Fortes Inês, Case Jacob P, Zentall Thomas R
University of Minho, Portugal.
University of Kentucky, United States.
Behav Processes. 2017 May;138:67-72. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.02.012. Epub 2017 Feb 20.
Slot machines are among the most popular forms of commercial gambling, and the high frequency of losses that come close to winning - near hits - in this game appears to contribute to its popularity. In the present experiment we tested if pigeons, similarly to humans, prefer an alternative that provides near-hit outcomes in a slot-machine-like task. The pigeons received series of three stimuli, one every two seconds: if the three stimuli matched, food was delivered (a win); if they did not match, food was not delivered (a loss). We gave pigeons a choice between two options that provided food with the same probability but they differed in the sequence of stimuli on loss trials. For the near-hit alternative the non-matching stimulus was the third one (defined as a near hit). For the clear-loss alternative the non-matching stimulus was the second one. We found that the pigeons preferred the clear-loss alternative, that is, they preferred to be given information about the outcome sooner. This result is consistent with prior research on suboptimal choice with pigeons that emphasizes the role of information in choice but is inconsistent with the results of research with humans.
老虎机是最受欢迎的商业赌博形式之一，在这个游戏中，接近获胜的高频损失——即“差点中彩”——似乎促成了它的流行。在本实验中，我们测试了鸽子是否与人类一样，在类似老虎机的任务中更喜欢提供差点中彩结果的选项。鸽子每两秒会收到一系列三个刺激：如果这三个刺激匹配，就会提供食物（获胜）；如果不匹配，就不提供食物（失败）。我们让鸽子在两个选项之间做出选择，这两个选项提供食物的概率相同，但在失败试验中的刺激顺序不同。对于差点中彩的选项，不匹配的刺激是第三个（定义为差点中彩）。对于明显失败的选项，不匹配的刺激是第二个。我们发现鸽子更喜欢明显失败的选项，也就是说，它们更喜欢更快得到结果信息。这一结果与之前关于鸽子次优选择的研究一致，该研究强调了信息在选择中的作用，但与人类的研究结果不一致。
