Even in a simple game, our brains keep score – and those scores shape every choice we make

By Denise Moerel, Research Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience, Western Sydney University
Manuel Varlet, Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience, Western Sydney University
Tijl Grootswagers, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in Cognitive Neuroscience, Western Sydney University

There’s an optimal strategy for winning multiple rounds of rock, paper, scissors: be as random and unpredictable as possible. Don’t pay attention to what happened in the last round.

However, that’s easier said than done.

To find out how brains make decisions in a competitive setting, we asked people to play 15,000 games of rock, paper, scissors while recording their brain activity.

Our results, now published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, found that those who were influenced by…

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