澳大新語 • 2022 UMAGAZINE 26 14 封面專題 • COVER STORY game, an area in the midbrain produces dopamine. Dopamine goes through neural signalling pathways to different areas of the brain to give us a feeling of satisfaction and create memory of that feeling,’ she says. The reward system motivates us to eat, reproduce, and perform other vital tasks. ‘Having lower levels of dopamine makes us lose motivation and concentration,’ she adds. The problems come when we consume substances or engage in activities that cause a rapid and excessive production of dopamine. In the beginning, we may feel satisfied, but then connections between the neurons among our brain areas will be altered to make us accustomed to the stimulus from these substances and activities. The result is that we will crave more and more of the same stimulus just to keep the same level of satisfaction. ‘Once the stimulus from the addictive substance or behaviour stops, the addicts become depressed and would have many other health problems,’ she says. In 2020, Prof Wu’s team launched a pilot project. In a preliminary study on poker games, the team found that the brain’s reward system was activated when risky decisions were made and won. Compared to healthy individuals, people with repetitive gambling behaviours showed a lower activation level in the reward system. This could explain why people with addictions seek more and stronger stimuli than others. The researchers also found that certain brain areas associated with the reward system were activated in addicted gamblers when they were waiting for the outcome of a bet, a response not observed in other people’s brains. ‘This may mean that addicts crave not only for the rewards of a bet, but also the process of betting and waiting for a potentially rewarding outcome,’ says Prof Wu. Exploring New Ways to Prevent and Treat Addiction In early 2021, Prof Wu’s team, in collaboration with the S.K.H. Macau Social Services Coordination Office, began to collect data and recruit people with online gaming or gambling habits and others for the research project. The brains of the research participants were scanned with a functional magnetic resonance imaging system (fMRI, a technique that measures brain activity by detecting blood flow) while they performed a range of decision-making tasks. Interviews and questionnaires were conducted to understand the differences in cognitive functions such as decision-making and inhibitory control among people with different levels of addiction. Prof Wu expects that most participants will have their brains scanned multiple times over the two-year data collection period, so that researchers can understand how gaming and gambling addiction evolve and identify biomarkers that can potentially be used to determine the level of addiction. Researchers also used eye trackers and other tools to see if visual stimuli (e.g. different levels of lighting and different ways to display previous gambling results), sounds, and smells in the environment where people play games or gamble have different impacts on the development of behavioural addiction. As the gambling industry continues to grow rapidly across the Asia-Pacific, online gambling and gaming are also becoming more common worldwide. Prof Wu therefore believes that the research project will not only benefit the local community, but also provide useful data for experts and institutions around the world. Through this project, the research team has established a long-term partnership with the S.K.H. Macau Social Services Coordination Office. They not only recruit participants for the study, but also have plans for knowledge sharing and collaboration to further develop community education programmes and intervention services. By comprehensively understanding and showing how behavioural addiction changes the brain, the research team also hopes to help those affected recognise that addiction is the result of a variety of complex factors, and it does not represent a bad personality. ‘Behavioural addiction is a chronic disease that affects the brain. Just like those with other illnesses, people with behavioural addiction have a lot of ways to seek professional treatment to improve their lives,’ says Prof Wu.
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