry, 77(5), 434-444.
Principal Investigator: Sarah E. Nelson, PhD, Cambridge Health Alliance
Awarded $28,750 in 2012
Aim: Establish a baseline estimate of gambling behaviors and health within Massachusetts communities that can be used as the benchmark for a future long-term longitudinal investigation of the effect of gambling expansion on public health.
Principal Investigator: Andreas Wilke, PhD, Clarkson University
Awarded $28,675 in 2012
Aim: Determine if subjects that have a greater tendency to perceive illusory patterns also have a higher tendency to gamble. If so, this will reveal an important aspect of gambling behavior that may lead to new screening tools for gambling risk.
Wilke, A., Scheibehenne, B., Gaissmaier, W., McCaney, P., & Barrett, H. C. (2014). Illusionary pattern detection in habitual gamblers. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35, 291–297.
Gaissmaier, W., Wilke, A., Scheibehenne, B., McCanney, P., & Barrett, H. C. (2015). Betting on illusory patterns: Probability matching in habitual gamblers. Journal of Gambling Studies, 32 (1),143-156
