Drug Reduces Gambling Behavior In Slot Machine-Loving Rats
Slots Slots Slots Jeff Kubina via Wikimedia Commons Scientists have found a way to reduce gambling-type behaviors in rats by blocking a specific dopamine receptor, signaling a potential treatment for pathological gambling. In a study led by Paul Cocker, a Ph.D. student in psychology at the University of British Columbia, a group of 32 rats compulsively used a slot-machine-like system of three flashing lights that lit up when the rats pushed one of two levers. If all three lights lit up, the rats won 10 sugar pellets, delivered when they hit a "cash out" lever. When any other combination of lights flashed, the rats lost, and if they pushed the lever to cash out, they received a 10-second penalty before they could play again. If they chose a different lever, the "roll again" one, it allowed them to play again...