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Scientists from Canada’s University of British Columbia have discovered that rodents are more prone to taking risks when gambling. They built a “rat casino” to prove their point.
More importantly Michael M. Barrus and Catharine A. Winstanley of the university's Department of Psychology have determined that this risk-taking behavior could be mitigated by dopamine blockers. They taught 32 rats to gamble in order to win delicious treats and selecting between four different options with varying likelihoods of providing either a treat or a punishing time-out period.
From Wired.com:
The optimal strategy for the rats was to always select the option which gave them smaller rewards, but carried less risk, rejecting "high-risk, high reward" options -- a behaviour which maximised their profits.
Under normal conditions, the rats learned what got them the most reliable pay-out and stuck with that. But once the scientists added lights and sound to the game, the rats' behaviour changed. Like human-oriented slot machines, large rewards produced more lights and music than more modest wins. Following these cues, the rats started taking greater risks to get those colourful, noisy pay-outs.
"Anyone who’s ever designed a casino game or played a gambling game will tell you that of course sound and light cues keep you more engaged, but now we can show it scientifically,” noted Winstanley.
The two professors published their study in the Journal of Neuroscience, observing that “rats choice of the disadvantageous risky options was significantly greater on the cued task” with the rats consistently behaving like problem gamblers.
"This brain receptor is also really important to drug addiction, so our findings help support the idea that risky behaviour across different vices might have a common biological cause," said lead author Michael Barrus
Professor Winstanley added that "I often feel that scientific models are decades behind the casinos. I don’t think it’s an accident that casinos are filled with lights and noise."
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
