Promoting Rational Risk Engagement Through Feedback in a Gambling-Analog Learning Environment: A Pilot Study

The expansion of legalized gambling and gambling-like digital environments has increased youth exposure to uncertainty, underscoring the need for preventative approaches that promote rational risk decision-making. This pilot study examines whether immediate feedback embedded in a repeated, gambling-analog simulation fosters calibrated participation and improved performance under uncertainty among undergraduate students. Participants from two class sections were assigned by class section to an informed condition with immediate feedback or an uninformed condition without feedback. Across repeated rounds, participants made opt-in or opt-out decisions and completed probability-based tasks. Participants receiving feedback exhibited reduced variability in participation decisions, reflecting more consistent engagement with risk. The informed group also achieved higher accuracy and overall performance on tasks they chose to attempt. These improvements occurred without increases in decision or problem-solving time, suggesting enhanced judgment calibration rather than greater deliberation effort. As a pilot investigation, the findings provide preliminary evidence that feedback-driven simulations may support rational risk engagement in educational settings and warrant further study with larger samples and longitudinal designs.