Summary: People prefer virtual slot machines that include casino-related cues—like the sound of coins dropping or dollar sign symbols. Money- and win-related cues make machines more appealing and make large wins more memorable.
Source: University of Alberta
The sights and sounds of a slot machine can increase how much you want to play and how well you remember big wins, according to new research from the University of Alberta.
Led by Professor Marcia Spetch in the Department of Psychology, the study tested how different audiovisual cues and payout structures affect choices between simulated slot machines. The team found that participants preferred machines that paired wins with casino-like cues—such as coin-drop sounds or dollar-sign images—regardless of the machine’s risk level or when the cue occurred.
“Cues associated with money or winning can make slot machines more attractive and can even make bigger wins more memorable,” said Spetch. These kinds of cues are common in casinos and likely increase the appeal of slot-machine gambling.
Co-author Christopher Madan, formerly a PhD student with Spetch and now at the University of Nottingham, emphasized that attraction and memory for winnings are influenced by factors beyond the monetary payout. “People should be aware that their attraction and sense of winning may be biased by sensory cues,” he said.
The experiments involved undergraduate volunteers in a university laboratory in Edmonton. Participants repeatedly chose between safer machines—those that paid the same amount regardless of which symbols lined up—and riskier machines, which paid variable amounts depending on the outcome. The team examined three main influences on choice:
- Neutral sounds paired with winning outcomes;
- Casino-related audiovisual cues, such as coin sounds and dollar-sign graphics;
- Relative payout differences between machines.
Across multiple experiments, the researchers measured preference for riskier versus safer machines, choices between machines that differed only in cues, participants’ memory for payouts, and how frequently participants estimated payouts occurred. Risk preference was calculated as the proportion of choices of the risky machine when a fixed machine of equal expected value was available.
Results showed that relative payout reliably influenced choice: participants selected riskier machines more often when those machines offered higher relative payouts. Casino-related cues had a clear effect as well—participants preferred machines that paired wins with casino-style sounds and visuals, and those cues boosted memory for the payout amounts. Timing of the cue (whether it occurred at the moment of choice or simultaneously with the win) did not change the effect.
By contrast, pairing an initially neutral sound with the best payout produced inconsistent effects. In one experiment a sound paired with the best payout slightly increased risky choice compared with the sound paired with a lower payout. In other tests, however, participants did not reliably prefer the machine with the best-payout sound over a machine with a lower-payout sound.
The study involved 692 undergraduate participants (69% female, mean age 19). It was conducted in collaboration with Elliot Ludvig of Warwick University and Yang Liu, a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Alberta. Funding came from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Alberta Gambling Research Institute (AGRI).
These findings highlight how sensory cues common in gambling environments can shape both choice and memory. Casino-like sounds and imagery make machines more appealing and can make wins feel more salient—even when the actual payout is unchanged—suggesting that cues, not only monetary outcomes, play a role in gambling attraction and experience.
Original research: “Effects of Winning Cues and Relative Payout on Choice between Simulated Slot Machines.” Marcia L. Spetch, Christopher R. Madan, Yang Liu, Elliot A. Ludvig. Addiction. doi: 10.1111/add.15010.
Source:
University of Alberta
Media Contacts:
Katie Willis – University of Alberta
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.