LAUSR

ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that factors influencing risk‐taking include whether decisions are made based on emotions (affective systems) or cognitions (deliberative systems), the processing of feedback (e.g., deciding to attend a rehabilitation facility for opioid addiction treatment after an intervention held by a family member), and attention to environmental contingencies (e.g., considering the probability of an outcome such as the likelihood of contracting tetanus from a shared needle; or the gains and losses associated with a decision, such as the benefits and costs of taking drugs). Although drug‐dependent individuals tend to take more risks than non‐drug users, the factors underlying risk‐taking are unknown. The current study tested, for the first time, the influences of performance feedback (i.e., whether feedback about performance is integrated into decision‐making in heroin‐dependent individuals) and attention to environmental contingencies (i.e., the influence of the probability of a loss, the gain amount, and the loss amount associated with a scenario) on risk‐taking in heroin‐dependent individuals. Heroin‐dependent patients undergoing maintenance therapy for opioid addiction (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 27) completed the feedback and no‐feedback conditions of the Columbia Card Task (CCT). Analyses of covariance, controlling for education and task design (the order in which the CCT conditions were completed) as covariates revealed a significant interaction between (a) probability, gain and loss amount, and group, and (b) group and probability. Our findings suggest that heroin‐dependent patients pay less attention to environmental contingencies during risk‐taking than controls. Addressing these factors may facilitate greater adherence to treatment programs and lower rates of relapse.