Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
J Gambl Stud. 2021 Jun;37(2):403-425. doi: 10.1007/s10899-020-09976-9. Epub 2020 Sep 23.
Losses disguised as wins (LDWs) are slot machine outcomes where players gain fewer credits than they wager. Despite being losses, slot machines celebrate LDWs with positive sounds and animations, leading gamblers to respond to them as wins. It is unknown how manipulating the sound following LDWs may influence gamblers' behaviour. In Experiment 1, participants played two conditions on a realistic slot machine simulator: a (standard) positive sound condition (LDWs paired with positive sound, losses paired with silence), and a negative sound condition (LDWs and losses paired with negative sound). We measured participants' behavioural responses [post-reinforcement pauses (PRPs)], win estimates, and subjective experience. In the negative sound condition, participants behaviourally responded to LDWs in a more loss-like and less win-like fashion, as measured by PRPs. Win estimates were reduced, and subjective experience was significantly impacted, but only when the negative sound condition was played second. In Experiment 2, we employed a much more subtle manipulation, pairing only LDWs with negative sound, and observed similar effects. Through these two experiments, we show that pairing LDWs with negative sound is an effective way to modify players' responses to LDWs, causing them to respond to them more like the losses they are, rather than the wins they seem.
输当赢（Losses disguised as wins，LDWs）是指在老虎机游戏中，玩家赢得的点数比下注的点数少。尽管是输，但老虎机会用正面的声音和动画来庆祝 LDWs，让赌徒将其视为赢。目前尚不清楚在 LDW 之后改变声音的方式会如何影响赌徒的行为。在实验 1 中，参与者在一个逼真的老虎机模拟器上玩两种条件：一种是标准的正面声音条件（LDWs 与正面声音配对，损失与静音配对），另一种是负面声音条件（LDWs 和损失与负面声音配对）。我们测量了参与者的行为反应[强化后停顿（PRPs）]、赢的估计和主观体验。在负面声音条件下，参与者的行为反应更像是输，而不是赢，这可以通过 PRPs 来衡量。赢的估计减少了，主观体验也受到了显著影响，但只有在负面声音条件先播放时才会出现这种情况。在实验 2 中，我们进行了一个更微妙的操作，仅将 LDWs 与负面声音配对，观察到了类似的效果。通过这两个实验，我们表明将 LDWs 与负面声音配对是一种有效的方法，可以改变玩家对 LDWs 的反应，使他们将其视为损失，而不是看起来的胜利。
