Gambling, sex, and food: scientists map the addicted brain
NCT ID NCT03967418
First seen Sep 14, 2026 · Last updated Sep 15, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
Researchers at Nantes University Hospital are comparing how people with different behavioral addictions think, feel, and process social situations. The study includes people with gambling disorder, sexual addiction, and eating disorders with bulimia episodes, along with healthy volunteers of similar age and background. All participants complete the same set of cognitive and clinical assessments, and researchers will look for patterns that distinguish one addiction from another.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- cognitive and clinical assessment
- What this could lead to
- If researchers map distinct thinking and emotion patterns for different behavioral addictions, that could guide more targeted psychological treatments in the future.
- What could go wrong
- This study only observes and measures; it tests no treatment, so it cannot show whether any therapy works. The findings may not apply beyond the French-speaking participants studied.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
-
116 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
-
Oct 2019
- Finished
-
Jun 2025
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
15 years and older
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria for all participants: * More than 15 years and 3 months old * Mastering the French language * Social Security Affiliates * Having given consent * Correct level of vision allowing the reading of instructions, the distinction of shapes and colours and the understanding of shapes and images presented in cognitive tasks (subjectively attested by the patient) * Correct hearing level, allowing a good understanding of the sounds presented (subjectively attested by the patient and the assessor at the first contact for eligibility) Inclusion criteria for patients: * Suffering from one of the behavioural addiction explored * Beginning treatment in the Addictology department of the University Hospital of Nantes Inclusion criteria for healthy volunteers: \- Free from the explored behavioural addictions Exclusion Criteria for all participants: * Current and not stabilized psychiatric and addictive disorders (mood disorders, anxiety disorders and substance-use disorders except nicotine, lifetime psychotic syndrome), diagnosed by the MINI and after consultation with the clinician, * Non stabilized endocrine disorders * Neurological disorders (such as head trauma, neurodegenerative diseases, unbalanced epilepsy, mental retardation, etc.), * Taking a psychotropic treatment wich is not stabilized for at least 2 weeks, * Consumption of a psychoactive substance - other than nicotine - within the 12 hours prior to the assessment, * Color blindness * Cardiac problems self-reported by the patient, in order to avoid bias in the measurement of cardiac parameters, * Electrical implants as declared by the participant (to avoid measurement artifacts) * Having benefited from current or past cognitive remediation program * Reporting being pregnant or breastfeeding * Current participation or in the past month in a pharmacological research protocol * Presenting difficulties for reading or writing French * Being under guardianship * With significant cognitive impairment not compatible with de cognitive assessment Exclusion criteria for healthy volunteers : \- Suffering from one of the behavioural addiction explored
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Behavioral addiction are added.
By submitting, you agree to our Terms of use
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
CHU de Nantes
Nantes, 44093, France
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Magnetic pulses to the brain target gambling cravings
- Scientists probe brain's reward system in mental illness
- Could a milk thistle extract curb gambling urges?
- AI city halls: could Robot-Run domes cure addiction and homelessness?
- Can virtual reality help curb gambling cravings?
- Can cash rewards help rural gamblers beat addiction?