What Can Affective Neuroscience Teach Us About Gambling?

About the Course:

This article highlights the importance of primary affective states as a basis for guiding research on gambling. It discusses the affective neuroscience model, which has important implications for how gambling addiction might be approached at the clinical and social levels.

Journal/Publisher:

Journal of Gambling Issues

Publication Date:

Issue 16, April 2006

Author

Martin Zack

About the Author:

Martin Zack is a Research Scientist in the Clinical Neuroscience Section of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. His research examines the neurochemical basis of problem gambling and how alterations in brain chemistry influence gambling reinforcement in problem gamblers and non-problem gamblers. Martin Zack is cross appointed with the University of Toronto’s Department of Pharmacology and the Department of Public Health Sciences.

Recommended For:

This course is recommended for health care professionals, especially addiction counselors, psychologists, mental health counselors, social workers, and nurses who seek knowledge about how the affective neuroscience model can inform the study of gambling. It is appropriate for all levels of participants’ knowledge.

Course Objectives:

1. Explain neurobehaviorism and identify its limitations.

2. Define affective neuroscience and explain the primary question it addresses.

3. Discuss the seven systems identified in the mammalian brain and how they relate to addictions.