Clueless about cues: the impact of reward-paired cues on decision making under uncertainty

Signalling reward delivery with sounds and lights is common practice in electronic games, and may seem like a superficially harmless feature of game design. Such audiovisual cues have been a defining feature of electronic gambling machines (EGMs) for decades and could contribute to their addictive potential. Indeed, adding casino-like cues to experimental gambling tasks enhances risk-taking in rats and humans. Cues are also important in driving drug use and relapse, as supported by the incentive sensitization theory. Given the critical relevance of cues in multiple addictive disorders, understanding the neural mechanism through which cues drive risk-taking could inform the use of pharmacotherapies. Behavioral pharmacology experiments in rats indicate that the functional regulation of decision making by dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline and acetylcholine are all dramatically altered by the addition of reward-concurrent cues.