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Basketball on the brain: Neuroscientists use sports to study surprise

November 25, 2020 by

Neuroscientists tracked the brains and pupils of self-described basketball fans as they watched March Madness games, to study how people process surprise -- an unexpected change of circumstances that shifts an anticipated outcome. They found that that shifts in the pattern of activity in high-level brain areas only happened at moments that contradicted the watchers' current beliefs about which team was more likely to win.

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