Eyes on the Prize: Eye-Tracking Evidence of Attentional Biases Toward Gambling and Natural Rewards

Abstract

The present study investigates attentional biases (ABs) in gamblers and non-gamblers, focusing on both gambling-related and food-related stimuli to examine the relationship between these biases and the Incentive Sensitization (IS) and Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) models of addiction. Using an eye-tracking methodology, we assess how ABs differ across three conditions involving two types of images: Food vs. Gambling, Food vs. Neutral, and Gambling vs. Neutral. Gamblers showed a significant AB toward gambling-related stimuli compared to neutral cues, supporting the IS model. However, when gambling and food images were compared, no significant difference in AB was found, partially disconfirming the hypothesis that gamblers exhibit a stronger bias toward gambling stimuli. In contrast, non-gamblers demonstrated a clear preference for food-related images, as predicted by the IS model. Additionally, group differences revealed that gamblers allocated more attention to gambling-related cues than non-gamblers. However, food images elicited similar levels of attention from both gamblers and non-gamblers when compared to neutral images, rather than gambling-related images. These findings highlight the role of ABs in the development and maintenance of gambling behaviour, supporting the IS model but not the RDS model. The study also explores the association between AB and severity of gambling and other relevant psychological factors in gambling disorder, providing new insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying gambling addiction. These results suggest that ABs could be targeted in interventions aimed at modifying attention patterns and reducing gambling-related cravings.