Why gambling is so addictive
The way the brain reacts to the high achieved from gambling can make it harder to recover from an addiction, according to article on The Times website.
After habitually doing something that ends in a reward, the brain starts to react with ‘prediction neurons’ – it responds when it believes the reward is coming, and then, if the reward does come, say on a slot machine, there is as a surge of dopamine as the result of the added surprise.
Slot machines in particular trigger these ‘prediction neurons’ because there is no science to them – it is impossible to predict when the machine will pay out, and therefore the brain is constantly confused and looking for a pattern, causing a rush every time the lever is pulled.
This could also explain why many people become addicted to gambling on the stock market – it has the same degree of unpredictability.
Once this neurons have become altered and confused, it is much harder to change the patterns of them, which is why the lure of gambling, and the resulting dopamine high, can prove so strong.