It's all about the atmosphere. That is, even if you're a rat, you can be influenced by strobing lights and lively music into taking risks and possibly making mistakes.
That was the case in a recent study that looked at how rats behave in "gambling" situations - those involving taking risky options or not.
The University of British Columbia researchers found that rats acted like Las Vegas problem gamblers when their test "rat casino" model included stirring sound and light cues. Better yet, the scientists succeeded in changing their behavior to something more sensible by blocking a particular dopamine receptor. Knowing this may give us a foundation for later treatment of human gambling addiction.
In the study scenario, rats were gambling for treats made of sugar. Typically, they tend to learn to avoid risk-filled options. But when researchers added sounds and flashing lights, the rats grew unwisely bold.
"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," noted Catharine Winstanley at UBC's Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. "Anyone who's ever designed a casino game or played a gambling game will tell you that of course sound and light cues keep you more engaged, but now we can show it scientifically."
As we said, the result was very different when the rats received a drug to negate the action of one of the dopamine receptors linked to addiction. When that happened, the rats no longer made highly risky choices or behaved like gambling addicts. However, for rats that gambled even without the cues of light and sound, the dopamine blockers had a minimal impact.
"This brain receptor is also really important to drug addiction, so our findings help support the idea that risky behaviour across different vices might have a common biological cause," said Michael Barrus, lead author and a candidate for a Ph.D. in the UBC Department of Psychology.
Clearly, casinos might be ahead of the game in garnering the reactions that they do. "I often feel that scientific models are decades behind the casinos," said Winstanley. "I don't think it's an accident that casinos are filled with lights and noise."
The study recently was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Follow Catherine Arnold on Twitter at @TreesWhales.