Stimulus reduction and boredom in pathological gamblers

This study examined the differences in degree and direction of stimulus reduction between three adult, male groups: pathological gamblers (N = 20), alcoholics (N = 20), and controls (N = 20). This research follows Jacobs' (1986) contention that pathological gamblers are chronically and uncomfortably hypo-aroused as a result of misperceived sensory input, and therefore engage in sensation-seeking behavior such as gambling to find relief. Stimulus reduction, a form of Perceptual Reactance (Petrie, 1978, 1967), has been shown to be the predominant perceptual style utilized by hypo-aroused individuals. In this study, stimulus reduction was measured with the Petrie Large Block Kinesthetic Figural Aftereffect Test after four durations of stimulation. Boredom Proneness (BPS) (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986) was measured in all three groups to examine its hypothesized relationship to stimulus reduction and gambling. In addition, this study attempted to replicate Jacobs' (1988) findings that both pathological gamblers and known alcoholics will tend to score higher than normals on a set of four dissociative experience questions.

An ANOVA showed that the three groups differed significantly in perceptual reactance and gamblers were found to be stimulus reducers. Also, there was a significant (group x duration of stimulation) interaction, demonstrating that duration of stimulation had a significantly different effect on the three groups. The greatest difference occurred after the initial, baseline (0 second) stimulation. All groups were significantly affected by the duration of stimulation, with the gamblers exhibiting the greatest change.

A logistic regression showed the Large Block KFA to be a successful discriminating tool to predicting membership in the three groups. The BPS was successful in discriminating between pathological gamblers and controls, between alcoholics and controls, but not between pathological gamblers and alcoholics, whose scores were nearly identical on the BPS.

Finally, both pathological gamblers and alcoholics reported significantly more dissociative experiences than the control subjects. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed for the above findings.