Neural decoding of competitive decision-making in Rock-Paper-Scissors

Abstract

Social interactions are fundamental to daily life, yet social neuroscience research has often studied individuals brains in isolation. Hyperscanning, the simultaneous recording of neural data from multiple participants, enables real-time investigation of social processes by examining multiple brains while they interact. Previous hyperscanning research has largely focused on cooperative tasks, with fewer studies examining competitive contexts. Here, we obtained electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning data from 62 participants (31 pairs) who played a computerised version of the Rock-Paper-Scissors game, a classic paradigm for studying competitive decision-making. Although the optimal strategy is to be unpredictable and thus act randomly, participants exhibited behavioural biases, deviating from this ideal. Using multivariate decoding methods to measure neural representations within the two players brains in interaction, we found information about decisions made by participants during gameplay, revealing certain strategies. Notably, losers uniquely represented information about prior trials, suggesting this may impair optimal performance. These results reveal how competitive decision-making is shaped by cognitive biases and previous outcomes, highlighting the difficulty of achieving randomness in strategic contexts. This work advances our understanding of decision-making and cognitive dynamics in competitive interactions.