In conclusion, our study has shown that alcoholics demonstrate dysfunctional outcome processing, high impulsivity and risk-taking (as observed in the behavioral scores), and possibly a compromised neural reward network. A possible limitation that could compromise the validity of the present study is that the alcoholic group is significantly older than the control group, although age has been treated as a covariate in the statistical analysis. Since age as a factor may have had an impact on the impulsivity variables, we suggest that future studies try to replicate our findings in an age-matched sample of controls and alcoholics. Converging evidence, including the ‘reward deficiency’ observed in the study, suggest that alcoholism and a host of externalizing and impulse control disorders may fall into the rubric of RDS. Future studies should focus on the application of gambling paradigms to other clinical conditions of RDS in order to confirm and validate this model. Application of sophisticated methods of signal processing including event-related brain oscillations (EROs), synchrony, and componential analysis during outcome processing may further help understand the neurocognitive phenomena and the disorders, and
