Gamblers are nothing but a hungry pigeons that once had a huge slice of bread in their claws and now will do almost anything to have it again. This is the conclusion of a study conducted at the University of Warwick and the University of Alberta, Canada.
The researches made an experiment including human volunteers and pigeons. The humans were given points according to their choices, whereas the birds were given food. The experiment was the following: there were four options out of which two offered high-value rewards and the other two were low-value rewards. Each of the prize level featured one safe option and one risky option.
At the end of the experiment, both humans and the pigeons got the same results: they are 35% more likely to take the risk and go for the rewards that have higher values.
Dr. Elliot Ludvig, who is one of the researches, said that humans and pigeons were equally influenced by the most significant wins and losses in their past. So, even though the pigeons’ mental capacity is not as good as the humans’ is, when it comes to risk taking we are pretty much the same.
“Both humans and pigeons were shown to be less risk averse for high rewards than they were for low rewards and this is linked to our past memories and experiences of making risky decisions,” Dr. Ludvig added.
To better understand this study, just think of the last time you won some big prize while playing slots at some online casino. According to the experts who conducted this study, it is very likely that you will once again decide to visit that very same casino with the hopes to earn the same or even a bigger amount than the one which is so hard to forget.