Twenty-one subjects were tested using the IGT and GO/noGo task while the EEG was registered and alpha-band modulation were considered. Secondly, the Behavioral Activation System (BAS)/Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) scale was use for testing the effect of reward sensitivity and metacognitive questionary was applied.
It was found that high-BAS subjects increased their tendency to opt in favour of the immediate reward rather than the long-term option, they tend to have difficulties to inhibit the automatic response, and they show a dysfunctional metacognition abilities. Finally, high-BAS subjects showed an increased left-hemisphere activation in response to immediate reward choices if compared to low-BAS subjects.
A reward bias effect was supposed to explain both the bad strategy and the unbalanced hemispheric activation for high-BAS and more risk-taking subjects.
These findings could have important repercussions in the social context for the prevention of dysfunctional behaviours that affect compulsive disorders like addiction.