Reward processing, motivation and emotional responding during slot machine play

老虎机赌博是最流行的赌博形式之一。这项提案调查了玩家对老虎机某些结果的情绪反应。当玩家“错过”头奖时，就会发生险些命中的情况(例如，两个7出现在发放线上，第三个正好落在发放线上)。损失伪装为赢(LDWS)发生时，玩家“赢”回来的赌注比他们在该旋转。例如，在现代的老虎机上，玩家可以在20行中的每一行下注5美分，总下注为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，机器会用闪烁的台词和一首获胜的歌曲来突出显示获胜。当他们旋转并回来时，比如说25美分(即失去的75美分)，机器仍然用闪烁的台词和获胜的歌曲来庆祝“胜利”。某些老虎机功能给玩家一种错觉，认为他们对随机结果有一些控制。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。当玩家使用停止按钮后获胜时，他们有时会将胜利归因于按下停止按钮的时机。我们的目标是表明，这种对老虎机结果的控制错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手出汗)和加强后停顿(当玩家旋转并获胜时，他们在开始下一次旋转之前稍微停顿)来记录这些夸张的反应。我将展示在老虎机游戏中，胜利令人兴奋，险些使人沮丧，但也增加了继续赌博的冲动。然后，我将展示像停止按钮这样的功能会使玩家对胜利和险些失手做出更强烈的反应。我将展示LDW会让玩家感觉自己处于“火爆状态”，即使他们在赔钱，而且当玩家感觉他们控制了结果时，这种效果被夸大了。这项研究将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)解释赌博时的回报。

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.