Principal Investigator: Jon E. Grant, JD, MD, M.P.H.
Award: $402,500 in 2009

Emerging evidence shows remarkable similarities in signs, symptoms, and neuro-pathology among several forms of impulsive behavior, such as pathological gambling, excessive drug and alcohol use, and risk taking behaviors such as driving recklessly and sexual promiscuity. Recent clinical and preclinical studies indicate that severity of impulsivity reflects varying degrees of control over motivational neurocircuitry and may provide the key to understanding the core pathology underlying these ostensibly distinct disorders. More specifically, identifying and understanding these commonalities of impulsivity, as well as the varying degrees of impulse inhibition, may reveal the driving force underlying pathological gambling.

The overall goal of this Center is to expand upon these important initial preclinical and clinical studies by implementing a translational approach in an interdisciplinary team that uses information from young adults with a range of impulsive behaviors to examine underlying neuropsychological and cognitive mechanisms that lead to the vulnerability, development and treatment of pathological gambling. The behaviors that characterize pathological gambling (e.g., chasing losses, preoccupation with gambling, inability to stop) have been strongly linked to an inability to inhibit reward-seeking, also referred to as “impulsivity” or “disinhibition”. Developmentally, impulsive behavior that underlies pathological gambling tends to start during late adolescence or early adulthood. Recent theoretical work has suggested that impulsivity may arise as a coherent construct arising from multiple perspectives, including neuroeconomic, cognitive, and neuropsychological perspectives. Relatively little research, however, has focused on incorporating these multiple perspectives into a coherent understanding of impulsivity and pathological gambling. This Center proposes to integrate research in the fields of cognition, neuroeconomics, and computational modeling to develop and validate a susceptibility detection model of impulsivity. This model of impulsivity will allow for the early detection of susceptible youth and, with early treatment interventions, will prove that progression to pathological gambling, and perhaps other disorders of impulse control, can be prevented.

Chamberlain, S. R., Odlaug, B. L., Schreiber, L., & Grant, J. E. (2012). Association between tobacco smoking and cognitive functioning in young adults. The American Journal on Addictions, 21(s1), S14-S19.

Chamberlain, S. R., Odlaug, B. L., Schreiber, L. R., & Grant, J. E. (2013). Clinical and neurocognitive markers of suicidality in young adults. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 47(5), 586-591.

Grant, J. E., Odlaug, B. L., Chamberlain, S. R., & Schreiber, L. R. (2012). Neurocognitive dysfunction in strategic and non-strategic gamblers. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 38(2), 336-340.

Grant, J.E., Odlaug, B.L., Chamberlain, S.R., Keuthen, N.J., Lochner, C.,& Stein, D.J. (2012). Skin picking disorder: An under-recognized and under-treated disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry,169(11):1143-1149.

Grant, J.E., Chamberlain, S.R., Odlaug, B.L., & Schreiber, L.R.N. (2012). Gender-related clinical and neurocognitive differences in individuals seeking treatment for pathological gambling. Journal of Psychiatry Research, 46(9),1206-1211.

Grant, J. E., Chamberlain, S. R., Schreiber, L. R., & Odlaug, B. L. (2012). Neurocognitive deficits associated with shoplifting in young adults. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 53(8), 1049-1055.

Grant, J. E., Chamberlain, S. R., Schreiber, L., & Odlaug, B. L. (2012). Neuropsychological deficits associated with cannabis use in young adults. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 121(1), 159-162.

Grant, J. E., Chamberlain, S. R., Schreiber, L. R. N., Odlaug, B. L., & Kim, S. W. (2011). Selective decision-making deficits in at-risk gamblers. Psychiatry Research, 189(1), 115-120.

Grant, J. E., Odlaug, B. L., & Donahue, C. B. (2012). Adolescent stealing treated with motivational interviewing and imaginal desensitization—Case report. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 1(4), 191-192.

Grant, J. E., Odlaug, B. L., Hampshire, A., Schreiber, L. R., & Chamberlain, S. R. (2013). White matter abnormalities in skin picking disorder: a diffusion tensor imaging study. Neuropsychopharmacology, 38(5), 763-769.

Grant, J. E., Odlaug, B. L., & Mooney, M. E. (2012). Telescoping phenomenon in pathological gambling: Association with gender and comorbidities. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 200(11), 996.

Grant, J. E., Odlaug, B. L., Schreiber, L. R., Chamberlain, S. R., & Kim, S. W. (2013). Memantine reduces stealing behavior and impulsivity in kleptomania: a pilot study. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 28(2), 106-111.

Grant, J. E., Schreiber, L. R., & Odlaug, B. L. (2013). Phenomenology and treatment of behavioural addictions. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 58(5), 252.

Harvanko, A. M., Odlaug, B. L., Schreiber, L. R., & Grant, J. E. (2012). Cognitive task performance and frequency of alcohol usage in young adults. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 6(2), 106-111.

Hodgins, D. C., Stea, J. N., & Grant, J. E. (2011). Gambling disorders. The Lancet, 378(9806), 1874-1884

Annual Clinical Psychiatry, 24(4), 300-304.,>

Lochner, C., Grant, J. E., Odlaug, B. L., Woods, D. W., Keuthen, N. J., & Stein, D. J. (2012). DSM‐5 field survey: Hair-pulling disorder (trichotillomania). Depression and Anxiety, 29(12), 1025-1031.

Odlaug, B. L., Chamberlain, S. R., Harvanko, A. M., & Grant, J. E. (2012). Age at onset in trichotillomania: clinical variables and neurocognitive performance. Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders, 14(4), 1343-5.

Odlaug, B. L., Chamberlain, S. R., Kim, S. W., Schreiber, L. R. N., & Grant, J. E. (2011). A neurocognitive comparison of cognitive flexibility and response inhibition in gamblers with varying degrees of clinical severity. Psychological Medicine, 41(10), 2111-2119.

Odlaug BL, Grant JE. (2012). Commentary on Durkee et al: Prevalence of pathological Internet use among adolescents in Europe: demographic and social factors. Addiction, 107(12):2223-2224.

Odlaug, B. L., Grant, J. E., & Kim, S. W. (2012). Suicide attempts in 107 adolescents and adults with kleptomania. Archives of Suicide Research, 16(4), 348-359.

Odlaug, B. L., Lust, K., Schreiber, L. R., Christenson, G., Derbyshire, K., & Grant, J. E. (2013). Skin picking disorder in university students: health correlates and gender differences. General Hospital Psychiatry, 35(2), 168-173.

Odlaug, B. L., Schreiber, L. R., & Grant, J. E. (2013). Personality dimensions and disorders in pathological gambling. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 26(1), 107-112.

Odlaug, B. L., Stinchfield, R., Golberstein, E., & Grant, J. E. (2013). The relationship of tobacco use with gambling problem severity and gambling treatment outcome. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 27(3), 696.

Schreiber, L. R., Grant, J. E., & Odlaug, B. L. (2012). Emotion regulation and impulsivity in young adults. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46(5), 651-658.

Schreiber, L.R.N., Odlaug, B.L., & Grant, J.E. (2012). Recreational gamblers with and without parental addiction. Psychiatry Research,196(2-3), 290-295.

Schreiber, L.R.N., Odlaug, B.L., & Grant, J.E. (2011). Diagnosis and treatment of trichotillomania. Neuropsychiatry, 1(2): 123-132.

Schreiber, L.R.N., Odlaug, B.L., & Grant, J.E. (2011). Impulse control disorders: updated review of clinical characteristics and pharmacological management. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2, 1.

Schreiber, L.R.N., Odlaug, B.L., & Grant, J.E. (2012). Recreational gamblers with and without parental addiction. Psychiatry Research, 196(2-3), 290-295.

Schreiber, L., Odlaug, B.L., Kim, S.W., Grant, J.E. (2009). Characteristics of pathological gamblers with a gambling parent. American Journal of Addictions,18(6), 462-469.

Grant, J. E., Potenza, M. N., Weinstein, A., & Gorelick, D. A. (2010). Introduction to behavioral addictions. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 36(5), 233-241.

Year: 2009
Type: Centers of Excellence