The Iowa Gamb
ling Task (IGT) is widely used to assess the role of
emotion in decision making. However, there is only indirect
evidence to support that the task measures emotion. There are
inconsistencies in performance within in healthy populations who
display risk tak
ing traits. Two hundred and fifty participants were
assessed for psychopathy, sensation seeking, and impulsiveness.
The IGT was compared with modified versions that directly
manipulated emotion within in the task by indexing reward and
punishment cards wit
h images varying in emotional content.
Participants continued to learn to avoid risky decks in all versions
of the IGT. The manipulation of emotional content within the task
did affect performance: fearful images contributed to greater risky
deck selection
s. Across the tasks, psychopathy showed the
strongest relationship to risky deck selections, and lower levels of
psychopathy was associated decreased risky deck selections.
However, psychopathy did not affect learning in the modified
versions. Exploratory analysis on image valance found that
negative images (compared to neutral) benefited learning for
individuals with higher levels of psychopathy. Discussion will
center on the benefits of manipulating emotion directly within the
task as a means to assess th
e validity of the IGT.