How early gambling experimentation but declining engagement at older ages and others who develop gambling behaviors that are pathological (Nagin 1999; Romer 2003). Future assessments will include the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), an instrument used for identification of pathological gambling behaviors (Stinchfield 2002). Using results of the SOGS in trajectory analyses will allow for valid identification of a problem gambler group in older adolescents. The second objective in this study was to assess executive cognitive function in relation to gambling behaviors. We measured executive cognitive function using a number of tasks designed to tap areas shown by others to be compromised in adult pathological gamblers. We were surprised that Early Gamblers and Late Gamblers did not differ in working memory, cognitive control, or Flavopiridol site reward Thonzonium (bromide)MedChemExpress Thonzonium (bromide) processing at the ages studied. There are at least two possible explanations for this finding. First, our measure of youth gambling behaviors is not an indicator of pathology, thus our Early Gamblers group likely includes a subset of youthJ Gambl Stud. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 June 01.Betancourt et al.Pagewho gamble but will not develop gambling behaviors that are problematic. As stated above, it is likely that modeling data from older adolescents will yield more distinct groups, including problem gamblers with a distinct profile of executive cognitive function that is consistent with those reported for adult gamblers. Second, executive cognitive function is not fully mature at ages examined in this study. Cognitive control and reward processing skills have likely reached adult levels for children up to age 13?5 with refinements that extend into later adolescence and working memory skills continue to develop into young adulthood (De Luca et al. 2003; Huizinga et al. 2006; Luciana et al. 2005). We speculate that executive cognitive function may emerge as a relevant factor in problem gambling as more distinct groups of gamblers emerge and executive function reaches peak developmental levels during later adolescence. Our assessments of executive cognitive function to date will allow for later determination of the cognitive correlates of problem gambling behaviors and will inform regarding directionality of the relations between cognitive function and problem gambling observed in studies of older gamblers. It may be that problem gambling is a result of impairments in cognitive function related to impulsivity and self-regulation. On the other hand, it may be that patterns of cognitive stimulation associated with problem gambling induce changes in developmental pathways leading to compromised functioning of executive cognitive function closely associated with decision making and impulse control (Crockford et al. 2005). As the children in our study reach later adolescence, these relationships will be able to be more fully delineated. Pathological gambling is associated with poor impulse control and the changes in the brain’s system of reward and aggression. Longitudinal tracking of cohorts such as ours, that are evaluated prior to the onset of problem levels of gambling, allows for determination of whether differences in impulse control and reward processing precede or follow more serious problem gambling behaviors. We assessed two dimensions of impulsivity, Acting without Thinking and Sensation Seeking, finding that Early Gamblers showed higher levels of both dimensions. This is consistent with s.How early gambling experimentation but declining engagement at older ages and others who develop gambling behaviors that are pathological (Nagin 1999; Romer 2003). Future assessments will include the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), an instrument used for identification of pathological gambling behaviors (Stinchfield 2002). Using results of the SOGS in trajectory analyses will allow for valid identification of a problem gambler group in older adolescents. The second objective in this study was to assess executive cognitive function in relation to gambling behaviors. We measured executive cognitive function using a number of tasks designed to tap areas shown by others to be compromised in adult pathological gamblers. We were surprised that Early Gamblers and Late Gamblers did not differ in working memory, cognitive control, or reward processing at the ages studied. There are at least two possible explanations for this finding. First, our measure of youth gambling behaviors is not an indicator of pathology, thus our Early Gamblers group likely includes a subset of youthJ Gambl Stud. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 June 01.Betancourt et al.Pagewho gamble but will not develop gambling behaviors that are problematic. As stated above, it is likely that modeling data from older adolescents will yield more distinct groups, including problem gamblers with a distinct profile of executive cognitive function that is consistent with those reported for adult gamblers. Second, executive cognitive function is not fully mature at ages examined in this study. Cognitive control and reward processing skills have likely reached adult levels for children up to age 13?5 with refinements that extend into later adolescence and working memory skills continue to develop into young adulthood (De Luca et al. 2003; Huizinga et al. 2006; Luciana et al. 2005). We speculate that executive cognitive function may emerge as a relevant factor in problem gambling as more distinct groups of gamblers emerge and executive function reaches peak developmental levels during later adolescence. Our assessments of executive cognitive function to date will allow for later determination of the cognitive correlates of problem gambling behaviors and will inform regarding directionality of the relations between cognitive function and problem gambling observed in studies of older gamblers. It may be that problem gambling is a result of impairments in cognitive function related to impulsivity and self-regulation. On the other hand, it may be that patterns of cognitive stimulation associated with problem gambling induce changes in developmental pathways leading to compromised functioning of executive cognitive function closely associated with decision making and impulse control (Crockford et al. 2005). As the children in our study reach later adolescence, these relationships will be able to be more fully delineated. Pathological gambling is associated with poor impulse control and the changes in the brain’s system of reward and aggression. Longitudinal tracking of cohorts such as ours, that are evaluated prior to the onset of problem levels of gambling, allows for determination of whether differences in impulse control and reward processing precede or follow more serious problem gambling behaviors. We assessed two dimensions of impulsivity, Acting without Thinking and Sensation Seeking, finding that Early Gamblers showed higher levels of both dimensions. This is consistent with s.
