Slot – Psychophysiological Measures of Reward Reactivity in Slot-Machine Play

Slot is a game that relies on randomness and offers a chance to win. It can be found in casinos, online and mobile devices. There are different types of slots games depending on the themes, features and jackpots offered. Some have high RTPs, others are more volatile.

The reason why slots are so popular can be explained by several factors. First, players receive instant feedback on their monetary results, making the game very exciting (Griffiths & Parke, 2005). Moreover, a win is accompanied by high-fidelity music and amusing animations, which further enhance the experience of playing the game. However, despite these positive features, some people experience serious gambling problems when playing the game (Blaszczynski, Sharpe, Walker, Shannon, & Coughlan, 2005).

To mitigate this problem, it is important to understand why players enjoy playing slots so much. The aim of this study was to develop psychophysiological measures of reward reactivity in the context of slot-machine play. Unlike other psychophysiological measures involving cumbersome electrodes and wires that reduce ecological validity and potentially inhibit flow, the present study employed unobtrusive sensors attached to the players’ hands to measure PRPs and force. Both of these measures exhibited strong correlations with positive affect, and the force measure accounted for greater unique variance in a multiple regression framework than did dark flow. These results indicate that the enjoyment of slots may be derived from a combination of arousal and attention-capturing intermittent rewards, which may help to alleviate negative mood states associated with gambling.