When the game gets personal: the dark side of affective states in a virtual gambling scenario – an exploratory ERP study

Mood and cognition are crucial determinants of risk-taking behavior, yet their interaction remains incompletely understood. This study examined how incidental affective states influence risky decision-making by combining a novel multisensory Mood Induction Procedure (MIP) with an immersive virtual reality (VR) slot machine task. Participants (N = 58) were randomly assigned to positive, negative, or neutral mood conditions before engaging in a gambling task that elicited wins, full-losses, near-misses, and tie outcomes. Behavioral outcomes (i.e., betting choices, decision time) and neurophysiological responses (RewP and P300 components) were recorded to assess feedback processing. Consistent with prior findings, participants exhibited increased risk-taking following near-misses and full losses compared to wins, and showed prolonged decision times after wins, suggesting a post-reinforcement pause. At the neural level, fronto-central RewP and central P300 patterns were observed. While ERP amplitudes were modulated by outcome valence, near-misses elicited intermediate responses between wins and full-losses. However, mood conditions did not result in statistically significant behavioral and electrophysiological changes. These findings suggest that feedback-related ERP components are more strongly driven by outcome characteristics than incidental affective states, at least under the current experimental conditions. The study highlights the value of combining VR and EEG to investigate affective decision-making with high ecological validity. The results may inform theoretical models of outcome evaluation and point to future directions involving stronger mood inductions and larger samples.