Impulsivity, Critical Thinking and Near-Miss Role for Persistence in Play on a Slot Machine

There are certain psychological factors associated with gambling, that affect a player’s decision-making process in games of chance. Impulsivity can lead to longer game persistence, being a potential risk factor for behavioral addiction. On the other hand, critical thinking may be a safeguard against the cognitive errors occurring during playing games of chance. Decision-making depends on game characteristics as well. In our study we tested the relationship between impulsivity, critical thinking and persistence to play on a slot machine programmed with different near-miss frequencies. Sixty two participants have played on the virtual slot machine. They were randomly assigned to two testing conditions, of high (19%) and low (2%) near-miss frequency. We have controlled for their gambling addiction, gender and age. Results show that at the high level of impulsivity there is an effect of critical thinking, indicating that higher critical reasoning is related to greater persistence to play when players are more impulsive. No significant interaction of impulsivity and near-miss condition was found.