The Effects of ‘Jackpot’ Stimuli on Suboptimal Decision-Making after Traumatic Brain Injury

Trinity K. Shaver*, Lauren P. Giesler*, Christopher M. O’Hearn, Alyssa Blancke* and Cole Vonder Haar, Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Field (Broad Category): Psychology (Behavioral & Social Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Psychology and Multidisciplinary Studies 

T raumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious medical condition that chronically affects everyday life. Alongside the development of potential psychiatric illnesses such as gambling disorder and substance-use disorder, many patients report cognitive-related deficits such as impulsivity and risky-decision making. Prior research has shown that the jackpot stimuli featured in casino settings, such as flashing lights and jangly music, are environmental cues that play a large role in gambling-like behavior. To better understand the role of cues on suboptimal choice behavior, we evaluated the effects of audiovisual cues on risk-based decision-making in rats on the cued rodent gambling task (cRGT) a variation of the Rodent Gambling Task (RGT) where reward delivery was accompanied by audiovisual cues that increased in complexity and intensity as the option increased in risk. Rats were given either a bilateral, frontal controlled cortical impact injury (AP/ML/DV: +3.0/0.0/-2.5 @ 3 m/s; n = 16) or sham-intact procedures (n = 16) before training on either the cRGT ( n = 16) or the non-cued RGT (n = 16). There were no significant difference between TBI and sham or effect of cue manipulation on choice behavior in both TBI and sham. These findings suggest that jackpot stimuli may not affect choice behavior which is discrepant with the current literature. Further research will be needed to parse the effects of cues on decision-making and how this interacts with TBI. 

Funding: 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: Capstone Course Within Department