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A Psychophysiological and Behavioural Study of Slot Machine Near-Misses Using Immersive Virtual Reality

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Abstract

During slot machine gambling, near-miss outcomes occur when the final winning icon lands one position off the pay-line. To understand how near-misses promote gambling behaviour in healthy populations, autonomic arousal is often used to index outcome response valence. Findings remain equivocal, possibly owing to the limited ecological validity of computer simulations. Relevant psychological traits, such as impulsivity, which increase the risk of problem gambling, are often not examined. Here, we used immersive virtual reality (VR) to investigate near-miss-induced changes in physiological arousal and VR gambling behaviour. Sixty adult participants with no history of problem gambling were immersed in a VR casino-bar where they engaged with a self-selected slot machine. Real-time heart rate (HR) data were acquired during immersion. Within-subjects analyses were conducted on HR and post-reinforcement pauses (PRPs; i.e., time taken to initiate next-spin) across wins, losses and near-misses. Significant HR acceleration occurred for both near-misses and losses compared to wins, indexing an initial orientation response. Both types of losses were associated with faster next-spin responses. Near-misses did not apparently have unique HR or PRP profiles from losses, although this may reflect our loss control condition, which in itself may have been a subtler near-miss outcome. Impulsivity measured by the SUPPS-P was not associated with near-miss responses. Losses may encourage gambling as participants experience more immediate HR acceleration (indexing arousal unique to losing) and initiate faster responses. Future studies should clarify this effect by investigating problem gambling cohorts and develop VR paradigms taking into consideration the current findings and limitations.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by partial funding from Monash University School of Psychological Science and the David Winston Turner Endowment Fund.

Funding

Murat Yücel has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (APP#1117188), the Australian Research Council, the David Winston Turner Endowment Fund, and Monash University. He has also received funding from the law firms in relation to expert witness report/statement.

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Author notes

  1. Rico S. C. Lee and Murat Yücel have contributed equally to this work and share joint senior authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health and School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Room 146, MBI, 770 Blackburn Rd, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia

    Louisa Detez, Lisa-Marie Greenwood, Rebecca Segrave, Teresa Ries, Mitchell Stevenson, Rico S. C. Lee & Murat Yücel

  2. School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

    Lisa-Marie Greenwood

  3. Caulfield School of Information Technology, Monash University, Caulfield, VIC, Australia

    Elliott Wilson & Thomas Chandler

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  1. Louisa Detez
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Correspondence to Murat Yücel.

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All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Detez, L., Greenwood, LM., Segrave, R. et al. A Psychophysiological and Behavioural Study of Slot Machine Near-Misses Using Immersive Virtual Reality. J Gambl Stud 35, 929–944 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-018-09822-z

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