Slot is a computer term that describes a wide open area of the motherboard, used to attach expansion cards (like ISA, PCI or AGP slots) to provide additional capabilities. In modern laptops and computers, the word slot may also refer to the memory slots that hold removable hard drives and other storage devices.
The allure of slot machines can be explained by a combination of factors. In contrast to other forms of gambling, such as traditional lotteries, players can instantly know whether they have won or lost – their feedback is practically instantaneous (Griffiths & Parke, 2005). Furthermore, the fact that wins are accompanied by high-fidelity attention-grabbing music and amusing animations further heightens the perceived intensity of the wins (Blaszczynski, Sharpe, Walker, Shannon & Coughlan, 2005).
Moreover, unlike other casino games, where the player can control their own outcome by changing their bet amount or selecting the number of paylines, slot machines offer an element of chance. This element is created by a random number generator (RNG), which chooses a set of numbers each time the spin button is pressed. If these numbers match a winning combination on the machine’s paytable, then a payout is triggered.
To measure reward reactivity, we asked participants to indicate their level of enjoyment of the slots they played using an online survey. We then compared responses to a condition where win amounts were randomly varied and sounds were turned off with responses to a similar condition in which win amounts were fixed and sound was left on. The results showed that, as predicted, the sounds enhanced players’ reward reactivity and that this effect is more pronounced for losses disguised as wins than for wins alone.