Borderline Personality Symptoms Relate to Gambling Under Ambiguous, Not Risky Conditions (2024)

Undergraduates: Macy Parmelee, Sophie Paolizzi, Dr. Michael Hallquist

Faculty Advisor: Michael Hallquist
Department: Psychology and Neuroscience

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In this exploratory study, we sought to extend previous research demonstrating that decision-making regarding known outcome probabilities (risk) or unknown outcome probabilities (ambiguity) varies based on personality and symptoms of psychopathology. To capture behavioral effects of worry and borderline personality disorder (BPD), two screening measures were used to oversample for participants with extreme scores on one or both dimensions. 147 subjects aged 18-45 (M = 34.7, SD = 6.2) were then recruited to complete an online gambling task simulating risky and ambiguous conditions. Multilevel linear regression was used to assess the effect of uncertainty type, reward, contingency, and clinical measures on reaction time. We found a significant main effect of reward on reaction time, where greater reward predicts faster reaction times (estimate = -.005, p<.005). Additionally, there was a significant interaction effect between self-reported BPD symptoms and uncertainty type (estimate = -.004, p<.05). The effect of ambiguity on reaction time depended on BPD severity; as BPD severity increased, the reaction time for ambiguous trials became increasingly slower compared to risky trials. Importantly, the relationship between ambiguity and BPD was not better accounted for by symptoms of worry, and similar slowing of reaction times was not observed under risky conditions. This set of analyses furthers our understanding of how individuals endorsing higher anxiety or BPD symptoms navigate distinct types of uncertain contexts, extending an existing body of research on decision-making and psychopathology.