Reward processing, motivation and emotional responding during slot machine play

最流行的赌博形式之一是玩老虎机。这个提议调查了玩家对某些老虎机结果的情感反应。当玩家“差点”中头奖时，就会发生“差点”中头奖的情况（例如，在工位线上得到两个7，而第三个刚好不在工位线上）。伪装成胜利的损失（ldw）发生在玩家“赢”回的钱少于他们在旋转中下注的时候。例如，在现代老虎机上，玩家可以在20条线上每条线下注5美分，总投注为1美元。当他们旋转并失去他们的美元时，机器进入安静状态。当他们旋转并赢得一美元时，机器会用闪烁的线条和一首获胜的歌曲来突出显示胜利。当他们旋转并赢回25美分（即输掉75美分）时，机器仍然会用闪烁的线条和获胜歌曲来庆祝“赢”。某些老虎机功能让玩家产生一种错觉，认为他们可以控制随机结果。例如，玩家可以按下“停止按钮”来停止旋转的卷轴。停止按钮所做的只是更快地显示随机选择的结果。当玩家在使用停止按钮后获胜时，他们有时会将胜利归因于他们按下停止按钮的时间。我们的目标是证明这种对老虎机结果的控制幻觉夸大了对老虎机结果的情绪反应。我将使用皮肤电导（当我们兴奋或沮丧时，我们的手会出汗）和后强化暂停（当玩家旋转并获胜时，他们会在开始下一次旋转前稍作停顿）来记录这些夸张的反应。我将说明，在老虎机游戏中，获胜会让人兴奋，差一点会让人沮丧，但也会增加继续赌博的冲动。然后我将展示停止按钮等功能会让玩家对胜利和侥幸失败做出更强烈的反应。我将说明，即使玩家在赔钱时，ldw也会让他们觉得自己处于“连胜状态”，而当玩家觉得自己控制了结果时，这种效果就会被夸大。这项研究将有助于我们更好地理解赌博的动机、赌博时的情绪，以及我们如何（错误地）理解赌博时的奖励。

One of the most popular forms of gambling involves slot machine play. This proposal investigates how players react emotionally to certain slot machine outcomes. Near-misses occur when players "just miss" the jackpot (e.g., get two 7s on the payline with the third just off the payline). Losses disguised as wins (LDWs) occur when a player "wins" back less than they wager on that spin. On modern slot machines players can bet for example 5 cents on each of 20 lines for a total wager of $1.00. When they spin and lose their dollar, the machine goes into a state of quiet. When they spin and win a dollar the machine highlights the win with flashing lines, and a winning song. When they spin and get back say back 25 cents (i.e., the LOSE 75 cents) the machine still celebrates the "win" with flashing lines and winning songs. Certain slots features give players the illusion that they have some control over what are random outcomes. For example players can push a "stop-button" to stop the spinning reels. All the stop button does is reveal the randomly selected outcome more quickly. When a win occurs after a player uses the stop button, they sometimes attribute the win to the timing of their stop-button press. The goal is to show that this illusion of control over slots outcomes exaggerates the emotional reactions to the slots outcomes. I will use skin conductance (when we are excited or frustrated our hands sweat) and post-reinforcement pauses (when players spin and win, they pause slightly before initiating the next spin) to document these exaggerated reactions. I will show that in slot machine play, wins cause excitement, and near-misses cause frustration, but also increase the urge to continue gambling. I will then show that features like the stop-button cause players react even more strongly to wins and near-misses. I will show that LDWs cause players to feel like they are on a "hot streak" even when they are losing money and this effect is exaggerated when players feel they control outcomes. This research will better our understanding of the motivation to gamble, emotions while gambling, and how we (mis)interpret rewards while gambling.