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ALTERATIONS IN SOCIAL DECISION MAKING AND EXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH ADDICTIONS

Abstract:

Introduction: Drug dependence constitutes a major public health problem in Ecuador. Drug use is related to impaired performance in executive functions, mainly in decision making. The purpose of this study was to compare decision-making performance in a group of men with drug dependence (n=31) and a group of men without drug dependence (n=32). For this purpose, an experimental task was used, simulating social contexts through situations described in brief histories Method: The design was a quantitative approach with correlational scope and cross-sectional comparative design of natural groups. Results: Using analysis of variance, a group effect by decision making was observed in the frequency of risky decisions in the consumer group. Likewise, significant differences were observed between groups in executive functions. Finally, some correlations were found between the scores of executive functions with the social decision task both in the non-consumers group and in the consumers group, thus the risky option was positively correlated in the experimental group with task monitoring r (31) = .412, p = .019, also in the experimental group a negative correlation was observed between the safe option and Task monitoring r (31) = -.412, p = .019. Conclusions: It is concluded that people with consumption are more involved in risky decisions, but do not differ in response time from the group of non-consumers. Also, higher executive dysregulation scores are found in consumers and some of these scores are related to risky decision making in simulated contexts.