Objective: To investigate the ability of decision making under ambiguity condition in epileptics.
Methods: Twenty-five epileptics (EP) at our hospital during June 2011 to March 2012 and 25 healthy controls (HC) were surveyed by Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) with ambiguous probability. Statistical analyses were performed with analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent sample t test. And α = 0.05 denoted the level of significant differences.
Results: As compared with HC, the epileptics were impaired in decision-making under ambiguity and scored lower in IGT (EP: -4.56 ± 10.26; HC: 4.32 ± 24.14; t = -2.23, P = 0.029). A comparison between the scores of subjects on 5 blocks suggested: HC subjects scored higher on block 3 (HC: 2.40 ± 7.07; EP: -1.44 ± 3.98) and block 5 (HC: 4.00 ± 7.46; EP: 0.00 ± 4.51) than the scores of EP subjects (block 3, F = 3.950, P = 0.022, block 5, F = 6.416, P = 0.027).
Conclusion: The EP patients have significant impairment in decision-making under ambiguity.