If you cant resist the chance to put on a bet, blame your insula—a region of your brain. S

cientists think that when this brain area is overactive, the heart rules our head and we cant help but【C1】______our losses. The Cambridge University researchers said: "Future treatments for gambling addiction could seek to reduce this overactivity, either by drugs or psychological techniques." The researchers made the【C2】______after asking people with various brain injuries and healthy people play slot machine and roulette (a gambling game). A near miss on the slot machines made the players,【C3】______those with the damaged insulas, extra-keen to try their luck again.【C4】______, all of the players, apart from those with faulty insulas, made a【C5】______mistake when playing roulette. Dr Luke Clark from the University of Cambridge, who led the research, explained that during gambling games, people often【C6】______their chances of winning【C7】______a number of errors of thinking called【C8】______distortions. For example, near-misses seem to encourage further play,【C9】______they are no different from any other loss. In a【C10】______sequence like tossing a coin, a【C11】______of one event (heads) makes people think the other【C12】______(tails) is due next; this is known as the gamblers fallacy. There is increasing【C13】______that problem gamblers are particularly prone to these erroneous beliefs. By studying these people, the researchers found that all of them—【C14】______the exception of the patients with insula damage—reported a【C15】______motivation to play following near-misses in the slot machine game, and also fell【C16】______to the gamblers fallacy in the roulette game. The finding, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that the insula, which is【C17】______in gut feelings and decision-making, is key to the psychology of gambling. "Based on these results, we【C18】______that the insula could be overactive in problem gamblers, making them more【C19】______to these errors of thinking," said Dr Clarke. "Future treatments for gambling addiction could seek to reduce this overactivity, either by drugs or by psychological techniques like mindfulness【C20】______."

【C1】

A．stop

B．regret

C．chase

D．figure