Lab Rats Choose Optimum Gambling Strategy

November 02, 2010 | Article Category: Online Casinos

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There are many studies that are performed on rodents that are compared to human behavior, and while the connection may be there when it comes to reactions to certain medications, does the same hold true for gambling patterns?

A recent study of lab rats at the University of British Columbia investigated gambling behavior. The rats were given large amounts of sugar pellets, but they were awarded at the expense of imposed "time outs" that meant they were unable to play the game for a long time period. On the other hand, if the rats chose the holes that gave them far fewer pellets, they received less rewards, but far less possibility of being removed from the game.

At the beginning, the rats went for the larger amount of sugar pellets, however, after some time, they realized that they would do better in the long run if they went for fewer rewards that came far more frequently.

Both online casino players and land based casino players seem to have a similar affinity for the high risk gambling options, just the same as the lab rats in this study do. The question is, do we humans learn from trial and error, the same way as the rats did, that a smaller bet that is safer and surer, and far less risky, is often the best choice, albeit less exciting.

The rats also had a chance to play a slot machine style game. The results in this game were interesting, in that the rats had some trouble distinguishing when they had won, and all the lights were lit, of if they had not quite won, and only two of the three lights were lit up. This seems to be the reason that the rats continued to push the levers, even when they were not really winning. The study suggests that by extension, humans may well do the same thing.

Of course, one does have to wonder whether this is true or not. It has been seen with people that the lights, bells, and whistles, and sheer excitement of "pressing the lever" cause them to continue to play slots, even when they are losing over and over again.

The question is whether we blame ourselves for lacking self control when it comes to losing streaks, or do we blame old evolutionary signals for this.

Catharine Winstanley, the University of British Columbia psychology assistant professor, who was involved with this study, joked: "We can justify all kinds of behavior that's bad for us if rats are doing the same thing.

Ms. Winstanley is hoping that by studying the reactions of the lab rats, that it may be possible to develop medications that will be able to help both land based gamblers, and online casino gamblers, with gambling disorders.

Jennifer Van Evra noted: "It implies there are actually some very old evolutionary signals that our brains are generating, and that we're responding and reacting to."

Perhaps scientists will find a way to help those with gambling problems, but either way, this study is certainly an interesting one.

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