A decent (but not perfectly informative re: survey composition and weighting) survey with propensity weighting to estimate self-reported use of unregulated gambling products in the USA.
Could be improved by bootstrapped variance estimation, but still decent.
www.americangaming.org/wp-content/u...
15.08.2025 15:35 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
B.C. residents betting billions on unregulated gambling sites, 2021 report found
Province tried to prevent release of report with details about reach of offshore betting sites
A report on the state of unregulated gambling in BC. Raises (and maybe answers) the multimillion dollar question: if most offshore gambling is on the same sites lobbying for liberalization with regulation, what benefit do they perceive? Freedom to advertise and expand?
theijf.org/bc-residents...
05.08.2025 20:22 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A Nobel prize is fine, but what academics really want is to kick the creators of manuscriptcentral one time really hard in the shin.
21.07.2025 18:07 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
a man with long hair and a beard is saying " thank you eternally "
ALT: a man with long hair and a beard is saying " thank you eternally "
This project was made possible by my excellent collaborators, Drs. Sheurich, Monson, French, and Kairouz at UConcordia and UdeSherbrooke, as well as by funding from CIHR and FRQ-SC.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
So, how do we make models our gambling harm detection models better?
1 - We try to account for these subgroups in large-sample research, or
2 - We use a graded intervention scheme instead of a binary decision threshold, or
3 - We select a different outcome variable with better properties.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
In turn, these subgroups within the moderate-risk range varied on the specific items endorsed and several sociodemographic dimensions.
This kind of within-groups variability is exactly why a ML classifier might fail to perform optimally.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
We found that possibly episodic cases (62% of sample) reported several different problems mainly occurring just sometimes, while specific problem cases (9%) reported significantly fewer problems that occurred more frequently.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
We interpreted these groups as exhibiting "possibly episodic" gambling, "intermediate cases" of responding, and "specific problems", respectively.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
We applied K-means clustering to the variance of individual PGSI responses in a large dataset of > 18,000 online gamblers.
When we did this, we found a 3-cluster solution that separated groups of respondents with lower, intermediate, and higher response variance.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
To explore these possible subgroups, and to improve future ML detection systems, we took a variance clustering approach to the moderate risk group of the PGSI.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Thus, there are actually several ways one might land in the Moderate-risk range, including:
-Escalating towards problem gambling
-Remitting from problem gambling
-Applying non-standard question interpretations
-Reporting 1-2 problems very persistently, or
-Reporting up to 7 problems episodically
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
When we look under the hood, we can easily see why the PGSI might have problems: it confounds (1) whether a problem is reported to occur, and (2) how often that problem occurs.
This is bad because clinically-defined gambling disorder can be either persistently occurring, or *episodic*.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
It works reasonably well when it comes to separating the "non-problem" and "problem gambler" groups, but other research has shown some real issues with those in-between groups of low and moderate risk (Currie et al., 2013; Williams & Volberg, 2014).
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
The Problem Gambling Severity Index is a very popular questionnaire that has been used for more than 20 years to partition non-clinical samples into risk groups of "non-problem" (PGSI = 0), "low-risk" (1-2), "moderate risk" (3-7), or "problem gambler" (8-27) groups.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
🎉🧵 New Paper Thread 🎉🧵
Machine Learning models that aim to detect at-risk online gamblers seem to hit a performance ceiling, and exhibit serious imprecision when making positive-class predictions.
WHY?
Maybe it's the outcome variable, the Problem Gambling Severity Index.
08.05.2025 15:36 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Are craving and satiety neurological opposites? Could someone experience craving while feeling sated? Is reducing craving tantamount to inducing satiety? How might semaglutide improve / inform our knowledge of naltrexone, acamprosate, sobriety, and addiction?
Very exciting times in the field!
26.03.2025 20:29 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
TT faculty interviews are a singularly intense and interesting experience. There is really nothing like it.
18.03.2025 19:29 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Recognizing the 2024/25 Outstanding Instructors
Very honoured to receive a UBC FASS Outstanding Lecturer Award 2024/25. It's a real pleasure to teach at UBCO Psych.
provost.ok.ubc.ca/2025/02/24/2...
25.02.2025 02:10 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
2024 marked 70 years since the tobacco industry, faced with mounting evidence of the harm caused by its products, issued their “Frank Statement” to smokers reassuring them that the link between smoking and lung cancer was yet to be proven.🧵
13.02.2025 12:22 — 👍 38 🔁 27 💬 1 📌 4
Equality-oriented 'fairness via unawareness' approaches have this property when there are group-level differences in the outcome of interest (one group has privileged training opportunities, favourable evaluation, etc.). By declining to correct inequities, one chooses to inflict the status quo. :(
07.02.2025 20:54 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
New alarming nicotine trend banned in South Australia
Nicotine pouches are now banned in South Australia. They're now subject to the same controls as illicit tobacco and e-cigarette products. Info here: www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releas...
30.01.2025 01:44 — 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
My latest paper looks at how and why people use voluntary deposit limits.
We found that most online sports bettors see deposit limits as useful and good practice, but these are for those who can't control their gambling
Barriers to use include not knowing what limit to set
doi.org/10.1080/1366...
08.01.2025 03:48 — 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
🇧🇷Doutoranda (Universidade de Bristol). Jogo patológico online e criptomoedas 🇬🇧PhD student (University of Bristol). Online and crypto gambling research.
The Alberta Gambling Research Institute is a consortium (U. of Calgary, U. of Alberta & U. of Lethbridge). Its primary purpose is to support and promote research into gambling in the Province of Alberta.
Scientist, mentor, activist, explorer.
A venue for researchers to disseminate clinically relevant research findings and innovative perspectives in the field of addiction. Publisher @tandfresearch.bsky.social
Learn more: linktr.ee/ajdaasocialmedia
Professor of Clinical Psychology, Psychopathology, and Psychological Assessment #Unil. Highly engaged in Boardgames and TTRPGs.
Postdoc Fellow @Umich. Adolescent substance use & cognitive development. @PsychiatryUic @UBuffalo @Notredame Alumna. Just moved over here from the bird app
UBC's Department of Psychology is a leader in research and scholarship— with diverse rankings placing us among the strongest departments in the world. psych.ubc.ca
Cognitive Scientist at Max Planck, Professor of Psychology
https://www.falkhuettig.com/
Author of 'Looking Ahead: The New Science of the Predictive Mind' published by Cambridge University Press on 6 March 2025.
Greo is an independent, non-profit organization that transforms research and insights into actionable strategies for clients and partners to prevent and reduce harm related to gambling, gaming, technology use, and substance use.
Public health doctor & Research Fellow researching the commercial determinants of health @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social.
Gambling Harm Researcher | Sociologist
Director of Evaluation and Implementation Research at @greoinsights.bsky.social
|she/her| 🏳️🌈
Cog-sci PhD student at the Centre for Gambling Research, UBC. Investigating harmful/addictive design features across digital products with an interest in embodied and enactive cognition.
Human Geographer at Loughborough University, UK | profsarahmills.com | researching childhood, youth, citizenship, volunteering, gambling and gaming
👨🔬 Neuroscientist at the Donders Institute in the Battaglia lab.
🧠 Previously: International Brain Laboratory
Using Neuropixels and virtual-reality to understand how the brain creates internal models of the world.
www.guidomeijer.com
Ass't Prof at UT Arlington | Cognitive Neuroscience / Spatial Navigation | Director: @SCANNLab | Husband and father | he/him |
www.scannlab.org
@scannlab.bsky.social
#psychology #neuroscience #VR #navigation #academia #brain
Cognitive computational neuroscientist and vision scientist. NeuroAI. Professor at Harvard University.
Neuroscientist/Psychiatrist at Columbia Psychiatry. Circuits. Stress susceptibility & resilience. Reward seeking. Oscillations
Physicist and mathematician working on consciousness. Based at Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, LMU Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, and University of Bamberg's Institute for Psychology. https://jkleiner.de/
Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. I study interoception, emotions, mindfulness, and the brain. Diving into technology supported self-reflection. New book coming out soon: www.betterineverysense.com
