Subjective awareness on the Iowa Gambling Task: The key role of emotional experience in schizophrenia

The key role of emotion in complex decision-making is commonly assessed using the Iowa Gambling Task, and has recently been a substantial research topic in neuropsychology. However, the question of subjective experience on such emotion-based learning measures has yet to be fully investigated, largely because previous studies have focussed primarily on behavioral performance measures. The present study investigated subjective experience on the Gambling Task, using a more systematic and quantitative method than that previously employed: evaluating the ability of participants to 'interrogate' emotion-based learning systems. The study also investigated subjective experience in a population (people with schizophrenia) in whom the question of emotional awareness is of especial interest. People with schizophrenia showed learning on the Gambling Task at levels entirely comparable with that of controls. Both groups of participants also showed substantial, and rapidly developing, awareness of which decks were 'good' and 'bad'. Importantly, greater awareness was a significant correlate of good performance on the Gambling Task, for both groups, suggesting that there may be greater conscious awareness of emotion-related information in complex decision-making than had previously been appreciated.