Habib Cognition Lab
Coverage of the lab's research on gambling disorder, near-miss effects, and the neuroscience of decision-making in popular media and press.
Feature article by John Rosengren (December 2016) examining how casino design exploits the psychology of addiction. The lab's research on near-miss effects and striatal activation is cited as foundational evidence for how slot machines are engineered to sustain compulsive play.
Jeffrey Kluger's article (March 2012) on the neuroscience of willpower and behavioral inhibition. The lab's work on the brain mechanisms underlying the near-miss effect and impulsive gambling behavior is featured as a central example of how reward circuitry drives behavior that people cannot easily stop.
Ira Glass and Sarah Koenig's episode "Harrah's Today, Gone Tomorrow" (2012) explores the psychology of compulsive gambling. The lab's neuroimaging findings on near-miss outcomes are described in accessible terms for a general audience, illustrating how the brain's reward system responds to almost-wins.
An excerpt from Charles Duhigg's book published in Scientific American (2012) discusses the neuroscience of habits and addiction. The lab's findings on how near-miss slot machine outcomes engage reward pathways are cited as a key example of how habits form and are sustained at the neural level.
The lab's research on the near-miss effect in pathological gambling is cited in Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Random House, 2012), which spent 60 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
The book uses the lab's neuroimaging findings to explain why slot machines — particularly near-miss outcomes — are so effective at sustaining compulsive gambling behavior, connecting the science to broader arguments about the neuroscience of habit and addiction.
View on Amazon →Awarded for Significant Contributions to Behavioral Science, for the publication: Habib, R., & Dixon, M.R. (2010). Neurobehavioral evidence for the "near-miss" effect in pathological gamblers. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 93, 313–328.
Academic impact metrics for the lab's published research.
Metrics via Google Scholar.
For media inquiries about research on gambling disorder, near-miss effects, or decision-making neuroscience, please contact Dr. Habib directly. For consulting and expert witness inquiries, visit rezahabib.com.
reza@habibcognitionlab.com