Rat casino offers UBC researchers insight into gambling addiction

So, arat walks into a casino ...

What sounds like thestart of a lame joke is in realitythe premise behindserious research carried out by a group of UBCscientists who wanted to know if rats would respondlike humans in a casino-like setting.

Turns out they do.

• Summary: Flashing lights and music turn rats into problem gamblers

The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, discovered rats just like peoplebecame more engaged in casino games whenmusicand flashing lights were added.

The effect was enormous

"It seemed, at the time, like a stupid thing to do, because it didn't seem like adding lights and sound would have much of an impact. But when we ran the study, the effect was enormous," said Catharine Winstanley, associate professor in the Department of Psychology.

The rats were trained to gamble for sugary treatsand would normally avoid the high-risk options when playing their rat casino game.But that changed with the addition oflights and sounds.

"I was surprised not that it workedbut how well it worked," said Michael Barrus, PhD candidate in the UBC Department of Psychology. "We didn't realize it would shift decision making so much, making animals that were usually good so much worse at making choices."

Proves what game designers have known for years

Winstanley says the research proves what game designers have known for yearsthat sensory stimulation helps keep players engaged, even if they're losing.

The researchersalso discovered they could correct theproblem gambling behaviour by using drugs to block a specificdopamine receptor in the rats' brains, something that could lay the groundwork for futuregambling addiction treatments in humans.

"This particular drug has shown a lot of promise as a potential treatment for addictions," said Winstanely.