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Suboptimal foraging behavior: a new perspective on gambling.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Addicott, MA; Pearson, JM; Kaiser, N; Platt, ML; McClernon, FJ
Published in: Behav Neurosci
October 2015

Why do people gamble? Conventional views hold that gambling may be motivated by irrational beliefs, risk-seeking, impulsive temperament, or dysfunction within the same reward circuitry affected by drugs of abuse. An alternate, unexplored perspective is that gambling is an extension of natural foraging behavior to a financial environment. However, when these foraging algorithms are applied to stochastic gambling outcomes, undesirable results may occur. To test this hypothesis, we recruited participants based on their frequency of gambling-yearly (or less), monthly, and weekly-and investigated how gambling frequency related to irrational beliefs, risk-taking/impulsivity, and foraging behavior. We found that increased gambling frequency corresponded to greater gambling-related beliefs, more exploratory choices on an explore/exploit foraging task, and fewer points earned on a Patchy Foraging Task. Gambling-related beliefs negatively related to performance on the Patchy Foraging Task, indicating that individuals with more gambling-related cognitions tended to leave a patch too quickly. This indicates that frequent gamblers have reduced foraging ability to maximize rewards; however, gambling frequency -and by extension, poor foraging ability- was not related to risk-taking or impulsive behavior. These results suggest that gambling reflects the application of a dysfunctional foraging process to financial outcomes.

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Published In

Behav Neurosci

DOI

EISSN

1939-0084

Publication Date

October 2015

Volume

129

Issue

5

Start / End Page

656 / 665

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Risk-Taking
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Impulsive Behavior
  • Humans
  • Gambling
  • Female
  • Exploratory Behavior
  • Decision Making
 

Citation

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Addicott, M. A., Pearson, J. M., Kaiser, N., Platt, M. L., & McClernon, F. J. (2015). Suboptimal foraging behavior: a new perspective on gambling. Behav Neurosci, 129(5), 656–665. https://doi.org/10.1037/bne0000082
Addicott, Merideth A., John M. Pearson, Nicole Kaiser, Michael L. Platt, and F Joseph McClernon. “Suboptimal foraging behavior: a new perspective on gambling.Behav Neurosci 129, no. 5 (October 2015): 656–65. https://doi.org/10.1037/bne0000082.
Addicott MA, Pearson JM, Kaiser N, Platt ML, McClernon FJ. Suboptimal foraging behavior: a new perspective on gambling. Behav Neurosci. 2015 Oct;129(5):656–65.
Addicott, Merideth A., et al. “Suboptimal foraging behavior: a new perspective on gambling.Behav Neurosci, vol. 129, no. 5, Oct. 2015, pp. 656–65. Pubmed, doi:10.1037/bne0000082.
Addicott MA, Pearson JM, Kaiser N, Platt ML, McClernon FJ. Suboptimal foraging behavior: a new perspective on gambling. Behav Neurosci. 2015 Oct;129(5):656–665.

Published In

Behav Neurosci

DOI

EISSN

1939-0084

Publication Date

October 2015

Volume

129

Issue

5

Start / End Page

656 / 665

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Risk-Taking
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Impulsive Behavior
  • Humans
  • Gambling
  • Female
  • Exploratory Behavior
  • Decision Making