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Pairing rewards with sensory stimulation, in the form of auditory and visual cues, increases risky decision-making in both rats and humans. Understanding the neurobiological basis of this effect could help explain why electronic gambling machines are so addictive, and inform treatment development for compulsive gambling and gaming. Numerous studies implicate the dopamine system in mediating the motivational influence of reward-paired cues; recent data suggest the cholinergic system also plays a critical role. Previous work also indicates that cholinergic drugs alter decision-making under uncertainty.

We investigated whether the addition of reward-concurrent cues to the rat gambling task (crGT) altered the effects of peripherally administered cholinergic compounds.

Muscarinic and nicotinic agonists and antagonists were administered to 16 male, Long–Evans rats trained on the crGT …