Psychology Commons^™

Rats Playing A Slot Machine: A Preliminary Attempt At An Animal Gambling Model, Jeffrey N. Weatherly, Adam Derenne

Analysis of Gambling Behavior

Due to certain ethical and procedural considerations, it is not possible to con-duct certain experimental studies on human gambling behavior. Animal mod-els of gambling may hold some utility because they can possibly overcome these considerations. The present experiment was a first attempt to establish an animal model of gambling by having rats play a “slot machine.” Rats pressed a lever on a fixed-ratio 5 schedule of reinforcement. In the Cue conditions, a bank of stimulus lights flashed after the completion of the ratio, with the pattern of lights that subsequently remained illuminated signaling what consequence would be received (i.e., a …