While many of us have been swept up in the Olympic Games,
two University of Otago researchers have been exploring what in
the brain drives competitive behaviour.

Dr Kristin Hillman and Prof David Bilkey, both of the
psychology department, have found that neurons in a specific
region of the frontal cortex, called the anterior cingulate
cortex, become active during decisions involving competitive
effort.

The researchers discovered neurons in this region appear to
store information on whether a course of action demands
competition, and crucially, whether it is "worth it", to
achieve an end reward.

The researchers have provided a first glimpse into the
competitive brain, in a study appearing online today in the
journal Nature Neuroscience.

Their study is the first to examine how competitive behaviour
is encoded by neurons in the rat brain and represents a
pioneering move into understanding the brain mechanisms that
produce competitive, ambitious behaviour.

"In theory, it also gives us a glimpse into what might be
going on in our own brains, whether we are highly competitive
Olympic athletes or just vying for the last treadmill at the
gym," Dr Hillman says.

"For me it's quite exciting. It's really quite a new field of
research.

"New Zealand and Otago [University] have a really good
environment for enabling people to test out these 'out there
ideas', as it were."

The researchers used a novel experimental set-up for rats
which mimics cost-benefit decisions humans face every day:
whether to opt to gain a small but easily achievable reward,
or to seek a potentially greater reward which also involved
competing against a peer.

They found, in foraging rats, certain cortical neurons became
more active when such competitive scenarios were considered
and pursued.

When facing a highly motivated or physically dominant
competitor, a rat's neural activity patterns changed
markedly.

"The resulting signal could be important for both driving
competitive behaviour and also steering us away from risky
situations where, although the reward might be large, the
potential cost is too high."

The research was funded by the Marsden Fund.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz