Dr Chanel Larche, PhD

Chanel received her MA and PhD in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience) from the University of Waterloo, Ontario Canada. She has also worked as a collaborative researcher with Gambling Research Exchange Ontario. Chanel joined the University of Gibraltar in 2021 as a researcher for the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming.

Chanel’s work broadly focuses on identifying and reducing harms associated with digital games (e.g., Electronic Gaming Machines, Videogames) and emerging technologies that converge videogaming and gambling modalities (e.g., loot boxes). She has published on the relation between immersive experiences and addictive behaviours, as well as the impact of structural characteristics in digital games (e.g., near-misses, slot machine stop buttons) on videogaming and gambling behaviour. Chanel has also published work on loot box use.

Larche, C. J., Dixon, M. J. (2021). Winning isn’t everything: The impact of optimally challenging games on flow, game preference and individuals gaming to escape aversive bored states. Computers in Human Behaviour.

Larche, C. J., Tran, P., Dhaliwal, N., Kruger, T. B., Dixon, M. J. (2021). Escaping the woes through flow?: Exploring the relationship between gaming to escape, depression and flow in Role-playing Games and Platform Games [Special Issue: The Converging Worlds of Gambling and Video Gaming]. Journal of Gambling Issues.

Larche, C. J., Dixon, M. J. (2020). The relationship between the skill-challenge balance, game expertise, flow and the urge to keep playing complex mobile games. Journal of Behavioural Addictions, 9(3), 606-616.

Larche, C. J., Chini, K., Lee, C., Dixon, M. J., Fernandes, M. (2019). Rare loot box rewards trigger larger arousal and reward responses, and greater urge to open more loot boxes. Journal of Gambling Studies.

Dixon, M. J., Gutierrez, J., Larche, C. J., Stange, M., Graydon, C., Kruger, T. B., Smith, S. (2019). Reward reactivity and dark flow in slot-machine gambling: “Light” and “dark” pathways to enjoyment. Journal of Behavioural Addictions, 8(3), 489-498.

Dixon, M. J., Stange, M., Larche, C. J., Graydon, C., Fugelsang, J. A., Harrigan, K. A. (2018). Dark flow, depression and multiline slot machine play. Journal of Gambling Studies, 34(1), 73-84.

Dixon, M. J., Larche, C. J., Stange, M., Graydon, C., & Fugelsang, J. A. (2018). Near-Misses and stop buttons in slot machine play: An investigation of how they affect players, and may foster erroneous cognitions. Journal of Gambling Studies, 34(1), 161-180.

Larche, C. J., Musielak, N., & Dixon, M. J. (2017). The candy crush sweet tooth: How near-misses in candy crush increase, frustration, and urge to continue gameplay. Journal of Gambling Studies, 33(2), 599-615.