A slot is a narrow opening or groove, especially one in which something may be placed, as a coin or a letter. A slot is also a place, position, or assignment.
Unlike other psychophysiological measures requiring cumbersome electrodes (which reduce ecological validity and may inhibit flow), these measures of in-game reward reactivity were gleaned from the same participants who played their own favorite multiline slots. This method allowed us to examine whether the enjoyment attributed to dark flow was distinct from that attributable to in-game reward reactivity, and to report two new measures of reward reactivity for use in future studies. These measures are a welcome addition to the existing psychophysiological tools available to scholars of slot gameplay, and they may help researchers to distinguish between different components of enjoyment for this popular casino game. They are also a promising alternative to the use of more intrusive, and less ecologically valid, psychophysiological measurement techniques in slots research. The data presented here are the first to suggest that dark flow and reward reactivity are correlated, but not identical, dimensions of slot enjoyment. This finding is consistent with previous psychological and gaming research, and adds a strong empirical validation to the concept of dark flow. It also underscores the importance of incorporating both reward reactivity and dark flow into models of slot play enjoyment. A future step will be to investigate how these two dimensions interact with other facets of enjoyment for the game.