Human brain works harder while playing against machines: Report

Human brain works harder while playing against machines: Report

Ever felt you were relaxed playing a game against your noob friend than when playing against the computer? The satisfying feeling of defeating your friend is definitely better than getting mauled by an artificial brain. A new research however, throws interesting light on these dynamics. The research, reported by Evening Standard,says that human brain is more alert while playing against machines than it is while playing against humans.

Researchers from University of Florida carried out this study. They observed volunteers play against other people and against machines. The players wore electrodes that mapped their brain activity.

It was found that when they were playing against each other, their brains were in unison “like they were all speaking the same language”.

But when the players were pitted against a ball-serving machine, the neurons in their brains were desynchornised, that is, they were not aligned the same way they were while playing against humans.

“If we have 100,000 people in a football stadium and they’re all cheering together, that’s like synchronisation in the brain, which is a sign the brain is relaxed," said Daniel Ferris, biomedical engineer professor at University of Florida.

“If we have those same 100,000 people but they’re all talking to their friends, they’re busy but they’re not in sync."

Ferris was quoted by Evening Standard.

“In a lot of cases, that desynchronisation is an indication that the brain is doing a lot of calculations as opposed to sitting and idling.”

The researchers said that they found during their study that participants' brain were working harder while playing against the machine.

The research has been published in journal eNeuro.

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