One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Know When To Hold 'Em: Caltech Bets They Found The Gambling Part Of The Brain
Photo by Bert Kaufmann via Flickr
The exact location in the brain that influences a gambler's belief that payoff is headed their way has been discovered by Caltech researchers, it was announced on Saturday, reports the Daily News. For example, despite perhaps intellectually knowing that mathematical odds don't change at a slot machine, say, people may sit at the same machine for hours because they think they're "due" for a jackpot.
The study, done by a Caltech professor in Ireland, shows that wagers made by persons under the influence of the so-called "gambler's fallacy" may be the result of a structure in the brain called the dorsal stratium. John O'Doherty, professor of psychology at Caltech and adjunct professor of Psychology at Ireland's Trinity College in Dublin, said the brain's dorsal striatum reinforces the notion that a certain outcome is due based on past events -- better known as the gambler's fallacy.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
