Visit from Dr. Omar Perez
We were thrilled to host Dr. Omar Perez last week for a visit to the Centre. Prof. Perez is a psychologist in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Chile. He gave a talk on “Developing (and breaking) attentional habits” and had several productive discussions with CGR members about connections between learning theory […]
New pre-print: Zaina’s outcome sequence study
A new manuscript is available on the role of early wins in the illusion of control in online slot machine gambling. This study is a conceptual extension of Langer and Roth (1975), building on Zaina’s Honours thesis and her NSERC USRA summer project. You can read a pre-print here: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/8sp2m_v1
Visit from Dr. Sally Gainsbury
We were thrilled to host Professor Sally Gainsbury, a gambling researcher from the University of Sydney, for a visit to the Centre. Prof. Gainsbury shared insights from her work on gambling-related harms and had productive discussions with our team about ongoing projects.
New paper! Fiza Arshad in JoGS
Congrats to Fiza Arshad, a Neuroscience PhD student co-supervised by Catharine Winstanley and Luke, for her new paper on sensory feedback effects on slot machine gambling, published in Journal of Gambling Studies. You can read it here: Arshad, F., Ferrari, M. A., Murch, W. S., Cherkasova, M. V., Limbrick-Oldfield, E. H., Winstanley, C. A., & […]
Paul and Luke’s Commentary on Newall (2025) – Addiction
Luke and Paul Weston (a psychology Honours student and USRA recipient) have just published a commentary in Addiction on Newall (2025). Find the paper here: Clark, L., & Weston, P. W. (2025). Gambling website design as a factor in North American betting expansion. Addiction. https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70103
New Paper: Weston & Clark on newspaper analysis
A new paper based on Paul Weston’s honours thesis was just published, looking at the coverage of the Federal sports betting legalization in Canadian newspapers. You can read more here: Weston, P. W., & Clark, L. (2025). Media portrayal of sports betting in Canada before and after Federal Bill C-218. International Gambling Studies, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2025.2512931
Zaina & Clara present at PURC
Clara Saad and Zaina Alkurdi presented their Honours thesis projects at the Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC). Clara gave an engaging oral presentation on justifications in slot machine gambling, and Zaina presented a poster on the illusion of control in slot machine gambling, for which she received a Top Poster Award.
Zaina receives NSERC USRA
Congratulations to Zaina Alkurdi on receiving an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award! She’ll be continuing her research on the illusion of control in gambling, building on her honours thesis with a follow-up study this summer.