Electrodermal activity reliably captures physiological differences between wins and losses during gambling on electronic machines

Abstract

Differential patterns of physiological arousal to win and loss events during gambling is central to psychological conceptualizations of gambling behaviors but is poorly researched. We recorded heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCRs) to wins and losses while 23 healthy participants played for small incentives on a simulated electronic gambling task. Wins produced large SCRs whereas losses did not, and large wins produced larger SCRs than small wins. Electrodermal measures also correlated with reward responsiveness on a personality measure and with ratings of excitement during gambling. HR evidenced a slight deceleration before event outcomes, and the rebound HR was larger after wins than after losses. The study demonstrates that physiological changes to gambling events can be reliably captured, and that these changes are sensitive to differential outcomes. These findings establish a foundation for future research in field settings.

Psychophysiological arousal in different gambling phases in youngs and adolescents

“…The results of the present research are coherent with other gambling studies that suggest that achieving the prize is necessary to maintain a high the psychophysiological arousal during it (Coventry & Hudson, 2001;Lole, et al, 2012), but that having the expectation of being able to win the prize is more relevant than winning it (Ladouceur, Sévigny, Blaszczynski, O'Connor, & Lavoie, 2003;Wulfert, Roland, Hartley, Wang, & Franco, 2005). According to the design of the present research, gamblers showed this expectation in the first attempt, and especially in the betting and rotation of the roulette phases.…”

“…This is coherent with studies that suggest that electrodermal activity indices are more sensitive than heart rate to arousal changes in gambling studies (Crone, et al, 2004;Dawson, et al, 2011;Lole, et al, 2012;Miu, et al, 2008;Yucha, et al, 2007). On one hand, respect to skin conductance level it was evidenced that the arousal was higher in the betting phase than in the other two phases.…”

“…Concretely, skin conductance level is one of the best indices in the assessment of physiological arousal, because of its great sensitivity to detect changes related to arousal (Barry, 1996(Barry, , 2006. Likewise, some studies have showed the efficacy of the skin conductance response in detecting the physiological changes related to gambling behavior (Lole, Gonsalvez, Blaszczynski, & Clarke, 2012;Miu, Heilman, & Houser, 2008).…”

Can event-related potentials serve as neural markers for wins, losses, and near-wins in a gambling task? A principal components analysis

“…In real gambling, significant sums of money are wagered, won, and lost within a short period, whereas in previous laboratory-based studies (e.g., Lole et al, 2012;Wilkes et al, 2010), and the current study, rewards were capped and restricted to small amounts (movie voucher/s in the current study). Further, unlike real gambling, the participant does not suffer the risk of losing their own money, with losses often restricted to loss of free credits allocated to the research participant.…”

Mixed Emotions to Near-Miss Outcomes: A Psychophysiological Study with Facial Electromyography

“…Wins were also associated with a clear phasic (Clark et al 2012(Clark et al , 2013Lole et al 2012;Dixon et al 2011), coupled with increased zygomaticus activity and decreased corrugator activity. While zygomaticus activity is a well-established response to appetitive stimuli such as erotic pictures, only two previous experiments have generalized this response to financial outcomes within a gambling context (Bediou et al 2011;Wu et al 2015).…”