William Atkins
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 21:10
Science -
Health
Page 3 of 4
The researchers also used a questionnaire to ask gambling-related questions to the participatants.
Both regions of the brain, which were analyzed in this study, help in the processing of rewards (along with intense stimuli associated with aversions and the abusee of illicit drugs), planning of cognitive behaviors and personality expressions, and the correcting of anti-social behaviors.
As such, the researchers wanted to see if there is increased activity in these areas of the brain when people are gambling, especially when “near-misses” occur while gambling.
They found that there was, indeed, significant activity in these areas of the brain when “near-misses” occurred while gambling.
The researchers found that the participants found “near-misses” more
“unpleasant” than “full-misses.”
However, the participants had more desire to continue to play the gambling game when they had “near-misses.”
Clark stated,
“Gamblers often interpret near-misses as special events, which encourage them to continue to gamble. Our findings show that the brain responds to near-misses as if a win has been delivered, even though the result is technically a loss." [News-Medical.Net]
Page four adds more comments from Dr. Clark.
