2.2.1. Decision-Making Assessment

The computerized version of the IGT was used to assess decision-making processes [50]. This task consists of 100 trials in which the participants must draw a card from one of the four presented decks (A, B, C, and D). Each card represents a monetary gain but can also result in monetary loss. There are two advantageous decks and two disadvantageous ones. The first ones produce less monetary incomes but with an overall gain, whereas the second presents larger gain amounts and an overall monetary loss. The participant has to gain as much as possible by the end of the task. It is subdivided into five blocks of twenty trials performed consecutively. The first blocks allow measuring decision making under ambiguity, whereas in the last blocks, the task switches to decision making under risk because the rules may have been figured out [51].

The test score for each block (IGT-1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) is calculated by subtracting the number of choices from disadvantageous decks to the number of choices from advantageous decks draws. The total task score (IGT-Total) is calculated by adding the scores of the five blocks. The task also allows us to calculate a learning score (IGT-Learning) and a risk score (IGT-Risk) [42]. IGT-Learning is calculated with the difference between the scores of the two first blocks and the two last ones. This approach/procedure allows us to assess the differences between the first and final blocks. The first blocks are assessed because the participant has not learned which decks are advantageous and disadvantageous; the last blocks are assessed because the experience gained through the trial can produce changes in choice patterns. Furthermore, IGT-Risk considers only the scores from the two last blocks, where a participant could have already detected which decks involve a risky choice.
