Rock, Paper, Scissors: Why Your Own Brain Might Be Your Worst Enemy

Summary: Strategy goes out the window the more you win or lose, making it harder to win the next time around, a new study reports.

Source: University of Sussex.

A new study into brain activity during strategy based games such as Rock, Paper, Scissors has found that tactics go out of the window as soon as you lose or win big, making it harder for you to win next time around.

Research by psychologists at the University of Sussex measured competitors’ brain activity and discovered that following a big win or any kind of loss, the human brain acts more predictably. And as anyone who has ever played Rock Paper Scissors knows, the more predictable you are the less likely you are to win.

The paper, published in the journal Scientific Reports, argues that competitors are actually very unlikely to be able to keep their cool during competition, and are most likely to make rational choices when winning and only when these wins are of low value.

The findings highlight the lack of ability humans have to make wholly rational choices during both losing and winning, with outcomes impinging upon our ability to strategise effectively. This could put the contestant at a greater risk of a losing streak in Rock, Paper, Scissors and other competitive games that involving gambling.

“Our brain recordings tell us that the brain responds extremely quickly to the outcome of an event, such as a win, a loss or a draw. However, these brain responses do not appear to be very flexible following losing and don’t seem to allow much room for the brain to refocus on the next round” says Dr Ben Dyson, who led the study.

Image shows two hands playing rock, paper, scissors.
The findings highlight the lack of ability humans have to make wholly rational choices during both losing and winning, with outcomes impinging upon our ability to strategise effectively. This could put the contestant at a greater risk of a losing streak in Rock, Paper, Scissors and other competitive games that involving gambling. NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the University of Sussex press release.

“What’s really interesting about this is to what extent individuals can have any free choice about what they do next, following a big win or any kind of loss. Following a loss, your next response also tends to be faster and more predictable. This suggests that you’re still reeling from this negative outcome and not thinking about what you’re going to do next.

“Understanding how people can get stuck in these poor quality decision making loops may go some way to helping us understand problem gamblers. If we are able to stop these automatic reactions from happening, we might be able to prevent problem gambling from happening before it begins.”

About this neuroscience research article

The study was carried out by Dr Ben Dyson of the University of Sussex and Dr Lewis Forder of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Source: Patrick Reed – University of Sussex
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the University of Sussex press release.
Original Research: Full open access research for “Behavioural and neural modulation of win-stay but not lose-shift strategies as a function of outcome value in Rock, Paper, Scissors” by Lewis Forder and Benjamin James Dyson in Scientific Reports. Published online September 23 2016 doi:10.1038/srep33809

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]University of Sussex “Rock, Paper, Scissors: Why Your Own Brain Might Be Your Worst Enemy.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 12 October 2016.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/competition-brain-activity-5275/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]University of Sussex (2016, October 12). Rock, Paper, Scissors: Why Your Own Brain Might Be Your Worst Enemy. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved October 12, 2016 from https://neurosciencenews.com/competition-brain-activity-5275/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]University of Sussex “Rock, Paper, Scissors: Why Your Own Brain Might Be Your Worst Enemy.” https://neurosciencenews.com/competition-brain-activity-5275/ (accessed October 12, 2016).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Behavioural and neural modulation of win-stay but not lose-shift strategies as a function of outcome value in Rock, Paper, Scissors

Competitive environments in which individuals compete for mutually-exclusive outcomes require rational decision making in order to maximize gains but often result in poor quality heuristics. Reasons for the greater reliance on lose-shift relative to win-stay behaviour shown in previous studies were explored using the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and by manipulating the value of winning and losing. Decision-making following a loss was characterized as relatively fast and relatively inflexible both in terms of the failure to modulate the magnitude of lose-shift strategy and the lack of significant neural modulation. In contrast, decision-making following a win was characterized as relatively slow and relatively flexible both in terms of a behavioural increase in the magnitude of win-stay strategy and a neural modulation of feedback-related negativity (FRN) and stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) following outcome value modulation. The win-stay/lose-shift heuristic appears not to be a unified mechanism, with the former relying on System 2 processes and the latter relying on System 1 processes. Our ability to play rationally appears more likely when the outcome is positive and when the value of wins are low, highlighting how vulnerable we can be when trying to succeed during competition.

“Behavioural and neural modulation of win-stay but not lose-shift strategies as a function of outcome value in Rock, Paper, Scissors” by Lewis Forder and Benjamin James Dyson in Scientific Reports. Published online September 23 2016 doi:10.1038/srep33809

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