Casino Lights Could Be Warping Your Brain To Take Risks, Scientists Warn (sciencealert.com) 28
ScienceAlert reports:
Casino lighting could be nudging gamblers to be more reckless with their money, according to a new study, which found a link between blue-enriched light and riskier gambling behavior. The extra blue light emitted by casino decor and LED screens seems to trigger certain switches in our brains, making us less sensitive to financial losses compared to gains of equal magnitude, researchers from Flinders University and Monash University in Australia found...
The researchers think circadian photoreception, which is our non-visual response to light, is playing a part here. The level of blue spectrum light may be activating specific eye cells connected to brain regions in charge of decision-making, emotional regulation, and processing risk versus reward scenarios.
"Under conditions where the lighting emitted less blue, people tended to feel a $100 loss much more strongly than a $100 gain — the loss just feels worse," [says the study's lead author, a psychologist at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute]. "But under bright, blue-heavy light such as that seen in casino machines, the $100 loss didn't appear to feel as bad, so people were more willing to take the risk...." That raises some questions around ethics and responsibility, according to the researchers. While encouraging risk taking might be good for the gambling business, it's not good for the patrons spending their cash.
One professor involved in the study reached this conclusion. "It is possible that simply dimming the blue in casino lights could help promote safer gambling behaviors."
The research has been published in Scientific Reports.
Thanks to Slashdot reader alternative_right for sharing the news.
The researchers think circadian photoreception, which is our non-visual response to light, is playing a part here. The level of blue spectrum light may be activating specific eye cells connected to brain regions in charge of decision-making, emotional regulation, and processing risk versus reward scenarios.
"Under conditions where the lighting emitted less blue, people tended to feel a $100 loss much more strongly than a $100 gain — the loss just feels worse," [says the study's lead author, a psychologist at the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute]. "But under bright, blue-heavy light such as that seen in casino machines, the $100 loss didn't appear to feel as bad, so people were more willing to take the risk...." That raises some questions around ethics and responsibility, according to the researchers. While encouraging risk taking might be good for the gambling business, it's not good for the patrons spending their cash.
One professor involved in the study reached this conclusion. "It is possible that simply dimming the blue in casino lights could help promote safer gambling behaviors."
The research has been published in Scientific Reports.
Thanks to Slashdot reader alternative_right for sharing the news.
Voluntarily turn down the blue lights? (Score:5, Insightful)
Everything about casinos is designed to warp your brain into taking risks and tantalizing you with the promise of instant gratification. The slot machines are designed to maximize the sound of the coins coming out when you win some minor thing (or at least they used to... not sure what they are like now that no one uses coins). They are designed to allure and entice. In Vegas they purposely make people walk though the casinos to get to the famous buffet restaurants, knowing many will drop and lose a few dollars. Casino owners know what they are doing. The best way to avoid having your brain warped is to just avoid them in the first place.
If you want to gamble play the stock market. Or buy a farm.
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"In Vegas they purposely make people walk though the casinos to get to the famous buffet restaurants"
In grocery stores they put the milk and dairy at the back of the store for the same reason.
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This is true, but on the other hand, the best place for meat, milk, and dairy is the back of the store anyway because it's closest to the stockrooms and the refrigerated display cases can share a common wall with the store room, allowing them to be stocked from within the cold storage room.
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Stores placing milk in the rear of the store is hardly comparable to entire businesses designed to trick dumb people into gambling at unfavorable odds.
The next time you go to a casino, as you walk the path inward, look at the faces of the people coming out. Some of them are crying, and if they are happy, they are also drunk.
Triumph of the applied psychologists? (Score:2)
Original Subject of the blue lights was on the right track, but the last train seems to have left the station on the FP branch... I also checked for funny and was disappointed (as usual). Then searched for psychological references. Nothing. How about math? Nope, again nothing.
So in general I would argue that psychology is bunk, but the applied psychologists have discovered lots of useful tricks. Placement of the milk and gambling... Blue lights to keep the suckers sufficiently awake to lose more money... Lo
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Could this also affect Driving? (Score:3, Interesting)
If blue light encourages more riskier behaviour and we've now moved from yellow sodium lamps to white colored Led Lamps with more blue in
(In some cases blue or purple due to faulty led's)
I wonder if from a statistical point of view this might also impact driving safety
Could the effects be delayed in time? (Score:2, Troll)
E.g. can the casino lights affect a failed casino owner so that he starts another major war in the Middle East years later?
International politics experts are curious.
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Natural result (Score:5, Interesting)
Weird (Score:5, Informative)
When I went to Vegas a few months ago I managed to walk across a dozen casino floors without spending a dime. The only thing remotely appealing was the Sigma Derby machine at the D, mainly because it's the only one left in the world, and it's an amazing piece of engineering.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I dropped $50 at the Pinball Museum though.
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You know who else could? The American Physical Society. They held their annual conference in Las Vegas in 1986. They (and the 56,000 physicists they represent) are barred from returning.
4000 physicists descended on the MGM Grand (now Bal
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A tale of the APS returning to Vegas in 2023:
https://physicsworld.com/a/hig... [physicsworld.com]
Gambling by other means (Score:2)
Isn't a particle detector a form of gambling?
"C'mon, baby, give me another sigma that I can publish this paper!"
Other uses (Score:2)
Anyone have data on using various shades of blue or other colors to
- increase online shopping
- increase online gambling
- increase online social media usage
So, if a teenager street races a car, they can blame on all of the blue lights in the dashboard, touch screen, etc, right?
Peppermill (Score:2)
'nuff said [google.com]
They already know (Score:5, Informative)
One professor involved in the study reached this conclusion. "It is possible that
simply dimming the blue in casino lights could help promote safer gambling behaviors."
Trust me, the casinos have already figured this out and are using it to increase gambling and maximize revenue. To think otherwise would be adorably naive.
Casino are designed to get you to spend money, from the lighting to the carpet and everything in between. I promise you the casinos already know all about blue light and its effect on impulse control, mood, and emotion.
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They might even have conducted their own experiments already, and set the lights accordingly.
I can promise you with 100% assurance that they have done exactly this.
lol (Score:2)
Casinos will do everything legal - and probably a few things that aren't - to part you from your money.
Anyone doubting that should not be walking into one.
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someone remind this dingus the only way to win is not to go into a fucking casino
I used to go into casinos to eat at the all-you-can-eat buffets. It seems nowadays, many casinos are getting rid of those. Besides, the older I get, the less I can eat.
I live in Kansas City, MO. I don't gamble in organized games. Life is a gamble enough.
Something positive about cataracts? (Score:2)
Gee, with cataracts turning blue into a sort of bluish muddy gray the casino lights might lose their effect. Think I'll still get 'em replaced with IOLs.
{^_-}
Alcohol and Party Atmosphere. Duh (Score:2)
another (Score:2)
Another study soon to be published in the Journal of Irreproducible Results.
Interesting for neuroeconomists (Score:2)
That changing the color of the light alters how we weigh risks and rewards is pretty darn interesting and could have some fascinating implications and applications. Just think about how it could impact negotiations if potential losses seemed half as bad as they otherwise would.