Oh WOW That Was So Close!- The Near Miss Effect.

[Garf79]

Like me I am sure most of you have been gambling for some time and during your time playing you have had quite a bit of experience in winning and losing. I have posted before about the psychological permutations that occur when gambling and how gambling providers and casinos use these to get us to lose and spend more money. Casinos and Gambling providers use many tactics to get us to keep playing and if we keep playing then we will lose, that is fact. Everything from the game sounds, graphics, colors and animations are designed to keep us sat down and spinning on all online gambling games but the area I want to talk about today is the "Near Miss Effect"

In a previous post I called "Gambling addicts or Dopamine addicts?" I explained that the main thing that keeps gamblers hooked is the constant and high levels of dopamine released when playing. Your brain releases dopamine when you win and when you lose and also when you have a near miss! Casinos and providers know this and use it to their advantage!

Below is an abstract from a Neurophysiology article and there is a lot of science in it but it gives a brief outline of what happens to your brain when you have a near miss when playing slots. And most of you will know that near misses happen frequently, scatter teases, huge win line pays and even random bonus teases, these are all designed to make your brain release dopamine and keep you playing. The better the near miss effects are programmed in the more dopamine will be released by your brain, resulting in you spending more time playing and ultimately losing! 

 

Quote

 

Abstract

The near-miss effect in gambling refers to a losing situation that is (or perceived to be) close to a win by the gambler. This effect is one of the many cognitive distortions that can occur during gambling games. The main objective of the present study was to analyze the electrophysiological correlates of the near-miss effect via an event-related potential (ERP) study examining four distinct gambling outcomes: win, full miss, near-miss before the payline, and near-miss after the payline. This study comprised 23 healthy voluntary participants (10 women) with ages ranging between 19 and 34 years (M = 22.5; SD = 3.65). All participants completed the South Oaks Gambling Screen and played a computerized slot machine, programed to induce the near-miss effect and specifically designed for an ERP study. By splitting the near-miss effect in two subtypes (before and after the payline), increased feedback-related negativity (FRN) was found for the near-misses after the payline in comparison to losses and also to near-misses before the payline. Results also indicated an increased P300 amplitude for the near-misses before the payline compared both with losses and with near-misses after the payline. The results suggest that both FRN and P300 present different sensitivities to near-miss subtypes, suggesting a payline effect that is not demonstrated when the data of near-misses before and after the payline are analyzed together. This is the first study to analyze the effect of the near-miss subtype in an ERP study and confirms the findings of previous behavioral studies.                    

                                                                                                          (SOURCE)