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Behavioural and physiological correlates of immersion in gambling using electronic gaming machines

University of British Columbia

More than most gambling forms, Electronic Gaming Machines (EGMs, e.g. modern slot machines) have been linked to Gambling Disorder, a behavioural addiction recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. Immersion is a ‘trance-like’ state of extreme focus often reported in EGM gambling. Immersion in EGM gambling is a robust predictor of gambling problems, but is poorly understood. Few studies have investigated the cognitive, behavioural, and physiological correlates of this subjective state, and existing data rely on retrospective self-report. I investigated these topics, hypothesizing that immersion in EGM gambling produces measurable shifts in behaviour and physiological arousal, and that EGM immersion affects gamblers’ behaviour towards specific elements of the device. The first two experiments recruited samples of undergraduate students, and examined whether self-reported immersion during an EGM gambling session correlated with cardiac markers of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity. EGM gambling saw decreased parasympathetic nervous system activity irrespective of immersion. Changes in sympathetic activity were limited to the first few minutes of gambling, and were specifically associated with immersion. Additionally, higher rates of immersion were found when participants placed bets across multiple paylines, a feature endemic to modern EGMs. The third and fourth experiments recruited a sample of experienced EGM gamblers, who gambled on a real EGM while providing high-resolution eye tracking data. Immersion levels were associated with increased time spent looking at the EGM’s credit window, and decreased time on its spinning reels. Immersion was positively associated with the number of saccades participants made while gambling, as well as longer post-reinforcement pauses, a behavioural indicator of perceived reward value. We found that the EGM’s free spin bonus feature was associated with significant increases in pupil diameter, potentially indicating sympathetic nervous system arousal. Together, these experiments suggest that immersion is an active state characterized by increased reward-seeking. These data further link immersion to activity within the sympathetic nervous system, and show that immersion is impacted by specific features of modern EGMs. These results present novel candidate markers of immersion, both behavioural and physiological, and provide insight into the disproportionate rates of gambling problems associated with modern EGMs.

Text

2020-10-01

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76248

Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/