Winning or losing matters a lot, at least on a brain level. Thesignals that are generated in the brain when a person succeeds or failsThey are not processed in a restricted area of the cerebral cortex, as the area is responsible for processing rewards. The neural connections in these casesspread practically throughout the brain, according to a study by Yale University (USA) that appears published in the journalNeuron.
This leads the authors to think that “the whole brain “worries” about success and failure, about winning and losing, because these events are really important for learning in all areas. “In other words, the whole brain is involved in processing the signals that are generated from the results of the decisions,” for example, to adjust processes of perception and movement, “says Vickery.
The study consisted of observing the brain response of the subjects while practicing very simple games, such as rock, paper or scissors. The individuals undergoing the tests, aged between 19 and 37 years, spent an hour and a half connected to a brain scanner of functional magnetic resonance (fMRI for its acronym in English). To collect the data from the experiments, the experts used a method called “multivoxel pattern analysis,” similar to that used to teach robots to recognize objects.
The findings can be used “for the diagnosis and treatment of various psychiatric disorders, such as substance abuse, or be useful in obsessive-compulsive conditions that influence the ability to use rewards to change our behaviors in a flexible way,” he explained to SINC agency Timothy Vickery, a researcher in the Yale University Department of Psychology and lead author of the study.
