Initial Selection between Simulated Slot Machines is allocated toward Slot Machines with a Preferred Theme: A Brief Report

Many factors influence a gambler’s responding with respect to slot machine selection, persistence in playing that machine, and repeated selections of that machine again on subsequent occasions. One potential area of influence over these responses that has received little attention in slot machine gambling research is slot machine branding. In this study, 7 of 8 participants allocated initial responding to a slot machine which was branded with a preferred, rather than non-preferred, theme, even though in some cases experience with payout percentages differed

Cumulative Frequencies of Behavior Analytic Journal Publications Related to Human Research on Gambling

This brief review investigates the frequency with which gambling-related articles in behavior-analytic journals are being published. Results of this investigation yield important information regarding the recent growth of gambling-related publications within the behavioral community. Specifically, cumulative frequencies show an increasing trend in gambling-related publications between 1979 and 2012, with substantial growth occurring after 2006. These data are considered in light of Dixon’s (2007) editorial in the inaugural issue of the Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Free-Operant Research in the Experimental Analysis of Human Slot Machine Gambling

Since the pioneering days of the experimental analysis of behavior, free-operant methods have been the hallmark of a behavioral science because they permit investigators to track moment to moment changes in behavior rate. Behavior rate as a dependent variable is more sensitive to momentary changes than statistical analysis, discrete-trial arrangements, and between-subject examinations of aggregate data. In reviewing the gambling literature on slot machine studies, we found that none has focused on free-operant preparations. This lack of free-operant use is likely because of the limitations in designing a practical apparatus to study slot machine gambling through free-operant means. We provide a rationale for free-operant analyses in slot machine gambling as well as proposed methods to bring free-operant preparations to slot machine research. While non-free-operant arrangements have many merits, free-operant preparations will give additional insight into the development of problem gambling while making use of the behavior analyst’s metric of choice: behavior rate

Factors Correlated with Persistence in Online Texas Hold’em Poker Play

Previous work in gambling has yielded important findings regarding persistence at and preference for a gaming device. The current study investigates and extends the significant finding in slot machine laboratory research that win frequency is the best predictor of persistence as applied to actual data from $3/$6 and $0.01/$0.02 online No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker. Specifically, player persistence at virtual gambling tables was investigated in association with the frequency of wins by the player, the total betting activity of all players at the table, and the player’s summed financial outcome at the table. Results show that frequency of winning hands and total table betting activity were predictive of player persistence, and these relations were stronger for those who played tables sequentially rather than simultaneously. A player’s cumulative financial outcome at a table was not related to persistence in play. Directions for future experimental work are explored

Adult Samples Suggest Slot Machine and Casino Characteristics Are Possible Sources for Investigating the Illusion of Control

The illusion of control is a phenomenon in which a gambler identifies his or her odds of winning as being more favorable than would be possible by chance— either through game/device choice or direct manipulation of the device or gamerelated objects (e.g., dice). To date, relatively little attention has been paid to the illusion of control in behavior analytic research on gambling. The authors’ aim is to provide researchers with a base from which to explore the illusion of control in slot machine gambling through analyzing two samples of college students and two samples of adults participants with respect to machine and casino characteristics

Habituation and Brief-Stimulus Presentations in Near-Equivalent Simulated Slot Machine Arrangements as a Means to Study Persistence and Preference

Preference and persistence in slot machine play are not yet fully understood. Two areas of research that might help discover variables related to preference and persistence are habituation and delay-reduction. Habituation research might account for persistence in considering how repetitive, differential, and novel stimulus presentations influence responding to slot machines. Delay reduction theory asserts that preference should be given to any machine that, in some form, signals a delay to a win. We investigated preference and persistence via habituation and delayreduction with near-equivalent slot machine arrangements across two experiments. Results showed that repetitive stimulus presentations led to shorter persistence compared to a slot machine that produced differential stimulus presentations and that preference was given to a machine with fewer schedule-correlated brief stimulus presentations, both conforming to predictions from their respective literatures. This paper demonstrates how one machine preparation can test for multiple hypotheses and sets the stage for habituation and delay-reduction gambling research

Altering Probability Discounting in a Gambling Simulation

In gambling, our decisions regarding what gambles to take and how much we are willing to wager might, in part, be influenced by our histories with respect to gambling outcomes. Given a less temporally-distant history with gambling that favors losses, wins, or breaking even may create alterations in one’s discounting pattern, albeit most likely temporary. Given the topographical similarity between gambling procedures and probabilistic discounting tasks, probability discounting was used to assess potential changes in discounting resulting from a gambling task designed specifically for this study. Probabilistic discounting patterns for 38 undergraduate students before and after exposure to a simulated die-rolling task were analyzed, and results of follow-up analyses supported the notion that probabilistic discounting patterns can be changed by gambling outcomes. Implications and limitations are discussed

Reel Outcomes as Discriminative Stimuli: A Case for Reporting Single Subject Data

While slot machine gambling research in behavior analysis is on the rise, we still have many unanswered questions. Exploring the putative discriminative functions a series of reel outcomes might have on the perceived likelihood of future success (i.e., winning) might prove useful in understanding what motivates gamblers to continue gambling despite losses. In the current study, undergraduate participants watched eight videos of five reel spins each of varying win and loss (including near-miss) outcomes. Participants then provided estimations of the likelihood of winning on five upcoming hypothetical spins. While participants viewed their chances of winning as poor, strategic placement of wins and near misses influenced the probability of winning endorsed. Most importantly, idiosyncratic patterns differed markedly from grouped and overall-averaged data. A call is made to emphasize more single-subject analyses in gambling research

Reviews and syntheses:The clam before the storm - a meta-analysis showing the effect of combined climate change stressors on bivalves

The impacts of climate change on marine organisms have been increasingly documented in laboratory and experimental studies. However, the use of different taxonomic groupings and the assessment of a range of processes make identifying overall trends challenging. Meta-analysis has been used to determine general trends, but coarse taxonomic granularity may mask phylogenetically specific responses. Bivalve molluscs are a data-rich clade of ecologically and economically important calcifying marine taxa that allow for the assessment of species-specific vulnerability across developmental stages. Drawing on the large body of available literature, we conduct a meta-analysis of 203 unique experimental set-ups in order to examine how bivalve growth responds to increased water temperature, acidity, deoxygenation, and changes in salinity in 10 climate change stressor combinations. This is the most complete examination of bivalve responses to date and shows that anthropogenic climate change will disproportionally affect particular families, suggesting taxonomic differentiation in climate change response. Specifically, Mytilidae, Ostreidae, and Pectinidae (67 % of experiments) respond with negative effect sizes for all individual stressors, whereas responses in Pinnidae, Tellinidae, and Veneridae are more complex. Our analysis shows that earlier studies reporting negative impacts on bivalves are driven by only three or four well-studied, commercially important families. Despite the taxonomic differentiation, almost all drivers and their combinations have significant negative effects on growth. The synergistic impacts of deoxygenation, acidification, and temperature result in the largest negative effect size. Infaunal taxa, including Tellinidae and Veneridae, appear more resistant to warming and oxygen reduction than epifaunal or motile taxa, but this difference between the two taxa is also based on a small number of data points. The current focus of experimental set-ups on commercially important taxa and families within a small geographic range creates gaps in the understanding of global impacts on these economically important foundation organisms

Real-time-capable prediction of temperature and density profiles in a tokamak using RAPTOR and a first-principle-based transport model

The RAPTOR code is a control-oriented core plasma profile simulator with various applications in control design and verification, discharge optimization and real-time plasma simulation. To date, RAPTOR was capable of simulating the evolution of poloidal flux and electron temperature using empirical transport models, and required the user to input assumptions on the other profiles and plasma parameters. We present an extension of the code to simulate the temperature evolution of both ions and electrons, as well as the particle density transport. A proof-of-principle neural-network emulation of the quasilinear gyrokinetic QuaLiKiz transport model is coupled to RAPTOR for the calculation of first-principle-based heat and particle turbulent transport. These extended capabilities are demonstrated in a simulation of a JET discharge. The multi-channel simulation requires ∼0.2 s to simulate 1 second of a JET plasma, corresponding to ∼20 energy confinement times, while predicting experimental profiles within the limits of the transport model. The transport model requires no external inputs except for the boundary condition at the top of the H-mode pedestal. This marks the first time that simultaneous, accurate predictions of Te, Tiand nehave been obtained using a first-principle-based transport code that can run in faster-than-real-time for present-day tokamaks