A slot is a narrow depression, notch, or slit, especially one for receiving coins or letters. It can also be a position that has a particular grammatical function, such as the chief copy editor’s slot on the editorial staff. The term is often used in reference to a computer or video game console’s slots, which are narrow openings for inserting tokens that generate a series of outcomes according to the rules of each game.
A key to a player’s enjoyment of slot machines is the experience of arousal associated with winning. Previous research has largely examined the physiological effect of music in isolation from other sensory modalities, but in modern multiline slots play there is a perceptual onslaught of images and sounds that accompany each win. This study tests whether these stimuli contribute to arousal during wins and losses and, by extension, gambling behaviour.
The results suggest that the sounds triggered by wins are important to arousal during this type of play. The effect is mediated by the reward reactivity measures (PRP and force as a function of win size) that were extracted from Dixon et al.’s (2018) work. These findings have important implications for understanding the mechanisms that drive slot machine addiction. They may also have practical applications for developing gambling interventions. For example, they might help explain why many players who have experienced the “dark flow” of slot machine play return to the same machines in order to attempt to recoup their losses.