No effect of short term exposure to gambling like reward systems on post game risk taking.

ABSTRACT: Is engaging with gambling-like video game rewards a risk factor for future gambling? Despite speculation, there are no direct experimental tests of this "gateway hypothesis". We test a mechanism that might support this pathway: the effects of engaging with gambling-like reward mechanisms on risk-taking. We tested the hypothesis that players exposed to gambling-like rewards (i.e., randomised rewards delivered via a loot box) would show increased risk-taking compared to players in fixed and no reward control conditions. 153 participants (M_age = 25) completed twenty minutes of gameplay-including exposure to one of the three reward conditions-before completing a gamified, online version of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Self-reports of gambling and loot box engagement were c

SUBMITTER: D'Amico NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9537418 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature