Grant: Catalyst Grant: Health Impacts of Gambling and Gaming

When playing electronic gambling machines, it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by the barrage of sounds and flashing lights that are used to signal when you've won. Video game designers are increasingly modeling their games on these commercial gambling products in order to increase player engagement, and also make heavy use of these win-paired sound and light cues. On the surface, these sounds and lights seem harmless enough, However, research done first in rats, and then repeated in human volunteers, shows that both people and animals make more risky decisions on gambling-like games when wins are paired with flashing lights and sounds. A medication that can trigger gambling disorder in human patients also increased rats' risky choices on the cued rat gambling task, suggesting that similar brain chemicals control gambling decisions in humans and rats. This is exciting, because it means that drugs which decrease risky decision making in the rat game could be used to treat gambling problems in humans. We have pilot data to suggest psilocybin could be effective: female rats made fewer risky choices when given very low doses of psilocybin, and both males and females showed even greater improvements in decision making when given higher doses of this psychedelic drug. The experiments in this grant will allow us to repeat and build upon these preliminary findings, and investigate the brain mechanisms underlying psilocybin's beneficial effects. Positive results in our rat model could then inform the design of an experimental trial in people struggling with gambling problems.