Recent accounts of problematic electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling have suggested attentional pathology among at-risk players. A putative slot machine zone is characterized by an intense immersion during game play, causing a neglect of outside events and competing goals. Prior studies of EGM immersion have relied heavily upon retrospective self-report scales. Here, the authors attempt to identify behavioral and psychophysiological correlates of the immersion experience. In samples of undergraduate students and experienced EGM users from the community, they tested 2 potential behavioral measures of immersion during EGM use: peripheral target detection and probe-caught mind wandering. During the EGM play sessions, electrocardiogram data were collected for analysis of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of calming self-regulation governed by the parasympathetic nervous system. Subjective measures of immersion during the EGM play session were consistently related to risk of problem gambling. Problem gambling score, in turn, significantly predicted decrements in peripheral target detection among experienced EGM users. Both samples showed robust RSA decreases during EGM play, indicating parasympathetic withdrawal, but neither immersion nor gambling risk were related to this change. This study identifies peripheral attention as a candidate for quantifying game immersion and its links with risk of problem gambling, with implications for responsible gambling interventions at both the game and venue levels. (PsycINFO Database Record

Background and Aims Immersion during slot machine gambling has been linked to disordered gambling. Current conceptualizations of immersion (namely dissociation, flow and the machine zone) make contrasting predictions as to whether gamblers are captivated by the game per se ('zoned in') or motivated by the escape that immersion provides ('zoned out'). We examined whether selected eye-movement metrics can distinguish between these predictions. Design and Setting Pre-registered, correlational analysis in a laboratory setting. Participants gambled on a genuine slot machine for 20 minutes while wearing eye-tracking glasses. Participants Fifty-three adult slot machine gamblers who were not high-risk problem gamblers. Measurements We examined self-reported immersion during the gambling session and eye movements at different areas of the slot machine screen (the reels, the credit window, etc.). We further explored these variables' relationships with saccade count and amplitude. Findings The ratio of dwell time on the game's credit window relative to the game's reels was positively associated with immersion (t (51) = 1.68, P = 0.049 one-tailed, R 2 = 0.05). Follow-up analyses described event-related changes in these patterns following different spin outcomes.Conclusions Immersion while gambling on a slot machine appears to be associated with active scanning of the game and a focus on the game's credit window. These results are more consistent with a 'zoned in' account of immersion aligned with flow theory than a 'zoned out' account based on escape.

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As a popular form of recreational risk taking, gambling games offer a paradigm for decision neuroscience research. As an individual behavior, gambling becomes dysfunctional in a subset of the population, with debilitating consequences. Gambling disorder has been recently reconceptualized as a "behavioral addiction" in the DSM-5, based on emerging parallels with substance use disorders. Why do some individuals undergo this transition from recreational to disordered gambling? The biomedical model of problem gambling is a "brain disorder" account that posits an underlying neurobiological abnormality. This article first delineates the neural circuitry that underpins gambling-related decision making, comprising ventral striatum, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, dopaminergic midbrain, and insula, and presents evidence for pathophysiology in this circuitry in gambling disorder. These biological dispositions become translated into clinical disorder through the effects of gambling games. This influence is better articulated in a public health approach that describes the interplay between the player and the (gambling) product. Certain forms of gambling, including electronic gambling machines, appear to be overrepresented in problem gamblers. These games harness psychological features, including variable ratio schedules, near-misses, "losses disguised as wins," and the illusion of control, which modulate the core decision-making circuitry that is perturbed in gambling disorder.

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